14C dating (Archaeology)

This paper presents the radiocarbon context of the megalithic monument El Amarejo 1, situated in the corridor of Almansa in the southern region of La Meseta in Spain. The monument was constructed using small and mediumsized masonry, comprising a short corridor and two separate chambers in which burials were carried out. The results of the 14 C analyses of each of the 11 individuals documented indicate that the monument was in use between approximately 1900 and 1200 cal BC. Bayesian modeling of the radiocarbon dates allows for the proposition of hypotheses regarding the construction, utilisation dynamics, and abandonment of the monument. The combination of these new data with the analysis of the 14 C dating of other burials from the Bronze Age of La Mancha reveals a complex and heterogeneous panorama. The evidence presented and analyzed in this paper suggests that burial practices associated with fortified settlements and their domestic areas shared space and time with the construction of megalithic monuments located near settlements.

In order to explore a new water-supply for the city of Telfs, the terrace sediments west of Telfs, Tyrol („Mieminger Plateau) have been investigated with a multi-disciplinary approach down to a depth of 110 metres. The project resulted in drilling a deep well down to a depth of 110 m from the surface. Via geophysical, geological (drillings, mapping, component analysis, geochemistry) and hydrogeological (hydrochemistry, isotope-hydrology, dye tests, monitoring) explorational methods a model for the sedimentary structure of the terrace-sediments was created, which led to a solid interpretation of the sedimentary history of the area. The deepest parts of the terrace are built up by gravel, which has been transported a short distance in a braided river system. The sedimentation of this gravel has been interrupted during an unincisive climate oscillation with the deposition of banded clays and carbonate gravel from a local catchment area. The uppermost regions of the terrace are built up...

On the occasion of the inauguration and the formal scientific opening of the iron smelting Museum in Somogyfajsz, an international archaeometailurgical workshop was organised, with participating archaeologists and archaeometallurgists from Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic,  Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. Before the official opening of the workshop, the participants visited the Roman and medieval monuments of Sopron and the remains of the early medieval iron smelting furnances, which are exhibited in the archaeological department of the Sopron Museum. Afterwards, the researchers observed the medieval iron ore mining pits of the forest of Kópháza, near Sopron.
This publication collects the presentations delivered in the two sessions of the workshop. They were completed with some other writings, whose authors were not able to take part in the meeting in May of 1997. The lectures of  the Ukrainian collegaues, are also published, which were held on the Metallurgical Day in Somogyfajsz in 1998, organised by the National Hungarian Mining and Metallurgical Association, together with the Industrial Archaeological and Archaeometrical Working Committee. Travelling from Sopron to Somogyfajsz, the participants of the meeting viewed the late Roman iron blooms weighing 50-60 kilograms in the Balaton Museum of Keszthely. Then, in Somogyfajsz, they observed the iron smelting workshop from the 10th century. At the same time with the discussions, a demonstrative smelting was carried out in an iron smelting unit, which was reconstructed on the model of the workshop in Somogyfajsz.

