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Radiocarbon Dating of the Transition from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age in Northeastern Syria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2019

Rafał Koliński Open the ORCID record for Rafał Koliński [Opens in a new window]  and
Tomasz Goslar Open the ORCID record for Tomasz Goslar [Opens in a new window]
Rafał Koliński*
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego Str. 7, 61-614 Poznań, Poland
Tomasz Goslar
Affiliation:
Faculty of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 85, 61-614 Poznań, Poland Poznań Radiocarbon Laboratory, Poznań Park of Science and Technology, Rubież 46, 61-612 Poznań, Poland
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

The paper presents radiocarbon (14C) dates of samples collected from the Bronze Age cultural strata (VI–II) excavated within Sector P, Tell Arbid, Khabur Triangle, northern Mesopotamia. These strata contain objects (remains of a caravanserai, pits, graves, pottery kilns, and multi-phase houses) representing the periods of Early Jezirah 4-5, and Old Jezirah I-II. 14C dating of these strata was especially important because of a clearly visible period of abandonment of the area at the onset of 2nd millennium BC, recorded on all Khabur Triangle sites studied so far, and because of the questionable reliability of the chronology derived from scarce historical sources. Of the 29 samples of cereal grains, 9 appeared to contain residual material, while Bayesian-analyzed 14C ages of the remaining 20 allowed us to say that, at the turn of the 3rd millennium BC, Tell Arbid was abandoned later than other sites in the area, and that it was occupied over a distinctly longer period during the early 2nd millennium.

Keywords

ChronologyBronze AgeMesopotamiasettlement
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 61 , Issue 4 , August 2019 , pp. 953 - 970
Copyright
© 2019 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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