Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T23:12:59.581Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Broadening the Scope of Bone Anvils: Direct AMS 14C Dating from the Island of Menorca (Western Mediterranean)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2016

Alejandro Valenzuela Open the ORCID record for Alejandro Valenzuela [Opens in a new window] ,
Miguel Ángel Cau  and
María José León
Alejandro Valenzuela*
Affiliation:
Departament de Biodiversitat i Conservació, Institut Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), c/Miquel Marqués 21, 07190 Esporles, Mallorca, Spain Equip de Recerca Arqueològica i Arqueomètrica, Universitat de Barcelona (ERAAUB), Departament d’Història i Arqueologia, Facultat de Geografia i Història, c/ Montalegre 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
Miguel Ángel Cau
Affiliation:
ICREA, Passeig de Lluís Companys, 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain Equip de Recerca Arqueològica i Arqueomètrica, Universitat de Barcelona (ERAAUB), Departament d’Història i Arqueologia, Facultat de Geografia i Història, c/ Montalegre 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University, Box 1837, 60 George Street, Providence, RI 02912, USA
María José León
Affiliation:
Museu municipal des Bastió de sa Font, Plaça de la Font, s/n, 07760, Ciutadella de Menorca, Spain
*
*Corresponding author: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article presents the results of direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating of a new bone anvil retrieved in the Iron Age–Roman site of Montefí (Ciutadella), in the southwest of the island of Menorca (western Mediterranean). The radiometric date confirms the chronology obtained through the stratigraphy and typological analysis of ceramics (1st–3rd century AD), and indicates that this bone-made tool not only represents the first archaeological anvil from the island but also constitutes the earliest evidence in the western Mediterranean. This ancient date is more consistent with the known eastern regional chronology and reinforces the importance of obtaining direct AMS 14C dates to refine artifact chronologies.