In the 4 th century AD, Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, taking his information from Diodorus Siculus, i.e. Diodorus of Sicily (in a section of his history which has not otherwise survived, some of which was taken in turn from Apollodorus), stated in his chronicle that the Heraclids entered the Peloponnese 80 years after the fall of Troy, uprooting almost all the people there apart from the Arcadians. He went on to give the names of the subsequent Spartan kings in both the Agiad and Eurypontid lines, noting that Alcamenes was the 8 th generation descendent of Eurysthenes in one line whereas, in the other, Theopompus, the contemporary of Alcamenes, was the 5 th generation descendent of Procles. There were 322 years from the beginning of the reign of Eurysthenes to the end of that of Alcamenes, and 288 years from the accession of Procles to the end of the reign of Theopompus. Eusebius also noted that the Heraclids appointed Aletes king of Corinth, the first in a line of 11 Corinthian kings who reigned in total for 326 years. The final king, Telestes, was killed by his own family, the Bacchids, after reigning for 12 years. The Bacchids then maintained control of Corinth for the next 90 years through the appointment of an annual prytanis (magistrate) from amongst their number [6]. Concerning the rulers of Athens, Eusebius, following Castor of Rhodes (who, like Diodorus, lived during the 1 st century BC, a century later than Apollodorus), wrote in his chronicle that the Erechtheids had been kings of Athens for 450 years, the dynasty consisting of 15 kings from Cecrops I (a contemporary of Prometheus and Atlas) to Thymoetes (whose reign ended just before the invasion of the Peloponnese by the Heraclids). A timescale of 352 years was indicated from the start of the dynasty to the death of Theseus, and 77 years from the accession of the next Athenian king, Menestheus (in whose reign Troy fell to the Greeks) to the end of the reign of Thymoetes. Similarly, Argos had been ruled by 9 kings, from Inachus to Sthenelus, over a period of 382 years, towards the end of which Cecrops I became king of the Athenians. Danaus then drove Sthenelus out of Argos and founded a dynasty of 5 kings who ruled in total for 162 years. The Argives were then ruled from Mycenae for 215 years by a dynasty of kings including Atreus, Agamemnon (who captured Troy in his 18 th year) and Orestes, before Cometes lost the throne to the invading Heraclids. In Athens, after the end of the Erechtheid dynasty, Melanthus of Pylus (whose reign coincided with the Heraclid invasion), followed by his son Codrus, ruled in total for 58 years. Athens was then ruled by hereditary archons (magistrates) for 209 years, beginning with Medon, son of Codrus, and ending with Alcmaeon, son of Aeschylus. For the next 70 years, Athens was governed by a succession of seven archons, who each served 10-year terms. After that, archons held power for just one year each, the first of these being Creon. Aristotle (or possibly one of his students), in The Athenian Constitution, written during the 4 th century BC, presented a similar picture of the transition from kings to hereditary archons to fixed term archons, but gave fewer chronological details and said it was uncertain whether the first hereditary archon was Medon or his son Acastus. He also indicated that several archons served together, one having the senior role and, when the office became an annual one, the eponymous archon, i.e. the one who gave his name to the year, was the head of the group. In the chronicle of Eusebius, the author went on to give the complete list of kings (17 in total), hereditary archons (13 altogether) and the 7 archons who served 10-year terms. He gave reign-lengths for the kings and hereditary archons consistent with the overall timescale given by Castor, so were presumably taken from that source, but Eusebius commented that these figures could not be considered reliable, because other historians gave different timescales. According to the list, Thymoetes, the last of the Erechtheidae, was the great-grandson of Theseus, who was supposedly a contemporary of Heracles. Eusebius wrote that the Heraclids occupied the Peloponnese during the reign of Melanthus in Athens, and he went on to indicate that Aeschylus, last but one of the hereditary archons, was a contemporary of the Spartan kings Alcamenes and Theopompus [7]. Around this time, the Spartans began their rise to dominance in the Peloponnese by winning the first of their wars against the Messenians. According to the poet Tyrtaeus, writing around two generations after the event, this victory was achieved under the leadership of Theopompus. It enabled the Spartans to create a strictly hierarchical society with outsiders, mainly Messenians, at the base, these being the helots, i.e. slaves, whose labour enabled Spartan males to devote their entire time to achieving military excellence [8]. Alcamenes and Theopompus were the last Spartan kings mentioned in the chronicle of Eusebius, but we know from other sources that both lines of kings continued long after this time. However, they formed part of a structure of government which included five magistrates, known as ephors, who were elected for a one-year term, and could not be re-elected. The chief ephor, who was in some ways more powerful than either of the kings, gave his name to the year. Whether this system came into operation after the reigns of Alcamenes and Theopompus, or at a later time, is uncertain [9]. There can be little certainty about any Greek historical details from this period or earlier, and the same situation applies for more than another hundred years into the future. The first major Greek historian is generally considered to have been Hecataeus of Miletus, who lived through the transition from the 6 th to the 5 th century BC. Although little of his work has survived, we know from other sources that he expressed scepticism about the details of events described in earlier accounts, and their timescale. Nevertheless, he was not able to provide a solution to the problems. The next important historian, Herodotus, who lived half a century later, similarly expressed scepticism about events involving gods and demigods, but continued to rely on generation times (for want of anything better) to provide a timescale for historical events [10]. Perhaps because, although he was an Ionian Greek, Herodotus was born within the Persian empire in Halicarnassus, on the western coast of Asia Minor, a long way from the Greek mainland, he was interested in the customs, geography and history of all of the regions in the world in which he lived. The main thread running through his nine-book work, The Histories, was the history of the Persians, from their rise to power under Cyrus the Great to their invasions of Greece under Darius I and Xerxes I, close to the time when Herodotus was born. Interrupting this narrative were accounts, sometimes lengthy, of other people such as the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Lydians and Greeks, providing background to their interactions with the Persians. So, for example, when writing about the Greeks, he said that Lycurgus, famed for introducing the Spartan code of laws and for re-organising the army, was the uncle of King Labotas of Sparta (grandson of Agis), and acted as his regent [11]. Later, he noted that Miltiades, who led the Athenians (and their allies from Plataea) to victory over the army of Darius at Marathon, effectively ending the first Persian invasion of Greece, claimed descent from Philaeus, son of the great Ajax, who was believed to have settled in Athens. Herodotus gave no generation count, but it is known that the Philaid family in Athens were claiming in the mid-sixth century to be 12 generations removed from Ajax, and Miltiades himself was apparently 3 generations further down the line [12]. More directly, Herodotus stated that Leonidas, the Agiad king of Sparta who died at Thermopylae trying to hold back the army of Xerxes, could trace his ancestry back 20 generations to Heracles, through his father Anaxandrides and then Leon, Eurycratides, Anaxander, Eurycrates, Polydorus, Alcamenes, Telechles, Archelaus, Agesilaus, Doryssus, Leobotas, Echestratus, Agis, Eurysthenes, Aristodemus, Aristomachus, and Cleodaeus on to Hyllus, the son of Heracles. Similarly, Herodotus said that, after the Persian victory at Thermopylae and defeat at Salamis, a Greek fleet sailed to Aegina under the command of the Eurypontid king of Sparta, Leotychides II, who could also trace his ancestry back 20 generations to Heracles, through Menares, Agesilaus,

Muchas de las iglesias alavesas que se construyeron entre los siglos XII y XIII se decoraron en su interior con pinturas rojas sobre un fondo de cal blanco. Las del muro absidal de la iglesia de San Martín de Tours constituyen un caso extraordinario, tanto por la cantidad de pintura conservada como por la singularidad de su temática. Partiendo de los datos obtenidos en la última restauración, este artículo aborda por vez primera un estudio completo del conjunto, estableciendo un marco cronológico para las diversas capas que se fueron sucediendo. A partir de ahí, se analiza la capa actualmente visible y que corresponde con la más antigua de todas, identificando sus principales figuras. Con ello, se ponen las bases de una cultura visual inadvertida, formada por piezas escasamente atendidas desde la historia del arte como son las lápidas o estelas de diversas cronologías, que nos permitirá desarrollar una reflexión teórica sobre los significados de estas imágenes con relación al tiempo.

Many of the churches built in Alava between the 12th and 13th centuries were decorated with red mural paintings on a white lime background. Those on the apse wall of the church of San Martín de Tours are an extraordinary case, both for the quantity of painting preserved and for the uniqueness of their subject matter. Based on the data obtained in the last restoration, this article undertakes for the first time a complete study of the paintings, first establishing a chronological framework for the different layers preserved. Afterwards, the currently visible layer that corresponds to the oldest of all is analyzed, identifying its main figures. Thus, a hitherto unnoticed visual culture emerges, made up of pieces that have received little attention from the history of art, such as tombstones or stelae of different chronologies, which will allow us to think about the meanings of these images in relation to time.

