Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T10:18:46.617Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dating Anomalies in the Archaeology of the 7th Century BC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Robert M Porter  and
Michael W Dee
Robert M Porter*
Affiliation:
11 Havelock Road, Croydon CR0 6QQ, United Kingdom
Michael W Dee
Affiliation:
RLAHA, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
*
Corresponding author. Email: rporter@talktalk.net
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two recently published sets of radiocarbon dates, one from Mesopotamia and one from Anatolia, gave anomalous results. On the basis of historical analysis, both sets were expected to date to the 7th century BC. However, the 14C results were more than a century older than this. We tested samples from an Egyptian mummy, also historically dated to the 7th century BC, to see if such discrepancies were more widespread at this time. We did not find evidence of such a problem, but the results do provide insights into the reuse of old wood in ancient Egyptian coffins. We include publication of an earlier set of dates from the same mummy and coffin set.

Type
Archaeology of Eurasia and Africa
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 55 , Issue 3: Proceedings of the 21st International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 2 of 2) , 2013 , pp. 1371 - 1376
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 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

Becker, B, Kromer, B. 1993. The continental tree-ring record – absolute chronology, 14C calibration and climate change at 11 ka. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 103(1–2):67–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brock, F, Higham, TFG, Ditchfield, P, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2010. Current pretreatment methods for AMS radiocarbon dating at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU). Radiocarbon 52(1):103–12.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51(1):337–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, TFG, Leach, P. 2004. Towards high-precision AMS: progress and limitations. Radiocarbon 46(1):17–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, GT, Bonsall, C, Hedges, REM, McSweeney, K, Boroneant, V, Pettitt, PB. 2001. A freshwater diet-derived 14C reservoir effect at the Stone Age sites in the Iron Gates Gorge. Radiocarbon 43(2A):453–60.Google Scholar
Dee, MW, Brock, F, Harris, SA, Bronk Ramsey, C, Shortland, AJ, Higham, TFG, Rowland, JM. 2010. Investigating the likelihood of a reservoir offset in the radiocarbon record for ancient Egypt. Journal of Archaeological Science 37(4):687–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dee, MW, Rowland, JM, Higham, TFG, Shortland, AJ, Brock, F, Harris, SA, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2012. Synchronising radiocarbon dating and the Egyptian historical chronology through improved sample selection. Antiquity 86(333):868–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ikram, S, Dodson, A. 1998. The Mummy in Ancient Egypt. London: Thames and Hudson.Google Scholar
Küffer, A. 2011. The Swiss Coffin Project. Kmt: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt 22(3): 18–34.Google Scholar
Manning, SW, Kromer, B. 2011. Radiocarbon dating Iron Age Gordion and the early Phrygian destruction in particular. In: Rose, CG, Darbyshire, G, editors. The New Chronology of Iron Age Gordion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. p 123–53.Google Scholar
Mellink, M. 1991. The Phrygian kingdom. In: Boardman, J, Edwards, IES, Sollberger, E, Hammond, NGL, editors. The Cambridge Ancient History. Volume III, Part 2, The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and other States of the Near East from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries B.C. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p 622–42.Google Scholar
Niwinski, A. 1988. 21st Dynasty Coffins from Thebes. Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern.Google Scholar
Oates, J. 1991. Sin-sharra-ishkun (623–612 B.C.). In: Boardman, J, Edwards, IES, Sollberger, E, Hammond, NGL, editors. The Cambridge Ancient History. Volume III, Part 2, The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and other States of the Near East from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries B.C. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p 175–82.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Hajdas, I, Heaton, T, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, McCormac, FG, Manning, SW, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Southon, JR, Talamo, S, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51(4):1111–50.Google Scholar
Siegmann, R. 1998. Part 2. In: Müller, P, Siegmann, R. 1998. Schepenese: Die ägyptische Mumie der Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen. St. Gallen: Stiftsbibliothek.Google Scholar
Siegmann, R. 2007. Chapter 11:2. In: Küffer, A, Siegmann, R. Unter dem Schutz der Himmels-Göttin. Zurich: Chronos.Google Scholar
Taylor, J. 2003. Theban coffins from the Twenty-second to the Twenty-sixth dynasty: dating and synthesis of development. In: Strudwick, N, Taylor, J, editors. The Theban Necropolis. London: British Museum. p 95–121.Google Scholar
Taylor, RE, Beaumont, WC, Southon, J, Stronach, D, Pick-worth, D. 2010. Alternative explanations for anomalous 14C ages on human skeletons associated with the 612 BCE destruction of Nineveh. Radiocarbon 52(2): 372–82.Google Scholar