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Stones, Bones, and Hillfort: Radiocarbon Dating of ķivutkalns Bronze-Working Center

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

M Oinonen ,
A Vasks ,
G Zarina  and
M Lavento
M Oinonen*
Affiliation:
Finnish Museum of Natural History - LUOMUS, University of Helsinki, Finland
A Vasks
Affiliation:
Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia, Latvia
G Zarina
Affiliation:
Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia, Latvia
M Lavento
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland
*
2Corresponding author. Email: markku.j.oinonen@helsinki.fi.
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Abstract

The Bronze Age site of ķivutkalns with its massive amount of archaeological artifacts and human remains is considered the largest bronze-working center in Latvia. The site is a unique combination of cemetery and hillfort believed to be built on top of each other. This work presents new radiocarbon dates on human and animal bone collagen that somewhat challenge this interpretation. Based on analyses using a Bayesian modeling framework, the present data suggest overlapping calendar year distributions for the contexts within the 1st millennium BC. The carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios indicate mainly terrestrial dietary habits of studied individuals and nuclear family remains buried in one of the graves. The older charcoal data may be subject to the old-wood effect and the results are partly limited by the limited amount of data and the 14C calibration curve plateau of the 1st millennium BC. Therefore, the ultimate conclusions on contemporaneity of the cemetery and hillfort need to wait for further analyses on the massive amounts of bone material.

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. 1252 - 1264
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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