Ever since the first discovery of urn burials in eastern Serbia during the 1980s, their dating has been uncertain and based on distant analogies and typological parallels. In this paper, we present radiocarbon dates from five urn cemeteries and three associated settlement sites, showing that the initial dating (Late Bronze Age; 14th-11th BCE) is highly questionable. Instead, radiocarbon dating and modeling presented here connect the urn cemeteriescharacterized by a specific grave architecture and associated with settlements that display evidence of copper production-to a period between the 20th and 16th centuries BC. The fact that many of our dates come from cremated bones requires a discussion with regard to the circumstances of carbon exchange during cremation. The absolute dates thus far available for most urn cemeteries from the neighboring regions of the Balkans are all markedly younger (15th-11th century BC) than the data presented here and fall in the frame of the overall expansion of cremation in Europe during the Urnfield period. The new absolute dates from eastern Serbia provide a possibility to change our understanding of the Bronze Age dynamics of the 2nd millennium in the broader area of southeastern Europe and indicate a much earlier acceptance of cremation among certain groups than previously thought.

Rongorongo, the enigmatic script of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), has long resisted decipherment. This paper presents the first comprehensive decipherment of Rongorongo as a fully phonetic Polynesian syllabary. We detail a systematic methodology that aligns the script's 120+ glyphs with consonant-vowel (CV) syllables of an Eastern Polynesian language, consistent with Old Rapa Nui. Prior attempts by Barthel (1958), Fischer (1997) and others failed to achieve a consistent reading; we compare these efforts to our approach and explain why ours succeeds. Key to our decipherment is a rigorous cross-text analysis of all 26 known Rongorongo inscriptions, identification of repeated patterns, and correlation with Polynesian lexicon and grammar. Statistical validation confirms the phonetic consistency of our readings: chi-square tests and Zipf's Law analyses show the glyph frequency distribution matches natural language expectations, and deciphered texts align with word and syllable frequencies in Rapa Nui, Māori and Hawaiian corpora. We present the final glyph-to-phoneme syllabary with example translations, including the previously recognised lunar calendar sequence now read in Rapa Nui terms. A step-by-step replication guide is provided to ensure independent verification of each stage of the decipherment. The results reveal that Rongorongo texts encompass religious chants, genealogies, navigational instructions and historical records, firmly establishing Rongorongo as a true writing system rather than proto-writing. We discuss the profound linguistic and historical implications of this discovery, calling for updated museum interpretations of the tablets and academic recognition of Rongorongo as one of the world's few independent inventions of writing.

Deciphering Rongorongo as a Polynesian Syllabary: Linguistic and Statistical Validation © 2025 by Erik Kiley is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

A research question posed in the archaeological investigation of Site 20M723 in 2013 was whether the recovered culturally modified timber is associated with LaSalle's Le Griffon, lost in 1679. This paper summarizes the requirements of dendrochronology, tomography, and radiocarbon-dating in establishing a date for the felling of the timber. The dendrochronology was not viable, but interpretation of radiocarbon data put the range of felling dates between 1700 and 1950, with the most possible date between 1820 and 1950. Based on these scientific findings, the authors discuss the possible use and identity of this timber.

The authors respond to critics by pointing out the Sumerian-Egyptian chronology problem that challenges all attempts at historical revision of the Ancient Near East and Egypt. Additionally, the historicity of Semiramis I and II is defended. Porter’s stratigraphic challenge to making the Old and Middle Kingdoms of Egypt parallel to each other is also addressed.

Caia, João Gabriel. 2025. "A «Coleção do Hospital de Évora»: valorização arqueológica e de comunidade no Museu Nacional Frei Manuel do Cenáculo". In Cenáculo: Boletim Ilustrado, 1: 7-26. Abstract: During the 1960s, a group of workers from the then Évora District Hospital organised several ‘amateur’ archaeological incursions into various dolmens in Évora. These interventions resulted in a collection of around 300 objects dating from the Late Neolithic period, sufficiently representative of the region's megaliths, which were kept at the Hospital until they were incorporated in 1989 into the then Évora Museum, now the National Museum Friar Manuel do Cenáculo (hereinafter referred to as the MNFMC). This article is the result of research carried out between February and November 2022 at the MNFMC, which resulted in the systematisation of the archaeological reality of the collection, now with hypotheses of new archaeological provenances based on cross-referencing data between objects and unpublished archives; the first historiographical approach to the activities and collecting of this ‘Admirers of the Alentejo’ group, with a new perspective on the history of science and scientific culture in the district of Évora in the 20th century, made possible by unpublished archive data and the valuable testimonies of the members of the group who are still alive - Joana Lopes and Graciete Fidalgo, whom I would like to thank again for their availability, as well as Quintino Lopes and Lília Fidalgo for their co operation; and the suggestion of the museological potential of this Collection, currently in reserves, for its extension to the community.

CAST: Los paisajes aldeanos se construyen a partir de superposiciones materiales que se estratifican a través de largos periodos, pero tienden a caracterizarse desde una imagen que es el resultado final y acumula-do de heterogéneas prácticas de habitar de numerosas generaciones en lugares recurrentes. Este trabajo presenta los resultados de las investigaciones arqueológicas realizadas en La Ciénega (departamento Tafí del Valle, provincia de Tucumán), orientadas a caracterizar la variabilidad y dinámica temporal de los paisajes aldeanos del área de valles y quebradas del Noroeste argentino. En dos campañas sucesivas se concretaron  excavaciones  en  una  unidad  residencial  compuesta  y  en  un  espacio  monticular  que  permi-tieron conocer novedosos contextos materiales, datados por 11 fechados radiocarbónicos. En base a los estudios estratigráficos, arquitectónicos, materiales y cronológicos se discuten la temporalidad y las lógicas sociales que dieron sustento a la compleja estructuración del paisaje del primer milenio de la Era Común en el área de estudio.
ENG: Village landscapes are built from multiple material superpositions that are stratified over long periods but tend to be characterized by an image that is the final result of heterogeneous dwelling practices of numerous generations in recurring places. This work presents a synthesis of the archaeological research carried out in La Ciénega, aimed at characterizing the variability and temporal dynamic of the village landscapes of the Valles and Quebradas area of Northwestern Argentina. In two successive fieldwork seasons, excavations were carried out in a residential cluster and in a mound structure that allowed new material contexts to be recorded, dated by eleven radiocarbon dates. Based on stratigraphic, architectural, material and chronological studies, the temporality and social logics that supported the complex structuring of the landscape of the first millennium CE in the study area are discussed.

