Radiocarbon Dates

The emergence of mobile herding lifeways in Mongolia and eastern Eurasia was one of the most crucial economic and cultural transitions in human prehistory. Understanding the process by which this played out, however, has been impeded by the absence of a precise chronological framework for the prehistoric era in Mongolia. One rare source of empirically dateable material useful for understanding eastern Eurasia's pastoral tradition comes from the stone burial mounds and monumental constructions that began to appear across the landscape of Mongolia and adjacent regions during the Bronze Age (ca. 3000-700 BCE). Here, along with presenting 28 new radiocarbon dates from Mongolia's earliest pastoral monumental burials, we synthesise, critically analyse, and model existing dates to present the first precision Bayesian radiocarbon model for the emergence and geographic spread of Bronze Age monument and burial forms. Model results demonstrate a cultural succession between ambiguously dated Afanasievo, Chemurchek, and Munkhkhairkhan traditions. Geographic patterning reveals the existence of important cultural frontiers during the second millennium BCE. This work demonstrates the utility of a Bayesian approach for investigating prehistoric cultural dynamics during the emergence of pastoral economies.

In this paper, we present the results of the accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14 C) dating campaign performed on samples selected from different levels in Grotta Romanelli (Castro, Italy). Grotta Romanelli is one of the key sites for the chronology of Middle Pleistocene-Holocene in Mediterranean region. After the first excavation campaigns carried out in the first decades of the 1900s, the cave has been systematically re-excavated only since 2015. During the last excavation campaigns different faunal remains were selected and submitted for 14 C dating in order to confirm the chronology of the cave with a higher resolution. Isotopic ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) measurements were also carried out on faunal remains.

In the course of a DFG-funded project, the organisation of iron smelting and iron working in the Jastorf culture was characterised for the first time. The project focused on the Teltow area, a morainic landscape south of Berlin which offers diverse natural resources. The excavation of a settlement of the Pre-Roman Iron Age near Glienick revealed bloomeries and several metric tons of smelting slag, indicating large-scale iron production. The bloomeries showed a very particular construction and functional principle and have been named “Glienick type” after the site at which they were first recognised. A series of experiments using this type of furnace succeeded in replicating iron production in this type of bloomery. Extensive smithing residue from the Iron Age settlement shows that iron working took place in close connection with iron production. Metallurgical activities were carried out within the settlement, which was otherwise characterised by a subsistence economy based on agriculture. Following the study of surrounding sites with a similar structure, a model for the organisation of the iron supply in the region during the Pre-Roman Iron Age was developed. A comparison with the Roman Iron Age shows that there was no linear development of iron production. Rather, a break was observed at the end of the Pre-Roman Iron Age and the system was restructured; subsequently, the necessary iron was partly imported. This volume presents the archaeological evidence, supplemented by several scientific analyses. These include the discussion of a pollen profile from Lake Rangsdorf, which amongst others provides a detailed insight into settlement development from the Middle Bronze Age to the Early Roman Period.

Site HLO1 (Sharjah, UAE), situated in a particularly favourable geographical position, has provided an extraordinary range of anthropogenic radiocarbon dates, spanning before 8000 to Zero BCE. The Neolithic is represented by finds from the eighth to the fifth millennium BCE. Apart from the dated fireplaces, however, there are almost no typical artefacts of this period. Small stone structures appear to have been early Neolithic graves. A middle Neolithic grave consisted of a large rounded stone heap which was reused as a grave during the Late Bronze Age. The site is interpreted as a campsite of nomadic herders, used throughout the Neolithic period. After a break in the fourth millennium BCE, the site became a Bronze Age smelting site which continued to be settled until the Late Iron Age.

Dietz, Søren, Fanis Mavridis, Žarko Tankosić, and Turan Takaoğlu, eds. (2018) Communities in Transition: The Circum-Aegean Area during the 5th and 4th Millennia BC. Monographs of the Danish Institute at Athens, Vol. 20, Oxbow, Oxford. Chapter 5, p. 33-66.
ISBN: 978-1-7857-7210-9