Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-l72pf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-09T01:34:51.764Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Depending on 14C Data: Chronological Frameworks in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Southeastern Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Agathe Reingruber  and
Laurens Thissen
Agathe Reingruber*
Affiliation:
Eurasia-Department of the German Archaeological Institute, Berlin
Laurens Thissen
Affiliation:
Thissen Archaeological Ceramics Bureau, Amsterdam. Email: l.thissen@tiscali.nl
*
Corresponding author. Email: are@dainst.de
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

With the introduction of the radiocarbon method in 1949 and the calibration curve constantly improving since 1965, but especially due to the development of the more accurate accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating some 30 yr ago, the application of the 14C method in prehistory revolutionized traditional chronological frameworks. Theories and models are adjusted to new 14C sequences, and such sequences even lead to the creation of new theories and models. In our contribution, we refer to 2 major issues that are still heavily debated, although their first absolute dating occurred some decades ago: 1) the transition from the Mesolithic to the Early Neolithic in the eastern and western Aegean. Very high 14C data for the beginning of the Neolithic in Greece around 7000 BC fueled debates around the Preceramic period in Thessaly (Argissa-Magoula, Sesklo) and the Early Neolithic in Macedonia (Nea Nikomedeia). A reinterpretation of these data shows that the Neolithic in Greece did not start prior to 6400/6300 BC; 2) the beginning and the end of the Chalcolithic period in SE Europe. Shifting from relative chronologies dating the Chalcolithic to the 3rd millennium BC to an absolute chronology assigning the Kodžadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI cultural complex to the 5th millennium BC, the exact beginning and the end of the period are still under research. New data from Varna (Bulgaria) and Pietrele (Romania) suggest that start and end of the SE European Chalcolithic have to be dated deeper into the 5th millennium BC.

Type
Radiocarbon Chronologies of the Neolithic and Metal Ages
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , 2009 , pp. 751 - 770
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Barker, H, Burleigh, R, Meeks, N. 1969. British Museum natural radiocarbon measurements VI. Radiocarbon 11(2):279–80.Google Scholar
Berger, R, Protsch, R. 1973. The domestication of plants and animals in Europe and the Near East. Orientalia 42:214–27.Google Scholar
Biagi, P, Shennan, S, Spataro, M. 2005. Rapid rivers and slow seas? New data for the radiocarbon chronology of the Balkan peninsula. In: Nikolova, L, Higgins, J, editors. Prehistoric Archaeology & Anthropological Theory and Education 6–7. Salt Lake City: Karlovo. p 43–51.Google Scholar
Bloedow, E. 1992/3. The date of the earliest phase at Argissa Magoula in Thessaly and other Neolithic sites in Greece. Mediterranean Archaeology 5/6:49–57.Google Scholar
Bojadžiev, J. 2002. Die absolute Chronologie der neo- und äneolithischen Gräberfelder von Durankulak. In: Todorova, H, editor. Durankulak, Band II. Die prähistorischen Gräberfelder von Durankulak, Teil 1. Sofia: Publishing House Anubis Ltd. p 67–70. In German.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1995. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: the OxCal program. Radiocarbon 37(2):425–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2001. Development of the radiocarbon calibration program. Radiocarbon 43(2A):355–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burleigh, R, Matthews, K. 1982. British Museum natural radiocarbon measurements XIII. Radiocarbon 24(2): 151–70.Google Scholar