After 70 years we still have very little knowledge about the Epi-Paleolithic, Prepottery Neolithic (PPN), and Pottery Neolithic (PN) periods in the eastern Mazandaran plains. Unreliable excavation methods, the application of personal taste in collecting data, and uncertain analyses are among the issues we face in Coon`s excavations at the Hotu and Kamarband caves. Additionally, there are no detailed reports of pottery from the caves by Coon. In the following years, only general information and a few pictures and drawings by archaeologists were published, which, although helpful, weren’t enough. In the last two decades, despite the excavations and field surveys that have been carried out, there have been no attempts to reinterpret the Caspian Neolithic Software (the CNS pottery type). Touq Tappeh and Tappeh Valiki, located in the Neka Plain, are two CNS sites that yielded over 2500 sherds belonging to the PN. Analysis of the pottery assemblage suggests a need to revise our assumptions about the CNS type. The diversity in production and decoration reflects household production, although they show a specific pattern at regional and inter-regional levels. It has come to our attention that while some researchers have referred to this pottery as the Djeitun/Chakhmaq style, new absolute dates tell a different story. The sherds presented in this paper can be categorized into two groups - regional and interregional- with the majority belonging to the CNS type. The dating of Touq Tappeh suggests that the PN layers belong to 6250-5800 BC. Meanwhile, dating from Hotu indicates that the PN began around 6400 BC, and at Tappeh Valiki, it started around 6600 BC. Consequently, the CNS culture in the eastern region of Mazandaran is now considered the oldest Pottery Neolithic culture in northeastern Iran.

Göbekli Tepe is a unique site both in terms of its monumental architecture and the fact that it appears to be a memorial site, which together makes interpretation of the site particularly challenging and therefore especially interesting. Regrettably, no steam power construction equipment was at the disposal, rendering the present author unable to provide a personal evaluation. There has been a great deal of popular interest in the site, and much generic commentary about it without engaging with the specifics of the unique circumstance of Göbekli Tepe. Such studies will only be alluded to insofar as they inform the core discussion of Göbekli Tepe, and only then where they concern topics with a direct relevance to the interpretation of monumental architecture and ritual activity.

On the south coast of Peru, the famous geoglyphs carved into the desert surface of the Nasca region constitute a dominant feature in the prehistoric landscape. In a joint archaeological-geodetic project we used photogrammetry to map more than 1 000 of these ground drawings around Palpa, to the north of Nasca, which we later on revised in detail in the field. In this article we describe the visualisation of the geoglyphs and the landscape they are found in. Furthermore, we present the outlines of a GIS which we are currently establishing for the spatial analysis of the geoglyphs within their natural as well as cultural environment.

This paper considers the results of the investigations of two prehistoric sites in the southern part of the Blagoevgrad Valley, southwest Bulgaria: Moshtanets-Chukata and Strumsko. Being situated at the highest points of opposing hills on either side of the Struma River, these small, fortified settlements were strategically located in difficult-to-access areas allowing them control over the key routes to the Kresna Gorge and the Aegean coast to the south, the Upper Struma Valley to the north, and the Vardar Valley to the west. Radiocarbon dating of material from the sites suggests that they existed during the first quarter of the fifth millennium BC, at the beginning of the Copper Age. The study focuses on the ceramic repertoire from the sites; the most distinctive shapes and recurring combinations of technological, typological, and decorative characteristics are examined and the common elements and trends in the ceramic production of both settlements are highlighted. Based on the evidence of absolute chronology, ceramic assemblages, stratigraphic sequences, topography, and settlement layout, the author theorizes that both sites might have co-existed as parts of a single community that shared common organizational structure for at least some time of their life-cycles.

Diet is fundamental and closely interconnected with land-use, technology, and economy. When societies undergo major diet shifts, the entire human niche shifts, including all interrelated aspects of social organization. As such, larger patterns in social organization can inform us about diet in the absence of direct evidence. This study focuses specifically on patterns of land-use in the Gobi Desert of China and Mongolia, a place where direct evidence of diet is scanty due to the poor preservation of organics. The purpose is to explore diachronic changes in the spatial distribution of sites and variation in intensity of site use in order to explore proposed changes in subsistence economies. Here, a reorganization of technology, raw material use, and settlement that began in the early to middle Holocene ("Oasis 2") supports the idea of diet breadth expansion between the Palaeolithic and Bronze Age. Strategies of land-use during all three periods are considered. The findings offer a foundation from which to build testable hypotheses about local land-use and subsistence, but also a model for exploring such transitions in other regions where direct evidence is scanty (e.g., forest landscapes, many arid regions and the very deep past).

ABSTRACTRadiocarbon (14C) ages cannot provide absolutely dated chronologies for archaeological or paleoenvironmental studies directly but must be converted to calendar age equivalents using a calibration curve compensating for fluctuations in atmospheric14C concentration. Although calibration curves are constructed from independently dated archives, they invariably require revision as new data become available and our understanding of the Earth system improves. In this volume the international14C calibration curves for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, as well as for the ocean surface layer, have been updated to include a wealth of new data and extended to 55,000 cal BP. Based on tree rings, IntCal20 now extends as a fully atmospheric record to ca. 13,900 cal BP. For the older part of the timescale, IntCal20 comprises statistically integrated evidence from floating tree-ring chronologies, lacustrine and marine sediments, speleothems, and corals. We utilized improved evalua...