Keywords

bone anvilMenorcaRoman ironworkingserrated sickleswestern Mediterranean
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , pp. 61 - 67
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aguirre, A, Etxeberria, F, Herrasti, L. 2004. El yunque de hueso para afilar la hoz metálica dentada. Munibe 56:113–121.Google Scholar
Anderson, PC, Rodet-Belarbi, I, Moreno-García, M. 2014. Sickles with teeth and bone anvils. In: van Gijn A, Whittaker J, Anderson PJ, editors. Exploring and Explaining Diversity in Agricultural Technology. Oxford: Oxbow Books. p 118–125.Google Scholar
Beldiman, C, Sztancs, DM, Rusu-Bolineţ, V, Achim, IA. 2011. Skeletal technologies, metal-working and wheat harvesting: ancient bone and antler anvils for manufacturing saw-toothed iron sickles discovered in Romania. In: Baron J, Kufel-Diakowska B, editors. Written in Bones. Studies on Technological and Social Contexts of Past Faunal Skeletal Remains. Wrocław: Uniwersytet Wrocławski. p 173–186.Google Scholar
Beldiman, C, Rusu-Bolindeţ, V, Sztancs, DM, Bădescu, A. 2014. Bone artefacts from Histria. Materiale şi cercetări Arheologice 10:221–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benco, NL, Ettahiri, A, Loyet, M. 2002. Worked bone tools: linking metal artisans and animal processors in medieval Islamic Morocco. Antiquity 76(292):447–457.Google Scholar
Boudin, M, Van den Brande, T, Synal, H-A, Wacker, L, Van Strydonck, M. 2015. RICH – a new AMS facility at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage. Brussels, Belgium. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 361:120–123.Google Scholar
Bowman, A, Wilson, A. 2013. The Roman Agriculture Economy: Organization, Investment, and Production. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briois, F, Poplin, F, Rodet-Belarbi, I. 1995. Aiguisoirs, polissoirs médiévaux en os (XIe-XIVe S.) dans le sud-ouest de la France. Archéologie du Midi Medieval 15:197–213.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51(1):337–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeNiro, MJ. 1985. Postmortem preservation and alteration of in vivo bone collagen isotope ratios in relation to palaeodietary reconstruction. Nature 317(6040):806–809.Google Scholar
Duncan-Jones, R. 1982. The Economy of the Roman Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Esteban, M, Carbonell, E. 2004. Saw-toothed sickles and bone anvils: a medieval technique from Spain. Antiquity 78(301):637–646.Google Scholar
Gál, E, Bartosiewicz, L. 2012. A radiocarbon-dated bone anvil from the chora of Metaponto, southern Italy. Antiquity 85(331): http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/gal331/.Google Scholar
Grau, I. 2012. Agriculture and ironwork in the Middle Ages: new evidence of bone anvils in Spain. Munibe 63:305–319.Google Scholar
Green, K. 1986. The Archaeology of the Roman Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Herranz, M, León, MJ. 2007. Excavació arqueològica de la Ronda Sud. In: L’arqueologia a Menorca: eina per al coneixement del Passat. Maó: Consell Insular de Menorca. p 185–194.Google Scholar
Horden, P, Purcell, N. 2000. The Corrupting Sea: A Study of the Mediterranean Sea. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Longin, R. 1971. New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 230(5291):241–242.Google Scholar
Margaritis, E, Jones, MK. 2009. Greek and Roman agriculture. In: Oleson JP, editor. The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World. New York: Oxford University Press. p 158–174.Google Scholar
McClelland, P. 1997. Sowing Modernity: America’s First Agricultural Revolution. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Mezquíriz, MA. 2007–2008. Instrumentos de hierro para la explotación agropecuaria en época romana. Trabajos de Arqueología Navarra 20:197–228.Google Scholar
Mongez, A. 1983. Mémoires sur les instruments d’agriculture employés par les anciens. Naples: Jovene Editore.Google Scholar
Moreno-García, M, Esteban, M, Pimenta, CM, López, MD, Morales, A. 2006. Los yunques de hueso en la Península Ibérica: estado de la cuestión. In: Bicho NF, editor. Animais na Pré-história e Arqueologia da Península Ibérica, actas do IV Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular, 14–19 Setembro de 2004. Faro: Universidade do Algarve. p 247–262.Google Scholar
Moreno-García, M, Pimenta, CM, López, PM, Pajuelo, A. 2007. The signature of a blacksmith on a dromedary bone from Islamic Seville (Spain). Archaeofauna 16:193–202.Google Scholar
Olsen, SL. 1988. The identification of stone and metal tool marks on bone artefacts. In: Olsen SL, editor. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Microwear of Bone Artifacts. British Archaeological Reports, International Series 452. Oxford: Archaeopress. p 337–359.Google Scholar
Poplin, F. 2009. Des os supports à denter les faucilles: une longue histoire technologique dans le basin de la Méditerranée et de la mer Noire. Bulletin de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France 2007:215–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatté, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffman, DL, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Niu, M, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, M, Southon, JR, Staff, RA, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–1887.Google Scholar
Rick, TC. 2001. AMS radiocarbon dating of a shell fishhook from Santa Rosa Island, California. Radiocarbon 43(1):83–86.Google Scholar
Rodet-Belarbi, I, Forest, V, Gardel, ME, Guinouvez, O. 2002. Aiguisoirs-polissoirs médiévaux en os (VIIe-XIVe s.). Nouvelles données. Archéologie du Midi Medieval 20:149–153.Google Scholar
Rodet-Belarbi, I, Esteban, M, Forest, V, Moreno-García, M, Pimenta, CM. 2007. Des aiguisoirs/polissoirs aux enclumes en os: l’historiographie des os piquetés. Archéologie Médiévale 37:157–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanahuja, ME. 1971. Instrumental de hierro agrícola e industrial de la época ibero-romano en Cataluña. Pyrenae 7:60–110.Google Scholar
Semenov, SA. 1964. Prehistoric Technology. London: Cory, Adams and Mackay.Google Scholar
Sutjana, D. 2000. Use of serrated sickle to increase farmer’s productivity. Journal of Human Ergology 29(1–2):1–6.Google ScholarPubMed
Van Strydonck, M, Van der Borg, K. 1990–1991. The construction of a preparation line for AMS-targets at the Royal Institute for cultural heritage Brussels. Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage 23:228–234.Google Scholar
White, KD. 1967. Agricultural Implements of the Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
White, KD. 1970. Roman Farming. London: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar