scholarly journals Trial excavation of a terrace-edge enclosure at North Mains, Strathallan, Perthshire

1991 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 45-53
Author(s):  
Gordon J Barclay ◽  
Myra Tolan-Smith ◽  
Coralie Mills ◽  
J Barber
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Outer Edge ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc

A small part of the terrace edge enclosure at North Mains was excavated to test the hypothesis that it was contemporary with one or other of the Neolithic/Early Bronze Age ceremonial monuments immediately to the north. Two cropmark ditches and an entrance through them were confirmed by excavation. The inner ditch was very steep sided; postholes were found on the inner edge of both ditches. Possible postholes were also noted on the outer edge of the outer ditch. Traces of a number of structures were located in the interior, including what may be the slight wall-trench of a circular house. The results of radiocarbon dating may suggest that the ditch was dug in the second millennium bc, while at least one of the structures in the interior was in use in the late first millennium bc. A comment on the radiocarbon dates is provided by John Barber (50--1). An appendix gives details of the `Identification of charcoal from North Mains' by Coralie Mills (52--3). Au

The Excavation of Duddo Stone Circle, Northumberland

2011 ◽  
Vol 77 ◽  
pp. 321-353
Author(s):  
Benjamin Edwards ◽  
Roger Miket ◽  
Rosie Bishop
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Archaeobotanical Remains

This paper reports on the 2008 excavations at Duddo Stone Circle, Northumberland; the first excavation of a stone circle in the north-east of England under modern conditions. The project was successful in radiocarbon dating archaeobotanical material that suggests a date for construction at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, and cremated human bone that dates its potential re-use for burial to around 1700 calbc. This report provides a stratigraphic account of the results of the excavation and specialist reports on the archaeobotanical remains, the radiocarbon dates, and the finds recovered. The discussion considers Duddo in the context of other stone circles in the North-East and Borders, and more generally across the United Kingdom, concluding that heterogeneity is a regional trait in north-eastern England and southern Scotland, much as architectural or landscape affinities link similar monuments in other regions.

scholarly journals The excavation of pit circles at Romancamp Gate, Fochabers, Moray, 1990

1994 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 255-268
Author(s):  
Gordon J Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Regional Council ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Mesolithic Period

The excavation was undertaken with the funding and support of Grampian Regional Council to test hypotheses relating to the interpretation of cropmark pit circles: were they Neolithic or Bronze Age ceremonial or funerary structures, or were they Iron Age houses, and to what extent could the two classifications be differentiated on aerial photographs? The excavation revealed the remains of four circles (between 8.5 m and 11.5 m in diameter) of large post- holes, fence lines (one with a gate), and many other pits and post-holes. Radiocarbon dates place the post circles late in the first millennium BC uncal. The pit circles may be interpreted as the main structural elements of four substantial round houses, two of which burned down. Flint tools of the Mesolithic period were recovered.

Palestinian radiocarbon dating: a reply to James Mellaart

Antiquity ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 54 (210) ◽  
pp. 21-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Weinstein
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Near East ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
As If

James Mellaart’s attempt to demonstrate a ‘high’ chronology for Egypt and the Near East for the period of c. 4000-1500 BC will undoubtedly stimulate much discussion among historians and archaeologists. He has forcefully pointed out various problems which have arisen in trying to reconcile the standard historical chronologies established between and within individual countries. It is probably true that some scholars have treated the so-called ‘middle’ chronology as if it was almost sacred, and certainly some individuals have ignored radiocarbon dates (especially calibrated dates) if they appeared to be in conflict with results obtained from traditional historical and archaeological sources. But neither these faults, nor others pointed out by the author, justify his own methods of trying to demolish the middle chronology in favour of a significantly higher one. Since elsewhere in this issue Barry Kemp is presenting a critical review of Mellaart’s Egyptian historical data, and has included some remarks on the Egyptian radiocarbon dates, I will restrict my own remarks here largely to the Palestinian radiocarbon materials, and will only comment on the Egyptian C14 dates as they pertain to Palestinian Early Bronze Age chronology.

scholarly journals The Beginning of the Early Bronze Age in the North Jordan Valley: New14C Determinations from Pella in Jordan