Au gré de ses recherches dans le domaine de la protohistoire européenne, Eugène Warmenbol a été confronté à des objets du Néolithique qu’il a pris soin d’analyser en les propulsant à la pointe de l’actualité scientifique. Nous retiendrons dans cet article des sites étudiés par l’auteur et qui ont un rapport avec la culture de Michelsberg. En particulier, les fouilles au « Plateau des Cinques » à Olloy- sur-Viroin apportent des éléments neufs dans notre approche d’une meilleure définition de l’industrie lithique d’un faciès récent du Michelsberg, échafaudée à la lumière des récentes découvertes du CReA-Patrimoine de l’ULB, au « Bois du Grand Bon Dieu » à Thuin.

The fifth season of excavations of Oponice Castle in 2020 was located in the lower castle’s courtyard. The research led to discovery of an original clay floor being heavily burned with charred plank and a rectangular stone-brick construction. The construction has collapsed upper part with a fallen low brick arch. The whole area was covered with numerous stove tiles and one clay mold for the production of stove tiles. The construction was identified as a pottery kiln dated to the second half of the 16th until the first half of the 17th century AD by the findings from excavated layer identified to the kiln destruction. Also, written sources mention a large fire in 1645 which destroyed the castle. The aim of this article is to use different methods of dating and refine the chronology of the context through microarchaeology and Bayesian modeling. For these purposes different types of samples were collected. The sampling focused on site formation process determination of pottery kiln use and the way of its destruction. Applying Bayesian analysis improved overall dating, through modeled time interval of the three individual sequences and helped recreated historical events during the period, when the calibration curve fluctuates.

Caves are sensitive to hydrological processes including sediment transport associated with changes in external climatic conditions. When located in the proximity of prehistoric settlements, cave sediments can provide details about human activities and help to elucidate the paleoenvironment. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of lithological, geochemical, magnetic, organic matter, non-pollen palynomorphs, and charcoal data from sediment in Ciur Izbuc Cave, revealing significant paleoenvironmental and hydrodynamic changes over the past 6500 years. The first phase (6500-3500 calibrated years BP; cal BP) depicts a dynamic system with constant surface-subsurface connections, moderate-to-high erosion, and low-to-moderate sediment accumulation rates. The low charcoal levels during this phase indicate limited human impact. The second phase (3500-1400 cal BP) features contrasting depositional environments; the initial interval shows low accumulation under reduced water flow, reflective of a stable late mid-Holocene climate, while the subsequent interval reveals an abrupt shift to wetter conditions, characterized by runoff-derived minerogenic sediments. This period coincides with increased human impacts, including fire activity and land-use changes since the late Bronze Age. The third phase (1400-100 cal BP) exhibits complex hydrological dynamics, with sporadic, intense erosion linked to short-term climatic shifts. Increased charcoal concentrations and the presence of fungi indicate persistent human activity, intensifying after 300 cal BP. Our findings underscore the complex relationship between climate events, humans, and sediment dynamics in the Ciur Izbuc Cave, highlighting the utility of a multi-proxy approach in reconstructing past environmental changes.

Over the course of 150 years, a misinterpretation of time has developed an incorrect hypothesis and has become so established that it is considered a self-evident truth. After many years of historical research into the source and cause of this incorrect hypothesis, the cause turned out to be obvious, as often happens. It was the day, so common, but always ignored or overlooked, that led to a misinterpretation and the resulting incorrect hypothesis. With this knowledge and all other irrefutable historical facts, the Gregorian calendar from 1582 itself has proven that it has the same duration as the solar year. This means that the solar calendars of the ancient civilizations also had the same duration as the Gregorian calendar year. And that has far-reaching consequences.

The key to understanding the hitherto difficult A.1123 and Chronicle 25 lines 19-21 is a noncanonical Babylonian king allied with Assyria, who overthrew Enlil-nādin-apli (lines 20-21) after he attacked Assyria (line 19), and was overthrown by Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē (lines 22-25) in a ‘great rebellion’ (A.1123) that killed two Assyrian princes present in Babylonia as part of the alliance.  This allows a delayed burial - after the princes' bodies were recovered by the resulting war (line 26) - to explain how the known war in līmu Aššur-šuma-ēriš can have been triggered by the killing of princes buried late in this year (A.1123).

Since KAL 3.22 straightforwardly refers to a noncanonical 11th century Aššur-uballiṭ, ongoing bad relations initiated by this Babylonian treachery  against Assyria, which likely continued into the early reign of Marduk-šāpik-zēri, can reasonably be identified with the ongoing ‘treachery’ in BM 96947, which is unworkable when its Aššur-uballiṭ is identified as Aššur-uballiṭ I. This correlation dates this Assur-uballit soon after Tiglath-Pileser I, which is very consistent with multiple anticipations in BM 96947 that point to a dating long after Assur-uballit I. This specific dating finds strong support from a very attractive genealogical match with BM 120960, when this text is dated by orthographic "peculiarities" shared with YBC 2242.

Kehidupan manusia didunia merupakan anugrah dari Allah swt, dengan segala pemberiannya kepada manusia dapat menikmati segala kenikmatan yang bisa dirasakan oleh dirinya tetapi anugrah tersebut kadang kala manusia lupa akan dzat Allah Swt yang memberi kenikmatan tersebut

Assyrian Inscriptions of Distanzangaben or 'designations of distance' are of intense interest to Assyriologists and Mesopotamian historians. This review looks at the period from Shagarakti-Shuriash to Nabonidus regarding the Eulmas temple to Ishtar-Anunitu.

Sejarah peradaban manusia adalah sejarah pencarian akan kebenaran. Dari filsafat kuno hingga ilmu pengetahuan modern, manusia terus berupaya memahami alam semesta dan tempat kita di dalamnya. Ilmu pengetahuan telah memberikan kita pemahaman yang lebih mendalam tentang dunia, namun juga memunculkan pertanyaan-pertanyaan baru yang semakin kompleks.
Kebenaran ilmiah seringkali dianggap sebagai standar kebenaran yang paling objektif. Namun, perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan menunjukkan bahwa pengetahuan kita bersifat sementara dan dapat berubah seiring dengan munculnya bukti-bukti baru. Teori-teori yang dianggap benar pada suatu masa dapat terbantahkan di masa mendatang.
Di tengah pesatnya perkembangan teknologi, kita dihadapkan pada tantangan baru dalam memahami kebenaran. Informasi yang melimpah dan mudah diakses melalui internet dapat membuat kita bingung dan sulit membedakan antara fakta dan fiksi. Dalam konteks ini, penting bagi kita untuk mengembangkan kemampuan berpikir kritis dan evaluatif.

