Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:25:46.960Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ABU SALABIKH – ABSOLUTE RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2021

Maciej M. Wencel
Maciej M. Wencel*
Affiliation:
Independent Scholar, Oxfordmacmatwen@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article presents a new absolute chronology for the archaeological site of Abu Salabikh, Southern Iraq, during the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. The main goals of this study were to synchronise the sequences of the West and Main Mounds, corroborating the dating schemes based on archaeological and textual finds, and assigning an absolute date to the transition between Uruk and Early Dynastic (ED) periods. Previously published dates and newly produced 14C measurements were used in tandem with Bayesian statistical models to arrive at more precise time estimates. Some inconsistencies in the results point to possible disturbance of the archaeological sequence in the context of tannur kilns and highlight the need for careful sample collection and selection methodology. The results suggest a hiatus in settlement between the Uruk and ED periods c. 3000 BC, and confirm the date of c. 2650-2500 BC for the Early Dynastic ED IIIa Fara-style texts.

يقدم هذا البحث تسلسل زمني مطلق جديد لموقع أبو الصلابيخ الأثري الواقع في جنوب العراق خلال الألف الرابع والثالث لما قبل التاريخ . كانت الأهداف الرئيسية لهذه الدراسة هي مزامنة تسلسل التلال الغربية والرئيسية، مما يؤكد مخططات التأريخ استنادا الى اكتشافات أثرية ونصية، والتحديد المطلق لتاريخ الانتقال من أوروك Uruk الى فجر السلالات المبكرة (ED). تم استخدام التواريخ المنشورة سابقًا وقياسات 14C الكربونية المنتجة حديثًا جنبًا إلى جنب مع النماذج الإحصائية البايزية Bayesian للوصول إلى تقديرات زمنية أكثر دقة . تشير بعض التناقضات في النتائج إلى احتمال حدوث اضطراب في التسلسل الأثري في سياق أفران التنور وتسلط الضوء على الحاجة إلى منهجية دقيقة لجمع العينات واختيارها . تشير النتائج إلى فجوة بين فترتي أوروك Uruk و فجر السلالات المبكرة (ED) حوالي 3000 سنة قبل الميلاد، وتأكد تاريخ 2650-2500 قبل الميلاد تقريبا بكونه هو تاريخ فجر السلالات المبكرة (ED) استنادا الى نصوص IIIa من نمط فارا Fara-style.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 83 , December 2021 , pp. 245 - 258
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdi, K. 2003. “From écriture to civilization: changing paradigms of Proto-Elamite archaeology” in Miller, N. and Abdi, K. (eds) Yeki Bud, Yeki Nabud: Essays on the Archaeology of Iran in Honor of William M. Sumner. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, pp. 140–151.Google Scholar
Biggs, R.D. 1966. “The Abu Salabikh Tablets. A Preliminary Survey”. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 20(2), 73–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biggs, R.D. 1974. Inscriptions from Tell Abu Salabikh. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Biggs, R.D. 1981. “Ebla and Abu Salabikh: The Linguistic and Literary Aspects”. In: Cagni, L. (Ed.) La Lingua di Ebla. Napoli: Istituto Universitario Oriental, (pp. 121–134).Google Scholar
Bowman, S. G. E., Ambers, J. C., and Leese, M. N. 1990. “Re-evaluation of British Museum radiocarbon dates issued between 1980 and 1984”. Radiocarbon 32(1): 59–79B.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brock, F., Higham, T. F. G., Ditchfield, P., and Bronk Ramsey, C. 2010. “Current Pretreatment Methods for AMS Radiocarbon Dating at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU)”. Radiocarbon 52(1): 103–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1995. “Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy; the OxCal program”. Radiocarbon 37(2): 425–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009a. “Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates”, Radiocarbon 51(1): 337–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009b. “Dealing with Outliers and Offsets in Radiocarbon Dating”. Radiocarbon 51(3): 1023–1045.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., Higham, T., and Leach, P. 2004. “Towards high-precision AMS; progress and limitations”. Radiocarbon 46(1): 17–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buck, C. E., Litton, C. D., and Smith, A. F. M. 1992. “Calibration of radiocarbon results pertaining to related archaeological events”. Journal of Archaeological Science 19(5): 497–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burleigh, R., and Matthews, K. 1982. “British Museum natural radiocarbon measurements XIII”. Radiocarbon 24(2): 151–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, M.E. 1976. The Name Nintinugga with a Note on the Possible Identification of Tell Abu Salabikh. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 28(2), 82–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, H. 1983. “More Fire Installations from Abu Salabikh”. Iraq 45(1): 32–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fishman, B., Forbes, H., and Lawn, B. 1977. “University of Pennsylvania Radiocarbon Dates XIX”. Radiocarbon 19(2): 188–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, A. 1993. Abu Salabikh Excavations 4: Text. The 6 G ash-tip and its contents: cultic and administrative discard from the temple? London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq.Google Scholar
Harris, E. C. 1979. Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Matthews, R. J., and Postgate, J. N. 1987. “Excavations at Abu Salabikh, 1985–86”. Iraq 49: 91–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, H. P. 1975. “The Tablets of Shuruppak”. In van Donzel, E., Donceel-Voûte, P. H. E., Kampman, A. A. and Mellink, M. J. (eds.). Le temple et le culte : compte rendu de la XXème rencontre assyriologique internationale organisée à Leiden du 3 au 7 juillet 1972 sous les auspices du Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten. Leiden: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, pp. 171–182.Google Scholar
Martin, H. P. 1988. Fara: A reconstruction of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Shuruppak. Birmingham: Chris Martin and Associates.Google Scholar
Moon, J. 1987. Abu Salabikh Excavations 3: Catalogue of Early Dynastic Pottery. Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Picchioni, S.A. 1981. Osservazioni sulla paleografia e sulla cronologia dei testi di Ebla. In: Cagni, L. (ed.) La Lingua di Ebla. Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli, pp. 109–120.Google Scholar
Pollock, S. 2015. “Abu Salabikh: History of a Southern Mesopotamian Town” in Dittmann, R. and Selz, G. J. (eds.), It's a long way to a historiography of the Early Dynastic period(s)). Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, pp. 267–287.Google Scholar
Postgate, J. N. 1977. “Excavations at Abu Salabikh, 1976” taken. Iraq 39(2): 269–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Postgate, J. N. 1990. “Excavations at Abu Salabikh”, 1988–89 Iraq 52: 95–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Postgate, J. N., and Krebernik, M. 2009. “The Tablets from Abu Salabikh and their Provenance”. Iraq 71: 1–32.Google Scholar
Postgate, J. N., and Moon, J. A. 1982. “Excavations at Abu Salabikh, 1981”. Iraq 44(2): 103–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Postgate, J. N., and Moorey, P. R. S. 1975. “Excavations at Abu Salabikh, 1975”. Iraq 38(2): 133–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, P., Austin, W., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Blackwell, P., Bronk Ramsey, C., et al. 2020. “The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0–55 CAL kBP)”. Radiocarbon 62(4), 1–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tite, M. S., Bowman, S. G. E., Ambers, J. C., and Matthews, K. J. 1987. “Preliminary statement on an error in British Museum radiocarbon dates (BM-1700 to BM-2315)”. Antiquity 61(232): 168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Visicato, G. 2000. The Power and the Writing: The Early Scribes of Mesopotamia. Bethesda: CDL Press.Google Scholar
Wright, H. T. and Rupley, E. S. A. 2001. “Calibrated Radiocarbon Age Determinations of Uruk-Related Assemblies” in Rothman, E. (ed.), Uruk, Mesopotamia and Its Neighbours: Cross-Cultural Interactions in the Ear of State Formation. Santa Fe: SAR, pp. 85–122.Google Scholar
Wencel, M. M. 2018. Towards an absolute chronology of early Mesopotamia: a radiocarbon perspective. PhD thesis, University of Oxford.Google Scholar