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 905-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bourke ◽  
Ugo Zoppi ◽  
John Meadows ◽  
Quan Hua ◽  
Samantha Gibbins
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Jordan Valley ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
Precursor Phase ◽  
Chalcolithic Period ◽  
Early Phases ◽  
Ams Dates

This article reports on 10 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from early phases of the Early Bronze Age at the long-lived settlement of Pella (modern Tabaqat Fahl) in the north Jordan Valley. The new AMS dates fall between 3400 and 2800 cal BC, and support a recent suggestion that all Chalcolithic period occupation had ceased by 3800/3700 cal BC at the latest (Bourke et al. 2004b). Other recently published Early Bronze Age14C data strongly supports this revisionist scenario, suggesting that the earliest phase of the Early Bronze Age (EBA I) occupied much of the 4th millennium cal BC (3800/3700 to 3100/3000 cal BC). As this EB I period in the Jordan Valley is generally viewed as the key precursor phase in the development of urbanism (Joffe 1993), this revisionist chronology has potentially radical significance for understanding both the nature and speed of the move from village settlement towards a complex urban lifeway.

Early Bronze Age Pits at Inchbelle Farm, Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL MASSER ◽  
ANN MacSWEEN
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The North ◽  
Almost All

A group of four pits was excavated on a low gravel terrace above the floodplain of the River Kelvin to the north of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire (National Grid Reference NS 6677 7518). One pit contained sherds from four collared urns, while another contained fragments from a fifth collared urn. Radiocarbon dating suggests an 18th-16th century BC date for these features. Whereas almost all known collared urns accompany cremations, this was not the case with the material from Inchbelle Farm, and alternative reasons for the deposition of the pottery are discussed.

From sheep to (some) horses: 4500 years of herd structure at the pastoralist settlement of Begash (south-eastern Kazakhstan)

Antiquity ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (322) ◽  
pp. 1023-1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Frachetti ◽  
Norbert Benecke
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Sheep And Goats ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Herd Structure ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Eastern Kazakhstan

Does the riding of horses necessarily go with the emergence of Eurasian pastoralism? Drawing on their fine sequence of animal bones from Begash, the authors think not. While pastoral herding of sheep and goats is evident from the Early Bronze Age, the horse appears only in small numbers before the end of the first millennium BC. Its adoption coincides with an increase in hunting and the advent of larger politically organised groups.

scholarly journals New Data on the Chronology and Development of Cattle Breading During the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age in the Southern Ural Region

2019 ◽  
pp. 17-36
Author(s):  
Nina Morgunova ◽  
Natalia Roslyakova ◽  
Marianna Kulkova
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Standard Procedure ◽  
Scintillation Counter ◽  
Ural Region ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Cattle Breeding ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Southern Ural Region

Introduction. The article considers the features of cattle breeding and consumption of meat products in the Eneolithic cultures (the Samara culture) and the Early Bronze Age cultures (the Repin stage of the Pit Grave culture) on the territory of the Southern Urals (the Samara Trans-Volga region). The paper specifies the chronology of these cultures on the base of radiocarbon dating. The main site for the study was Turganik settlement located in the Southern Ural region (Orenburg region). Methods. More than 800 m2 of the settlement area was excavated. There were six paleosoil layers. Four upper layers were empty, without artifacts. The sixth layer contained Eneolithic finds. The fifth layer contained finds of the Early Bronze Age. The archaeozoological collection was analyzed in accordance with the methodological scheme developed by E.E. Antipina. For radiocarbon dating collagen was treated from bone samples on the base of the standard procedure and radiocarbon activity was measured by Quantulus 1220 low background scintillation counter. Analysis and Results. As a result 32 radiocarbon dates were obtained on animal bones and on organics from pottery of different types from different cultural layers of Turganik settlement. The Eneolithic complex includes ceramics, flint and bone tools. The paper specifies the finds of developed and later stages of the Samara culture. The artifacts of the second stage of the Samara culture were dated to 4900–4500 cal BC. The artifacts of the later stage belong to the period of 4300–3800 cal BC. We suggest that from the Early Eneolithic local people practiced cattle breeding without agriculture. Hunting played a secondary role and fishing was poorly developed. Beef was the main food in the people’s diet during the Eneolithic period. The Early Bronze Age assemblage includes ceramics of the Repin stage of the Pit Grave culture, stone macro-tools, flint arrowheads, items made of bones and copper, slags and scarps of copper ore. The technological analysis supported that ceramics belong to the Pit Grave culture. The layer age is from 3800 to 3300 cal BC. During the Repin stage the role of sheep breeding was increased and consumption of sheep meat prevailed in comparison with the Eneolithic period. This is an evidence of the transition to the nomadic form of stock breeding.