The Pampas and Patagonia are the geographical representations of the nomadic forager societies in the Southern Cone of South America. These people lived almost exclusively by hunting, gathering and fishing, from their primary dispersal during the late Pleistocene until the European conquest. The book The archaeology of the Pampas and Patagonia is a critical and comprehensive review of the knowledge produced by archaeological scholarship and, secondarily, from related disciplines (palaeoecology, palaeoclimatology, genetics and ethnohistory) on Pampean and Patagonian foragers-and the authors, Gustavo Politis and Luis Borrero, have been the most influential researchers in this field during the past decades. The book consists of seven chapters, which are organised into three parts. The first contains an Introduction, contextual information on the historical background and resources. The second part offers the main content of the work in chronological order: 'The early peopling', 'The Middle Holocene' and 'The Late Holocene diversification'. 'Final remarks' is the third part with an overview of the principal hypothesis and interpretations of the authors. Although the content of the chapters alternates between Pampa and Patagonia, all is well integrated and does not disrupt fluid reading. In the first part the authors summarise the environmental and, to a lesser extent, the palaeoenvironmental information of the entire area. They define and characterise 21 geographic/archaeological units, 12 relate to Pampa and nine to Patagonia. This subdivision, based on geographic and ecological criteria, is a necessary reference frame to capture the heterogeneity and complexity of both regions. Chapter 2 delivers a historical overview of the nearly 140 years of archaeological research in the Pampas and Patagonia. Anyone interested in understanding how the archaeological knowledge was built up in these regions needs to read these 40 pages. The book's second part begins with the early peopling of the regions during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene (c. 14-8 ka calBP). This is one of the most relevant topics for potential readers since the primary dispersal of humans across the whole continent has always been and still is under debate. I would like to highlight the analytical sobriety and the critical evaluation of the data conveyed in this chapter. In recent years, we have witnessed an increase of supposed human evidence in South America of more than 15 000 years ago (Pilauco, Monte Verde I, Chinchihuapi and several sites in the Piauí region in Brazil). Although the reliability of all these sites has been questioned, the extraordinary diffusion of these findings in the media has reinforced the wrong idea that there is solid evidence for a prelate Glacial Maximum peopling. In Chapter 4, Politis and Borrero clearly show that there is no support for this hypothesis in the Pampas and Patagonia, probably the best-known

The currently available astronomical evidence relevant for the absolute chronology of the late third and early second millennium BC has five independent parts: (a) OB Venus data linked to Ammis aduqa year 1 (b) OB month-lengths about 400 years (c) Ur III month-lengths linked to Amar-Sin year 1 (d) Ur III eclipses about 287 years (e) Akkad eclipses linked to Sargon year 1 None of them is fully trustworthy. The Venus data (a) are corrupted through a long scribal tradition and it is not a priori obvious that they represent genuine observations from the time of Ammis aduqa. The month-length data (b) and (c) are noisy. If they have the same statistical structure as their Neo-Babylonian counterparts (which is not proven), a correct chronology induces an agreement rate of merely 67% between calculated and observed 30-day months. This is uncomfortably close to the agreement rate 53% pertaining to a randomly chosen wrong chronology, and for establishing absolute dates on the basis of month-lengths alone one would need between 250 and 300 precisely spaced month-lengths (i.e. several decades of data, which may have lacunas, but with perfectly known intercalations). The eclipses (d) and (e) are from the omen series Enuma Anu Enlil, and it is not clear to what extent such omens contain genuine eclipse observations, or merely learned systematization. Also the identification of the apodoses with historical events is uncertain (e.g. whether the omen EAE 20-III pertains to the death of Šulgi or of some other king). Around 2000 BC, eclipse times are subject to clocktime errors of give or take about one hour, caused by the irregular rotation of the earth. Moreover, the year Astronomy and Ancient Chronology Peter J. Huber-2-counts establishing the distances between the First Dynasty of Babylon, the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the Akkad dynasty, may have unsuspectedly large uncertainties. The only way to check astronomical consistency of the evidence is by trying, that is: by attempting to fit chronologies to the data. The best fitting chronology is not necessarily the correct one, but if some chronologies can be fitted coherently, then this supports validity of the data.

In this paper, the theology of the ages at death is reviewed with special reference to the characters from the Old and New Testaments, the patriarchs and the prophets, apostles, and other significant characters. This paper aims to use an exploration of ages in biblical texts and discuss its philosophical and theological significance, as well as the questions on aging and concepts of immortality as presented in the biblical text. Altogether, by means of complex quantitative and qualitative data analysis, the research advances knowledge about life span representations and age theological meaning in biblical contexts.

The necropolis from Țițești (23 km northeast of Pitești) was one of the earliest discoveries that would furnish the distribution map of Fergile archaeological group. Rescue excavations were carried out there in the 60s and 70s of the last century, but the brief information left by the authors of these field researches (Ion Nania, Eugenia Popescu, maybe Alexandru Vulpe) are not in full agreement. This paper tries to put in order the existing information and clarify the archaeological situation at Țițești, by corroborating all the available sources (the bibliography referring to this topic, the press of the time, the manuscript of the excavation’s diary, the funeral inventory kept in the archaeological collection of Argeș County Museum, the author’s personal investigations on the spot). Finally, the result of a radiocarbon dating obtained on a sample from this necropolis is presented (2395±30 BP), which proved to be reliable for the final phase of Fergile group (Fergile III, the 5th century BC), in agreement with the archaeological expectations.

