Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T01:46:04.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Proto-Neolithic and Neolithic Cultures in the Middle East—the Birth of Agriculture, Livestock Raising, and Ceramics: a Calibrated 14C Chronology 12,500-5500 cal BC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

O Aurenche ,
P Galet ,
E Régagnon-Caroline  and
J Évin
O Aurenche
Affiliation:
UMR 5647-GREMMO, CNRS et Université Lumière-Lyon 2, Maison de l'Orient, 7 rue Raulin, 69007 Lyon, France. Email: olivier.aurenche@mom.fr.
P Galet
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Datation 14C, Université Claude Bernard-Lyon 1, 43 Bd du 11 Novembre, 69100 Villeurbanne, France
E Régagnon-Caroline
Affiliation:
UMR 5647-GREMMO, CNRS et Université Lumière-Lyon 2, Maison de l'Orient, 7 rue Raulin, 69007 Lyon, France. Email: olivier.aurenche@mom.fr.
J Évin
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Datation 14C, Université Claude Bernard-Lyon 1, 43 Bd du 11 Novembre, 69100 Villeurbanne, France
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.

We present for the first time a fully calibrated radiocarbon chronology of Proto-Neolithic and Neolithic cultures in the Middle East covering the time range from 12,500 to 5500 cal BC. A total of 1300 14C dates were evaluated, leading to the selection of 731 reliable dates. These were calibrated in a special collective approach presented in a series of graphs. The 14C dates are derived from 160 sites across the Middle East. The period with Proto-Neolithic cultures began around 12500 cal BC and lasted for more than 4000 years. The true Neolithic, with agriculture and livestock breeding, appeared just before 8000 cal BC, subsequently spreading across a wide area within just a few hundred years. Ceramics first occurred around 7000 cal BC. The Mesopotamian cultures that emerged around 6000 cal BC started the urban revolution.

Type
Near East Chronology: Archaeology and Environment
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 43 , Issue 3: Proceedings of the 17th International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 3 of 3) , 2001 , pp. 1191 - 1202
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Aurenche, O, Évin, J, Gasco, J. 1987. Une séquence chronologique dans le Proche Orient de 12000 à 3700 BC et sa relation avec les données du radiocarbone. In: Aurenche, O, Évin, J, Hours, F, editors. Chronologies du Proche Orient. Oxford: BAR International Series 379 p21–37.Google Scholar
Aurenche, O, Kozlowski, S. 1999. La Naissance du Néolithique au Proche Orient. Paris. 256 p.Google Scholar
Cauvin, J. 1997. Naissance des divinités, naissance de l'agriculture. Paris: CNRS Éditions. 310 p.Google Scholar
Évin, J, Aurenche, O, Gasco, J. 1990. Technics for the classification, selection, and interpretation of a series of 14C dates from the Near East. In: Mook, WG, Waterbolk, MT, editors. Proceeding of the Second International Symposium 14C and Archaeology. Pact, Strasbourg. p105–24.Google Scholar
Évin, J, Fortin, P, Oberlin, C. 1995. Calibration et modes de représentation des datations radiocarbones concernant le Néolithique de l'Est et du Sud-Est de la France. In: Voruz, JL, editor. Chronologies néolithiques, Ambérieu-en-Bugey, , Ed. de la Société Préhistorique Rhodanienne. p31–9.Google Scholar
Gasco, J. 1987. Traitements graphiques des dates radiocarbone: application au Proche Orient. In: Aurenche, O, Évin, J, Hours, F, editors. Chronologies du Proche Orient. Oxford: BAR International Séries 379. p21–37.Google Scholar
Hours, F, Aurenche, O, Cauvin, J, Cauvin, M-C, Copeland, L, Sanlaville, P. 1994. Atlas des Sites du Proche Orient (14000–5700 BP). Paris et Lyon, Maison de l'Orient et Diffusion de Boccard. 522 p.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Beck, JW, Burr, GS, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, McCormac, G, van der Plicht, J, Spurk, M. 1998. INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40(3):1041–84.Google Scholar
van der Plicht, J, Bruins, HJ. 2001. Radiocarbon dating in Near-Eastern contexts: confusion and quality control. Radiocarbon. This issue.CrossRefGoogle Scholar