Chapman, J, Higham, T, Slavchev, V, Gaydarska, B, Honch, N. 2006. The social context of the emergence, development and abandonment of the Varna cemetery, Bulgaria. European Journal of Archaeology 9:159–83.Google Scholar
Cherry, JF. 1990. The first colonization of the Mediterranean Islands: a review of recent research. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 3(1):145–221.Google Scholar
Efstratiou, N, Karetsou, A, Banou, E, Margomenou, D. 2004. The Neolithic settlement of Knossos: new light on an old picture. In: Cadogan, G, Hatzaki, E, Vasilakis, A, editors. Knossos: Palace, City, State. Proceedings of the conference in Herakleion 2000. London: British School at Athens Studies 12. p 39–49.Google Scholar
Evans, JD. 1964. Excavations in the Neolithic settlement of Knossos, 1957–60. Part I. British School at Athens 59:132–240.Google Scholar
Evans, JD. 1970. The significance of the Knossos E.N. I culture for Aegean prehistory. In: Filip, J, editor. Actes du VIIe congrès international des sciences préhistorique et protohistorique, 1966. Prague. p 381–4.Google Scholar
Evans, JD. 1971. Neolithic Knossos: the growth of a settlement. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 37(2): 95–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, JD. 1994. The early millennia: continuity and change in a farming settlement. In: Evely, D, Hughes-Brock, H, Momogliano, N, editors. Knossos, A Labyrinth of History. Papers presented in honour of Sinclair Hood. Oxford: British School at Athens. p 1–20.Google Scholar
Farrand, WR. 1993. Discontinuity in the stratigraphic record: snapshots from Franchthi Cave. In: Goldberg, P, Nash, DT, Petraglia, MD. Formation Processes in Archaeological Context. Madison: Monographs in World Archaeology 17. p 85–96.Google Scholar
Gérard, F, Thissen, L. 2002. editors. The Neolithic of Central Anatolia. Proceedings of the International CANeW Table Ronde, Istanbul 2001. Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari. 348 p.Google Scholar
Görsdorf, J, Bojadžiev, Y. 1996. Zur absoluten Chronologie der bulgarischen Urgeschichte. Berliner 14C-Datierungen von bulgarischen archäologischen Fundplätzen. Eurasia Antiqua 2:105–73. In German.Google Scholar
Hansen, JM. 1991. The palaeoethnobotany of Franchthi Cave. In: Jacobsen, TW, editor. Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece, Fascicle 7. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 280 p.Google Scholar
Hansen, S, Toderaş, M, Reingruber, A, Gatsov, I, Klimscha, F, Nedelcheva, P, Neef, R, Prange, M, Price, TD, Wahl, J, Weninger, B, Wunderlich, J, Wrobel, H, Zidarov, P. 2008. Der kupferzeitliche Siedlungshügel Măgura Gorgana bei Pietrele in der Walachei. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen im Sommer 2007. Eurasia Antiqua 14: 1–83. In German.Google Scholar
Higham, T, Chapman, J, Slavchev, V, Gaydarska, B, Honch, N, Yordanov, Y, Dimitrova, B. 2007. New perspectives on the Varna cemetery (Bulgaria)—AMS dates and social implications. Antiquity 81(313):640–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higham, T, Chapman, J, Slavchev, V, Gaydarska, B, Honch, N, Yordanov, Y, Dimitrova, B. 2008. New AMS radiocarbon dates for the Varna cemetery, Bulgarian Black Sea coast. In: Studia in Memoriam Ivani Ivanov. The Varna Eneolithic Necropolis and Problems of Prehistory in Southeast Europe. Varna: Acta Musei Varnaensis 6. p 95–114.Google Scholar
Hofmann, R, Kujundžić-Vejzagić, Z, Müller, J, Müller-Scheessel, N, Rassmann, K. 2007. Prospektionen und Ausgrabungen in Okolište (Bosnien-Herzegowina): Siedlungsarchäologische Studien zum zentralbosnischen Spätneolithikum (5300–4500 v. Chr.). Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 102: 1–140. In German.Google Scholar
Ivanov, I. 2000. Varna and the birth of the European civilization. In: Ivanov, I, Avramova, M. Varna Necropolis. The Dawn of European Civilization. Sofia: Agatö. p 5–14.Google Scholar
Jacobsen, TW, Farrand, WR. 1987. Franchthi Cave and Paralia. Maps, plans and sections. In: Jacobsen, TW, editor. Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece, Fascicle 1. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 48 p.Google Scholar
