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AMS and Radiometric Dating of an Etruscan Linen Book and Associated Mummy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Rupert A Housley ,
Dušan Srdoč  and
Nada Horvatinčić
Rupert A Housley
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, 6 Keble Road Oxford OX1 3QJ
Dušan Srdoč
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, 6 Keble Road Oxford OX1 3QJ
Nada Horvatinčić
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, 6 Keble Road Oxford OX1 3QJ
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Abstract

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An important Etruscan linen “book,” the Liber linteus Zagrabiensis, was preserved in wrappings of an Egyptian mummy. Stylistic estimates for the date of composition of the text vary. Three possible centuries were suggested, the 3rd and the 1st centuries BC and the 1st century ad. Radiometric and AMS dating of the linen book and the mummy has demonstrated multiple uses for differing aged materials. There seem to be at least two sets of linen wrappings of markedly contrasting ages, while separate fractions of the embalming unguent seemed to contain carbon of differing dates. 14C results suggest the most probable age range for the linen book is ca 360–210 cal BC, making the 3rd century BC stylistic date the most likely time of inscription.

Type
IV. Applications
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 31 , Issue 3: June 20-25, 1988 Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia , 1989 , pp. 970 - 975
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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