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14C Dating of the Early Natufian at El-Wad Terrace, Mount Carmel, Israel: Methodology and Materials Characterization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Eileen Eckmeier ,
Reuven Yeshurun ,
Mina Weinstein-Evron ,
Eugenia Mintz  and
Elisabetta Boaretto
Eileen Eckmeier*
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory, Kimmel Center of Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel University of Bonn, INRES-Soil Science, Nussallee 13, Bonn 53115, Germany
Reuven Yeshurun
Affiliation:
Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel
Mina Weinstein-Evron
Affiliation:
Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel
Eugenia Mintz
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory, Kimmel Center of Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Elisabetta Boaretto
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory, Kimmel Center of Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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The Natufian (15–11.5 kyr BP) sites in the southern Levant are characterized by a lack of macrobotanical remains, including charcoal, and poor preservation of bone collagen. As a result, only about 30 reliable radiocarbon dates are available for building a chronology of the Natufian period. Here, we present new 14C data from the Natufian site of el-Wad terrace that fall in the range of the Early Natufian period. Using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, we investigated the environmental factors that influenced the preservation of material for 14C dating of the site, and we tested a modified pretreatment method for poorly preserved charcoal samples. The normal pretreatment protocol for 14C samples (W-ABA) removed more charcoal material than the modified method, which omits the first acid treatment (W-BA). This first acid step seems to enhance the extraction of humic substances during the subsequent base step. We found that the poor preservation of charcoal could be attributed to the presence of calcite, and therefore an alkaline pH of sediments. The most important factor determining bone collagen preservation may have been the hydrological setting, i.e. fluctuating water levels due to oversaturation of the dense sediments after rainfall.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 54 , Issue 3-4 , 2012 , pp. 823 - 836
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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