The Son Ferrer archaeological site presents a series of successive occupations spanning a long period of time. At the beginning of the Iron Age (∼850 BC), a staggered turriform structure was built for a ritual purpose over an artificial hypogeum that had already been used as a collective necropolis during the Early Bronze Age (∼1800–1500 BC). Later, in the post-Talayotic phase (Second Iron Age, 550–123 BC), the hypogeum was again reused as a collective burial place. The present work is focused on the chronological and functional analysis of this last phase, which began ∼500 BC and ended ∼180 BC with the saturation and sealing of the hypogeum. The excavation process revealed that significant removal of archaeological material has occurred as a result of complex funerary space management practices, which generated a secondary archaeological context. Given this situation, and in order to establish the different use phases of the post-Talayotic necropolis, a dual strategy of excavation and research was implemented. First, an extensive series of radiocarbon dates on human remains (18 dates) was obtained, which were later analyzed following Bayesian strategies. Second, a detailed spatial analysis was carried out, georeferencing the location of all the archaeological finds. This strategy allowed the reconstruction of the space management processes and movement patterns that took place in the burial space. Despite some initial difficulties, the combination of these research strategies embedded in a contextual analysis provided both material and chronological references that have contributed to define the various use phases of the hypogeum.

The Balearic Islands provide a good example of late human settlement in the context of the prehistoric Mediterranean. After what could be considered a period of colonization, the earliest autochthonous cultural manifestations occur in the Bronze Age. This study aims to outline a chronology for Balearic Bronze Age villages, based on the case study of S'Hospitalet Vell (Manacor). A wide radiocarbon record has been obtained from three different habitation structures at the site. By combining the available dates with the stratigraphical information, a chronological approach to the occupation dynamics of this site can be established.

Lime burials are a characteristic phenomenon of the protohistoric funerary tradition on the Balearic Islands. At Cova de Na Dent, a lime burial has been sampled for analysis. The lime burial was made up of lime and fragmented bones. Six layers were sampled and described in the laboratory according to their color, the consistency of the deposition, and the aspect and quantity of the bone fragments. Bone samples and lime were dated. The lime was analyzed by using petrographic analysis, X-ray diffraction, FTIR spectroscopy, and simultaneous thermal analysis. The results show that the bones were cremated in the presence of crushed rock carbonate. The 14C dates on the lime suggest an earlier chronology for this ritual, starting in the Bronze Age, as generally is accepted.

Radiocarbon dates, obtained from different human bones found in several tombs of the site of Son Peretó, are presented and discussed together with the stratigraphical evidence and the study of the material culture. The calibrated dates show that the tombs were built earlier than the main phase of occupation of the West Sector, therefore belonging to a necropolis linked to the Christian building prior to the transformation of the area into a habitation nucleus. The necropolis is 14C dated mainly to the 6th century AD. This is in good agreement with the chronology provided by ceramic materials.

The prehistoric site of Cornia Nou (Menorca) features a number of well-preserved architectural structures belonging to the Talayotic culture. Over the last 6 yr, a team linked to the Museum of Menorca has conducted an archaeological excavation project of a large rectangular building attached to the south side of a substantial and massive talayot, which is considered the western talayot. The main objective of this paper is to present the chronological framework of this building, specifying the period of use and the time of abandonment of the building, as well as the dating of the different phases of its construction. A total of 27 14C analyses were obtained from samples of the stratigraphic layers and architectonic structures inside the South Building (SB). This research has provided new insights concerning the early stages of the Talayotic culture. The 14C dates allow us to place the first recorded occupation phase of the SB in an interval dated within 1100–900 BC (phase 4). A second phase in the occupation of the SB dates to ∼900–800 BC (phase 5). A final occupation phase could be situated between 800–600 BC (phase 6). However, this record provides evidence to suggest that the construction of the west talayot may pertain to a time before the beginning of the 1st millennium cal BC.

This article presents new radiometric data from archaeological layers of the inhabited structures adjacent to the cyclopean monument of Cap de Forma (Mahon, Menorca). The archaeological site is located on a narrow isthmus that links a 30-m-high coastal promontory to the mainland. It is next to an excellent natural harbor on the south coast of the island. The protohistorical complex consists of a cyclopean monument surrounded by a necropolis of rock-cut tombs (cuevas) that are dug into the cliff. The monument is an atypical example of Talayotic architecture. The excavations carried out since 1997 have discovered three living spaces. These lean against the southern wall of the cyclopean structure. The artifacts are almost all pan of a chronological horizon that corresponds to the beginning of the Talayotic period. This study uses radiometric data to help interpret the recent findings from the three living spaces that flank the wall of the central monument.

