With Precision Comes Variability: Complications in High-Resolution 14C Chronology in the East Mediterranean-Middle East

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Constructing Chronologies II: The Big Picture with Bayes and Beyond" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Recent years have seen major developments in accuracy and precision for several aspects of radiocarbon dating. There is a new annual-resolution (last 5K) Northern Hemisphere calibration curve, increased focus on sample selection and processing (chronometric hygiene), and widespread application of sophisticated Bayesian chronological modeling methods, all aimed at achieving high-resolution dates and chronologies. With increased precision, issues of variability become more clear and substantive. Inter-laboratory and inter-technology differences are one concern. Another area that has not yet received sufficient attention is whether a single radiocarbon calibration curve is appropriate for all the mid-latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Theory and observation suggest not. This becomes a tangible problem as measurement precision has increased and high-resolution is the aim. The different growing seasons of plants can be sufficient to raise complications. This paper considers the east Mediterranean-Middle East region as an example where these issues can be relevant at high-resolution, and discusses the nature of the problems. Such problems are also relevant elsewhere (e.g., North America), as increasingly sophisticated and high-resolution chronologies are constructed in different regions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Constructing Chronologies II: The Big Picture with Bayes and Beyond   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32621