Excavation of Four Barrows, and a Middle Bronze Age Cremation Cemetery, at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-89
Author(s):  
Richard Massey ◽  
Elaine L. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
South West ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Excavation at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire, investigated features identified in a previous evaluation. Area A included ring ditches representing two barrows. Barrow 1.1 held 40 secondary pits, including 34 cremation-related deposits of Middle Bronze Age date, and Barrow 1.2 had five inserted pits, including three cremation graves, one of which dated to the earlier Bronze Age, and was found with an accessory cup. A number of pits, not all associated with cremation burials, contained well-preserved urns of the regional Deverel-Rimbury tradition and occasional sherds from similar vessels, which produced a closely-clustered range of eight radiocarbon dates centred around 1300 BC. Of ten pits in Area C, three were cremation graves, of which one was radiocarbon-dated to the Early Bronze Age and associated with a collared urn, while four contained only pyre debris. Barrow 1.3, in Area E, to the south, enclosed five pits, including one associated with a beaker vessel, and was surrounded by a timber circle. Area F, further to the south-west, included two pits of domestic character with charcoal-rich fills and the remains of pottery vessels, together with the probable remains of a ditched enclosure and two sets of paired postholes. Area H, located to the north-west of Area E, partly revealed a ring ditch (Barrow 1.4), which enclosed two pits with charcoal-rich fills, one with a single Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age potsherd, and the other burnt and worked flint. A further undated pit was situated to the east of Barrow 1.4. The cremation cemetery inserted into Barrow 1.1 represents a substantial addition to the regional record of Middle Bronze Age cremation burials, and demonstrates important affinities with the contemporary cemeteries of the Stour Valley to the west, and sites on Cranborne Chase, to the north-west.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Dating of the Early Bronze Age Cemetery at Arano, Verona, Northern Italy

Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 483-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erio Valzolgher ◽  
John Meadows ◽  
Paola Salzani ◽  
Luciano Salzani
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Bayesian Modeling ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The North

Seventeen of the 73 individuals buried in the Early Bronze Age (EBA) cemetery at Arano di Cellore di Illasi, near Verona, northern Italy, were radiocarbon dated by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Bayesian modeling of the calibrated dates suggests that the cemetery was probably used over several generations mainly within the first 2 centuries of the 2nd millennium cal BC. Burial activity was therefore mainly restricted to within the EBA I B/EBA I C of the north Italian Bronze Age chronology. An isolated burial, found ∼90 m northwest of the cemetery, may date to the same period.

scholarly journals Contradictions in the Relative Chronology: Archaeological and Radiocarbon Dating

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 695-710
Author(s):  
Werner E Stöckli
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Horizontal Distribution ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Data Series ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
Experimental Errors ◽  
The Mean

When comparing dendrodates and radiocarbon dates, I advocate using the mean value for archaeologically defined data series, as in the usual case, the correct dating is always more precise than the calibrated areas. However, in the extreme gradient of the calibration curve, we must consider the errors. Based on the Corded Ware from the Tauber basin, I put forward a first example in which a contradiction between the archaeological and 14C dating occurs. If one cleanly separates the older measurements from Köln and the younger ones from Heidelberg, the contradiction towards the archaeological dating is canceled out when only the younger Heidelberg dates are taken into account. Regarding the Early Bronze Age, I shall first deal with the cemetery at Singen and will show, using the typology and the horizontal distribution of the graves, how outliers can be identified, thus narrowing the range for dating of the cemetery. The comparison of 2 archaeologically contemporaneous cemeteries in the Neckar basin (Rottenburg and Gäufelden) again results in contradictions between the archaeological and 14C dating. In this case, the contradictions cannot be solved without any new dating measurements. It is recommended that these should be carried out by at least 2 laboratories. Finally, some recommendations are given to archaeologists. In my opinion, 14C dates that are archaeologically unsuitable should be used to check the findings and the archaeological-typological classification. The contradictions should be reported immediately to the 14C laboratory, so that any possible experimental errors can be identified.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document