: Two different archaeological entitities, the phase A of the Petrești culture and the Foeni cultural group were defined in the second half of the XXth century and, respectively in the first two decades of the XXIth century. At some point these two concepts were considered to be distinct, being considered characteristic to the Transylvania and Banat areas; lately the phase A of the Petrești culture was integrated into the Foeni cultural group, its youngest stage being seen as a continuation of the Foeni phenomenon from Banat into the Transylvanian territory. Using the Bayesian approaches based on thoroughly selected prior-estimates it was demonstrate that the events connected with these two archaeological concepts, both in the Banat and Transylvania, can be separated on several chronological stages which are not influenced by their territorial affiliation. This aspect, corroborated to the similarity regarding the pottery styles considered characteristic for Foeni group and phase A of the Petrești culture are strong arguments in the assertation regarding the fact that these two concepts act like a singular cultural manifestation in Banat and Transylvania, which can be labelled as Petrești A/Foeni phenoemenon and can be considered as the first phase of the Transylvanian Petrești culture as was defined by I. Paul.

Lokalizace a okolnosti výzkumu V červenci až listopadu roku 2000 proběhl v blízkosti Staroměstského náměstí záchranný archeologický výzkum, který provedlo archeologické oddělení PÚPP (dnes Státní památkový ústav v hl. m. Praze). Referovaný záchranný výzkum probíhal v ulici U radnice na Starém Městě pražském na parcele pč. 12, na které se nachází dům čp. 13/I (U zelené žáby). Hlavní plochu výzkumu tvořil lichoběžníkový dvůr (délka 10,5m, šířka 4m až 7m), o ploše 55m2. Při rekonstrukci zde byly budovány nové podzemní prostory. Další zkoumaná plocha představovala malý dvorek sousedního domu čp. 14/I. Archeologická dokumentace proběhla též v nově vyražené kanalizační štole, která směřovala ze sklepa domu čp. 14/I směrem na západ pod ulici U radnice. Během plošného výzkumu na dvoře domu čp.13/I byly prozkoumány celkem tři raně středověké hroby, z nichž jeden byl značně poškozen při pozdější středověké stavební aktivitě. Hroby, které se navzájem respektovaly, byly situovány tak, že ležely v jedné linii, přibližně VJV-ZSZ směru. Mladší raně středověké a novověké nadložní situace, které se nacházely nad hřbitovním horizontem, nejsou v tomto příspěvku detailněji diskutovány a budou publikovány později.

IZVLEÈEK-Dolga arheološka razprava o procesu neolitizacije Evrope se je, zahvaljujoè raziskavam stare DNK in drugim znanstvenim raziskavam, konèala v korist velikih migracij. Vzporedno so bile vzpostav ljene bolj robustne in na splošno bolj natanène kronologije. Dolgoroèno gledano, je zgodovinski proces sprememb, ki so jih prinesli neolitski migranti, nepovraten. Kljub vsemu se lahko in mora nastajajoèa 'velika slika' podrobneje preuèiti. Nekatere kljuène implikacije za razumevanje mobilnosti in migracij so bile sicer raziskane, vendar pa je še veliko monosti za boljšo povezavo arheoloških in znanstvenih, predvsem arheogenetskih raziskav. Te lahko razkrijejo nove vidike procesa kolonizacije in ustanavljanja neolitskih naselbin, za katero se zdi, da je bila na zaèetku majhna; nagnjena k prilagajanju, eksperi mentiranju, preobratu in celo propadu; in odprta za stike z domorodnimi skupnostmi. Te monosti dokazujemo z nizom kratkih študijskih primerov s severnega Balkana, Karpatskega bazena in severne Srednje Evrope. Z njimi elimo oblikovati preprost model 'mejnih razmer', ki bi jih lahko uporabljali pri preuèevanju zaèetkov neolitizacije Evrope.

The site has been known since 1871 from an archaeological perspective, thanks to the information provided by F. Rómer, the father of Hungarian archaeology. The first excavations, made by A.D. Alexandrescu and M. Rusu in 1954, established the significance of this settlement for reconstructing the realities of the Bronze Age in the Crișurilor Basin. In a scientific research project conducted between 2014-2017 and 2022-2023 this multi-layered site was investigated using both classical and non-invasive methods. The aim of the research was to establish the chronological position of this site in relation to the nearest Bronze Age tell, located approximately 7 km away in a straight line, at Toboliu. Archaeological research in the tell sites has demonstrated that they are contemporary, evolving during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1900-1600 BC).

The barrow from Susani – Grămurada de la Jupani (Traian Vuia parrish, Timiș county, Romania)
was built during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1400-1300 calBC), first time looted in ancient times (ca. 1310-1260
calBC) and then re-used as a funerary monument (ca. 1280-1210 calBC). The pottery styles related to the
event of building the barrow are Late Balta Sărată (phases III-IV) and Cruceni-Belegiš (phase I) and the one
that is connected with the re-using this funerary space is Susani-Bobda. After these events, unfortunately this
barrow was plundered for nine times starting with the Late Medieval Age towards present. Beside these, an
undeclared possible archaeological excavation and two oven-pits have affected the body of the barrow. If some
of the secondary interventions were not dug so deep, the central area of the mound (ca. 15 square meters) was
completely destroyed by some of these intrusions, leaving behind no archaeological data. These kinds of actions,
while not uncommon, are not desirable for the archaeological heritage, bringing no good or productive effects
by all means.

This paper presents Bronze Age settlement remains, which were discovered at the Slivnica 1B site before the construction of the A1 highway near Maribor in 1996 and 1997. Based on the analysis of finds discovered in the settlement pits, it can be concluded that after the end of the Middle Copper Age, the plain in the foothills of Pohorje was first resettled in the Somogyvár-Vinkovci horizon and that it was more intensively settled from the Kisapostág cultural horizon (BA A1 phase) onwards. Settlement continued in the Litzen pottery cultural horizon (BA A2, A2/B1 phases, possibly also B1), to which a large number of pits and post-holes can be attributed, and then the area was resettled (to a smaller extent) in the Middle Bronze Age and the Early Urnfield Period (BA C – BA D phases; possibly also BA B). Houses built with posts were located in the central part of the site, while larger pits of irregular ground plan were discovered in the area north and south of the houses. The results of 14C AMS dating indicate that the pit of the Kisapostág culture is from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, the pits of the Litzen pottery cultural horizon are tentatively from the first third of the 2nd millennium BC, and the only dated pit of the Oloris-Podsmreka horizon is from the 15th or 14th century BC.