This contribution of the absolute chronology for the Beaker culture presents the results of archaeological research that took place at Coval Simó (Mallorca) between 1998 and 2008. Coval Simó is a rockshelter situated at the summit of one of the mountains that forms part of the northern mountain range of the Serra de Tramuntana. The site provided an exceptional undisturbed context, shielding a small space of only 25 m2. Thin sedimentary layers were deposited in a short timespan and later were sealed off by large blocks due to a rockslide falling from the top of the rockshelter. This site has offered significant information related to the occupation of a human group linked to the Bell Beaker culture, and users of other distinctive undecorated pottery vessels. Direct evidence of early island metallurgy was also obtained: smelting slags from local copper minerals. Regarding the methodology used for analysis, short-lived samples were chosen for radiocarbon dating, consisting of bone fragments identified and classified taxonomically. The samples were submitted alternately to two different 14C laboratories and the obtained results point to a clear horizon for the early human occupation of the site, ranging between about 2300 and 1900 cal BC.

A summary is presented of more than a decade-long study of direct radiocarbon dating for one of the most important human burials in Eurasia, the Sungir site in eastern Europe. Eighteen 14C dates were produced before early 2014 on three skeletons (Sungir 1–3), and there is still no consistency in the results. In the absence of other independent methods to establish the antiquity of Sungir, a careful analysis is performed of the site's stratigraphy, paleoenvironment, and 14C dates run on animal bones from the same layer as the burials. Although the conclusions of this work cannot be guaranteed to be absolutely correct, we suggest that at the present stage of research the age range of ∼26,000–27,210 BP is the most probable time for the creation of the elaborate human burials at the Sungir site.

Archaeologists tend to use typochronological frameworks to date their sites. These are based on the appearance of certain cultural markers such as grave types or houseplans. In the Meuse-Demer-Scheldt region, a chronological framework is used for the cremation cemeteries from the Middle Bronze Age until the Late Iron Age based on the size, number, and presence of different types of cremation graves. Radiocarbon dating of cremated bone from the small cemetery at Lummen-Meldert dates this site to the Late Bronze Age. These results challenge the hypothesis that small cremation cemeteries with mostly “unurned” graves date to the Middle Iron Age. The cremation graves without an urn and grave goods are a specific category that has to be dated by absolute dating methods such as 14C. The results also suggest a connection with the funerary traditions in the Atlantic region.

Since Marcel Edouard Mariën and his 1952 masterpiece synthesis Oud-België van de eerste landbouwers tot de komst van Caesar, the beginning of the Late Bronze Age in Belgium has been situated around 1100 BC, corresponding to the phase Ha A2. The scarcity of artifacts from Reinecke's phases Bz C and Ha Al seemed to confirm this theory. Based on an axe's hoard (Maaseik, Belgium) and the presence of grooved ware, the potential existence of a Bz D/Ha Al phase has been suggested but certainly not certified. Currently, a large campaign of analyses on bones from several Late Bronze Age sites is shedding new light on Bronze Age chronology.

To formulate a solid chronology of the northwest Belgian Bronze Age barrow phenomenon, a critical review of the available radiocarbon dates was necessary. The resulting 14C chronology of the barrows was compared with the 14C chronologies of the Late Neolithic Bell Beaker graves, the Bronze Age metalwork depositions, the evidence of barrow reuse, and the Bronze Age longhouses. This research revealed interesting patterns concerning the appearance and disappearance of the barrow phenomenon. The earliest 14C-dated barrows are dated during the Late Neolithic and coincide with the presence of the Bell Beaker culture in the region. The peak of the barrow-building practice occurred between 1700 and 1500/1400 cal BC, a period of flourishing trade networks in the regions along the North Sea basin. The period around 1500 cal BC is characterized by the disappearance of barrow-building practices and the sudden appearance of ritual depositional practices, reflecting changes in society.

Since the beginning of the Holocene, hunter-gatherers have occupied the central-south Brazilian coast, as it was a very productive estuarine environment. Living as fishers and mollusk gatherers, they built prehistoric shellmounds, known as sambaqui, up to 30 m high, which can still be found today from the Espírito Santo (21°S) to Rio Grande do Sul (32°S) states, constituting an important testimony of paleodiversity and Brazilian prehistory. The chronology of the Sambaqui da Tarioba, situated in Rio das Ostras, Rio de Janeiro, is discussed herein. Selected well-preserved shells of Iphigenia brasiliana and charcoal from fireplaces in sequential layers were used for radiocarbon dating analysis. Based on a statistical model developed using OxCal software, the results indicate that the settlement occupation begun most probably around 3800 cal BP and lasted for up to 5 centuries.

