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The Chronology of the Ghassulian Chalcolithic Period in the Southern Levant: New 14C Determinations from Teleilat Ghassul, Jordan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Stephen Bourke
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Email: [email protected].
Ewan Lawson
Affiliation:
AMS Dating Unit, ANSTO, Lucas Heights, Sydney, Australia
Jaimie Lovell
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Email: [email protected].
Quan Hua
Affiliation:
AMS Dating Unit, ANSTO, Lucas Heights, Sydney, Australia
Ugo Zoppi
Affiliation:
AMS Dating Unit, ANSTO, Lucas Heights, Sydney, Australia
Michael Barbetti
Affiliation:
NGW Macintosh Centre for Quaternary Dating, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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Abstract

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This article reports on ten new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates from the Chalcolithic period (fifth millennium BC) archaeological type-site of Teleilat Ghassul in Jordan. Early radiocarbon assays from the site proved difficult to integrate with current relative chronological formulations. The ten new AMS dates and follow-up enquiries connected with the early assays suggest that the original dates were up to 500 years too early. A necessary reformulation of regional relative chronologies now views the Ghassul sequence falling between Late Neolithic Jericho and the Beersheban Chalcolithic.

Type
Near East Chronology: Archaeology and Environment
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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