Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:41:28.375Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Copper Age Mound Necropolis in Salve, Lecce, Italy: Radiocarbon Dating Results on Charcoals, Bones, Cremated Bones, and Pottery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2016

Gianluca Quarta*
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Italy
Ida Tiberi
Affiliation:
Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Salento, Italy
Marco Rossi
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Italy
Giorgia Aprile
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Studi Storici, Università degli Studi di Foggia, Foggia, Italy
Eugenia Braione
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Italy
Marisa D'Elia
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Italy
Lucio Calcagnile
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Italy
*
2. Corresponding author. Email: gianluca.quarta@unisalento.it.

Abstract

Archaeological surface surveys carried out near Salve in southern Italy led to the identification of about 90 stone mounds spread over an area of about 100 ha. Systematic archaeological investigations allowed to identify the mounds as funeral structures with some having megalithic features. In the necropolis, both the inhumation and cremation rituals are evident, in some cases within the same mound. This article presents the results of an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating campaign carried out on different kinds of samples recovered from several structures: unburned and cremated bones, charcoals, and organic residues extracted from pottery sherds. The results allowed to assess the chronology of the site and to shed new light on the different funeral practices in Copper Age southern Italy.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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

Bronk Ramsey, C, Lee, S. 2013. Recent and planned developments of the program OxCal. Radiocarbon 55(3–4):720–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calcagnile, L, Quarta, G, D'Elia, M, Rizzo, A, Gottdang, A, Klein, M, Mous, DJW. 2004. A new accelerator mass spectrometry facility in Lecce, Italy. Nuclear instruments and Methods in Physics Research 223–224:1620.Google Scholar
Calcagnile, L, Quarta, G, D'Elia, M. 2005. High resolution accelerator-based mass spectrometry: precision, accuracy and background. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 62(4):623–9.Google Scholar
Cocchi Genick, D. 2009. Preistoria. Verona: QuiEdit.Google Scholar
D'Elia, M, Calcagnile, L, Quarta, G, Rizzo, A, Sanapo, C, Laudisa, M, Toma, U, Rizzo, A. 2004. Sample preparation and blank values at the AMS radiocarbon facility of the University of Lecce. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 223–224:278–83.Google Scholar
D'Elia, M, Gianfrate, G, Quarta, G, Giotta, L, Giancane, G, Calcagnile, L. 2007. Evaluation of possible contamination sources in the 14C analysis of bone samples by FTIR spectroscopy. Radiocarbon 49(2):201–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gianfrate, G, D'Elia, M, Quarta, G, Giotta, L, Valli, L, Calcagnile, L. 2007. Qualitative application based on IR spectroscopy for bone sample quality control in radiocarbon dating. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 259(1):316–9.Google Scholar
Hedges, REM, Tiemei, C, Housley, RA. 1992. Results and methods in the radiocarbon dating of pottery. Radiocarbon 34(3):906–5.Google Scholar
Ingravallo, E. 2002. Grotta Cappuccini (Galatone) tra eneolitico e primo bronzo. Lecce: Congedo Editore.Google Scholar
Ingravallo, E, Tiberi, I. 2011. Il tumulo 7 nel territorio di salve (Lecce), Masseria Profichi. Florence: Atti IIPP (Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria) XLIII. p 343–8.Google Scholar
Ingravallo, E, Tiberi, I, Lonoce, N, Fabbri, PF. 2007. Testimonianze culturali e funerarie nel territorio di Salve (Lecce). Origini XIX, nuova serie IV:730.Google Scholar
Ingravallo, E, Tiberi, I, Lonoce, N. 2010. L'orizzonte culturale del III millennio a. C.: il tumulo 7 di salve (Lecce). Origini XXXII, nuova serie IV:203–58.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV, Hall, S, Tite, MS, Bailey, R, O'Malley, JM, Medvedev, VE. 2001. Radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating of the pottery from the early Neolithic site of Gasya (Russian Far East): initial results. Quaternary Science Reviews 20(5):945–8.Google Scholar
Lanting, JN, Aerts-Bijma, AT, van der Plicht, J. 2001. Dating of cremated bones. Radiocarbon 43(2A):249–54.Google Scholar
Longin, R. 1971. New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 230(5291):241–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quarta, G, Calcagnile, L, D'Elia, M, Rizzo, A, Ingravallo, E. 2004. AMS radiocarbon dating “Grotta Cappuccini” in Southern Italy. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 223–224:705–8.Google Scholar
Quarta, G, Calcagnile, L, D'Elia, L, Maruccio, L, Gaballo, V, Caramia, A. 2013. A combined PIXE-PIGE approach for the assessment of the diagenetic state of cremated bones submitted to AMS radiocarbon dating. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 294:221–5.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatté, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffmann, DL, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Niu, M, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Staff, RA, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine 13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–87.Google Scholar
Shipman, P, Foster, G, Schoeninger, MJ. 1984. Burnt bones and teeth: an experimental study of color, morphology, crystal structure and shrinkage. Journal of Archaeological Science 11(4):307–25.Google Scholar