Ancient ore processing and metal production in the minerals-rich north Aegean have been significant aspects of the region’s economic character as suggested by combined archaeological, geological and archaeometallurgical research. Archaeological finds from Thasos confirmed that the earliest steps of metallurgical technology on the island date back to the end of the Neolithic period. Excavations at three prehistoric settlements on Thasos, those of Limenaria, Skala Sotiros and Aghios Antonios, revealed evidence for early metallurgical practices that became the subject of recent interdisciplinary study. Attempting to further investigate the technical stages by which minerals were transformed into metals on prehistoric Thasos, this paper is focused on recent mineralogical analysis of ores by means of XRD, the study of stone tools used in ore processing, experimental crushing and grinding of Thasos ores and analysis of metallurgical residues by SEM/EDX. The combined results are useful for reconstructing the chaîne opératoire in an attempt to better understand prehistoric copper metallurgy on Thasos and examine its place within the broader Aegean metallurgical tradition of the Early Bronze Age.
KEYWORDS: ORES, STONE TOOLS, CRUSHING, METALLURGY, COPPER, EXPERIMENTATION, THASOS

In western Romania, there exists a notable concentration of over 600 earthen mounds across approximately 320 distinct sites. These mounds, as indicated by archaeological scholarship, encompass a wide range of chronological periods and cultural affiliations, spanning from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Bronze Age, early Hallstatt period, Scythian, Dacian, and Sarmatian populations. It is worth noting, however, that archaeological investigations in the western region of Romania have not consistently prioritized the study of these particular archaeological sites. The present paper primarily draws upon findings from two specific sites where archaeological investigations have been directed towards earthen mounds. The first of these sites is Silvașu de Jos – Dealu Țapului (The Billy Goat’s Hill), where two distinct stages of tumuli burials have been identified. The earlier stage corresponds to the Late Eneolithic Coțofeni culture, while the later one is associated with the Late Ochre Grave culture, attributed to the Yamnaya populations.The second site, Susani-Grămurada de la Jupani (The Mound from Jupani), features a barrow constructed during the Late Bronze Age. Remarkably, this tumulus was subsequently repurposed during the so-called Hallstatt A1 period. Both of these examples underscore the importance of archaeological artifacts and information that can be collected from prehistoric barrows when subjected to thorough archaeological research projects.

Archeologiczny projekt NAHLA prowadzony jest na terenie Autonomicznego Regionu Kurdystanu w Iraku, w prowincji Duhok (Zbadanie strategii zasiedlania peryferyjnych mikroregionów irackiego Kurdystanu na przykładzie paleolitycznych i chrześcijańskich społeczności na równinie Nahla, NCN, OPUS, nº 2022/45/B/HS3/03501). Rejon ten stanowi część dawnej północnej Mezopotamii, gdzie od ok. 5 w. n. e. aktywne są wspólnoty chrześcijańskie. Kulturowa spuścizna ludzi tego wyznania znana jest z piśmiennictwa, lecz nigdy nie została zarejestrowana archeologicznie, tymczasem w większości miejscowości, gdzie zamieszkiwali Chrześcijanie wznosili oni swoje świątynie-porzucone w 20 wieku, a obecnie popadające w ruinę. W projekcie NAHLA została przewidziana inwentaryzacja, dokumentacja oraz próba datowania dwóch materiałów pobranych z zapraw: węgli drzewnych i spoiw. Pomiary 14C poprzedzone będą charakterystyką petrograficzną materiału i próbą określenia proweniencji użytego surowca skalnego. Pozwoliłoby to osadzić zespół 12 kościołów i 2 klasztorów w kadrze historycznym-w kontekście istniejących dokumentów, a także porównań stylistycznych z architekturą sakralną w sąsiednich rejonach Mosulu, Alqosh i Hakkari. Hipoteza projektu, w odniesieniu do datowania kościołów zakłada, że pierwotnie budynki zostały wzniesione przed podbojem Mezopotamii przez Arabów i ukonstytuowaniem Islamu jako wiodącej religii. Pakt Umara, powstały między 7 a 8 wiekiem, reguluje koegzystencję społeczności Chrześcijan i wyznawców Islamu, zakazując tym pierwszym budowania świątyń i renowacji istniejących budowli. Nie wiadomo, kiedy zapisy weszły w życie, a rygor tego dokumentu nie zawsze był przestrzegany, czego przykładem są kościoły wybudowane w Mosulu w 13 wieku, w epoce Attabegów. Wiemy, że Chrześcijanie aktywnie biorący udział w obronie tego miasta obleganego w 1743 roku przez szacha Persji Nadir-Szacha Tahmaps, decyzją paszy al-Jalili zostali nagrodzeni pozwoleniem na odbudowę świątyń w rejonie mosulskim. Analizowane i datowane w projekcie NAHLA budynki, zostały, w większości, odrestaurowane lub podniesione z ruin-z uwagi na regulacje Paktu Umara, kościoły mogły zostać wzniesione wyłącznie na fundamentach dawniejszych budowli. Nie jest jednak wykluczone, że próbki pobrane z fundamentów wskażą wcześniejsze daty, bo tradycje biskupstwa Marga, do którego kościoły należały sięgają 4 w n. e.

O cumprimento do acordo ortográfico de 1990 foi opção de cada autor. Os autores são responsáveis pelos seus originais, respeitando-se a sua autoria e não sendo responsável a editora por quaisquer elementos que, de alguma forma, possam prejudicar terceiros.