Kohl, G, Quitta, H. 1966. Berlin radiocarbon measurements II. Radiocarbon 8:32–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazarovici, C-M, Lazarovici, Gh. 2007. Arhitectura Neoliticului şi Epocii Cuprului din România. II Epoca Cuprului. Iaşi: Trinitas. In Romanian.Google Scholar
Maran, J. 1998. Die Badener Kultur und der ägäisch-anatolische Bereich. Germania 76:497–525. In German.Google Scholar
Milojčić, V. 1949. Chronologie der Jüngeren Steinzeit Mittel- und Südosteuropas. Berlin: Mann. 136 p. In German.Google Scholar
Milojčić, V. 1961. Zur Anwendbarkeit der C 14-Datierung in der Vorgeschichtsforschung, 3. Germania 39: 434–52. In German.Google Scholar
Perlès, C. 1990. Les industries lithiques taillées de Franchthi (Argolide, Grèce). Tome II, Les industries du Mésolithique et du Néolithique Initial. In: Jacobsen, TW, editor. Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece, Fascicle 5. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 348 p. In French.Google Scholar
Protsch, R, Berger, R. 1973. Earliest radiocarbon dates for domesticated animals. Science 179(4070):235–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quitta, H. 1967. The C14 chronology of the Central and SE European Neolithic. Antiquity 41(164):263–70.Google Scholar
Quitta, H, Kohl, G. 1969. Neue Radiocarbondaten zum Neolithikum und zur frühen Bronzezeit Südosteuropas und der Sowjetunion. Zeitschrift für Archäologie 3:223–55. In German.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Bertrand, CJH, Blackwell, PG, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Cutler, KB, Damon, PE, Edwards, RL, Fairbanks, RG, Friedrich, M, Guilderson, TP, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, McCormac, G, Manning, S, Bronk Ramsey, C, Reimer, RW, Remmele, S, Southon, JR, Stuiver, M, Talamo, S, Taylor, FW, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2004. IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 0–26 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46(3):1029–58.Google Scholar
Reingruber, A. 2008. Die Argissa-Magula. Das frühe und das beginnende mittlere Neolithikum im Lichte transägäischer Beziehungen. Beiträge zur ur- und frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie des Mittelmeer-Kulturraumes 35. Bonn: Habelt. 702 p. In German.Google Scholar
Reingruber, A, Thissen, L. 2005. 14C database for the Aegean catchment (Eastern Greece, southern Balkans and western Turkey) 10,000–5500 cal BC [WWW document]. In: Lichter, C, editor. How Did Farming Reach Europe? International Workshop, Istanbul 2004. Byzas 2. Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari. p 295–327. http://www.canew.org/data.html.Google Scholar
Schier, W. 1997. Vinča-Studien. Tradition und Innovation im Spätneolithikum des zentralen Balkanraumes am Beispiel der Gefässkeramik aus Vinča-Belo Brdo. Archäologisches Nachrichtenblatt 2(1):37–46. In German.Google Scholar
Thissen, L. 2000. Early farming communities in Anatolia and the Balkans, 6500–5500 cal BC [unpublished PhD dissertation]. University of Leiden.Google Scholar
Vitelli, KD. 1993. Franchthi Neolithic pottery. Volume 1: classification and ceramic phases 1 and 2. In: Jacobsen, TW, editor. Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece, Fascicle 8. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 500 p.Google Scholar
Vogel, J, Waterbolk, H. 1963. Groningen radiocarbon dates IV. Radiocarbon 5:163–202.Google Scholar
Warren, P, Jarman, MR, Jarman, HN, Shackleton, NJ, Evans, JD. 1968. Knossos Neolithic, Part II. British School at Athens 63:239–76.Google Scholar
Wijnen, M-H. 1981. The Early Neolithic settlement at Sesklo: an early farming community in Thessaly, Greece. Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 14:1–146.Google Scholar
Winder, NP. 1991. Interpreting a site: the case for a reassessment of the Knossos Neolithic. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 10(1):37–52.Google Scholar