Wiggle-Match Dating at the Montezuma Castle Cliff Dwelling

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Constructing Chronologies I: Stratification and Correlation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Most radiocarbon measurements informing Bayesian models of cultural sequences are obtained from short-lived organisms such as annual plants and animal bone. Short-lived organic material from plateaus in atmospheric 14C production have a calibrated error that corresponds to the duration of the plateau. This fact hinders Bayesian modeling’s ability to produce long-term, high-resolution, cultural chronologies. Sequential 14C measurements at known time intervals (wiggle-matching) can solve this problem. We present results of a recent wiggle-matching study from Montezuma Castle National Monument, an ancestral cliff dwelling in central Arizona. Historical looting has destroyed contexts for reliable ceramic cross-dating, and dendrochronology is of limited utility for historical and ecological reasons. Previous attempts to radiocarbon date the site produced confusing results. Utilizing wiggle-matching, we produced high-precision dates from the mid-twelfth and late thirteenth centuries AD, and infer an occupational history that involves early construction, partial destruction, and disuse, followed by restoration and reoccupation. Significantly, this is the first high-precision chronometric sequence for a structure of this type in the area. Our results demonstrate that a combined approach to archaeological dating, using tactics from dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating, can objectively enhance Bayesian models of archaeological events, phase boundaries, and time spans.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Constructing Chronologies I: Stratification and Correlation

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32838