Work

Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant: New Analysis for a High Chronology

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: The chronology of the Early Bronze Age (EBA) in the southern Levant and the synchronization between the sites, considering seriation and radiocarbon dates, have shown large inconsistencies and disagreement. We have assembled 42014C dates, most of them previously published and a few provided directly by the excavators. The dates have been re-evaluated on the basis of their archaeological context and using analytical criteria. Bayesian modeling has been applied to the selected dates in relation to the given seriation of the EBA subperiods (EB I, II III, IV). Sites with 2 or more sequential sub-phases were individually modeled in order to define the transitions between the subperiods. The new chronology indicates that the EB I–II transition occurred site-dependently between 3200–2900 BC, with EB II–III around 2900 BC, and EB III–IV ∼2500 BC.

Source: Radiocarbon

DOI: 10.1017/s003382220004724x

Authors: Johanna Regev, Pierre De Miroschedji, Raphael Greenberg, Eliot Braun, Zvi Greenhut, Elisabetta Boaretto