The archaeological site of Tlatoani at Tlayacapan is located in the Mexican Highlands, in the present-day state of Morelos. The site is an extant settlement located at the top of the Tepoztlan mountain range, and has been occupied since the Late Preclassic period (AD 150–500). At the height of its occupation in the Epiclassic and Early Postclassic periods (AD 600–1150), Tlayacapan was situated on the top of the hill. The radiocarbon investigations reported herein revealed some further distinct findings, although no clear absolute chronology was demonstrated. A dog skull was found inside the oldest foundation stage, and dated between cal AD 646 and 765, the middle of the Epiclassic period. Human remains found in the first grave belonged to three individuals. A male skeleton was dated to AD 1158–1227. Fragments of an incomplete skeleton of a child and an incomplete skeleton of a second male were placed on top of the first male skeleton and were dated in the range AD 1030–1156. A fourth skeleton found nearby in the second grave gave a similar date of AD 1164–1253. These burials were in accordance with the Middle America cosmovisional system, where bodies were buried beneath the household space. It is evident from the 14C dates of the skeletons that the burial sites beneath the household space had been reused by exhuming and reburying skeletons that had been previously buried there. A comparison of dates on fractions of collagen and bioapatite of the same bones was possible. Two of the samples were in good agreement between these fractions, whereas the other three samples are close but just outside the 2σ range.

Dispilio is the only excavated Neolithic lakeside settlement in Greece. Archaeological research provided evidence that the site was continuously used from the Early Neolithic (∼6000 BC) to the Late Chalcolithic period (∼1200 BC, Mycenaean period). During several archaeological campaigns, a portion of the settlement has been excavated that enabled a sufficient understanding of the architectural layout of homes, the building materials, and the organization of space, while the finds (fragments of pottery, stone and bone tools, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic clay figurines, miniature representations of objects also on clay, animal and fish bones, charred cereal grains, and other fruits) provided information on the everyday lives of the Neolithic inhabitants. A series of charcoal and wood samples, originating mostly from the Middle and Late Neolithic layers of the site, were radiocarbon dated and their dates range from ∼5470 to 4850 BC. The most unexpected of the finds, a wooden tablet from the lake bearing engraved symbols, was 14C dated to 5260 ± 40 BC. In addition, clay tablets and pottery vessels engraved with similar symbols were also unearthed from layers dated to the same period. If this proves to be a primary source of written communication, the history of writing should be reconsidered and Neolithic societies should not be considered “societies without writing.”

Absolute dates for the end of the Early Bronze Age ancient Near East are of crucial importance for assessing the nature and extent of mid- to late 3rd millennium BC transitions in the Near East and their alleged link to the 4.2ka BP climatic event. This article presents a radiocarbon sequence for the Early Bronze Age site of Tell Fadous-Kfarabida (Lebanon) and argues that the end of the Early Bronze III period has to be dated considerably higher than previously estimated. There is no reason to assume that the 4.2ka BP event might have contributed to or even triggered the collapse of the first urban cities in the southern and central Levant.

Late Neolithic graves excavated at Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, have been dated by radiocarbon. This series of 46 human bone dates represents a sequence of cemeteries that is analyzed by Bayesian methodology. The dates show continuous use of the northeastern slope of the mound as a burial ground throughout the Initial Pottery Neolithic to the Halaf period.

Current conventions for reporting radiocarbon determinations do not cover the reporting of calibrated dates. This article proposes revised conventions that have been endorsed by many 14C scientists. For every determination included in a scientific paper, the following should apply: (1) the laboratory measurement should be reported as a conventional radiocarbon age in 14C yr BP or a fractionation-corrected fraction modern (F14C) value; (2) the laboratory code for the determination should be included; and (3) the sample material dated, the pretreatment method applied, and quality control measurements should be reported. In addition, for every calibrated determination or modeled date, the following should be reported: (4) the calibration curve and any reservoir offset used; (5) the software used for calibration, including version number, the options and/or models used, and wherever possible a citation of a published description of the software; and (6) the calibrated date given as a range (or ranges) with an associated probability on a clearly identifiable calendar timescale.