Search results for "radiocarbon dating"
showing 10 items of 118 documents
Climate change and population dynamics during the late Mesolithic and the Neolithic transition in Iberia
2009
This paper explores how Early Holocene climate changes in the Western Mediterranean would have affected Late Mesolithic settlement distribution and subsistence strategies in Iberian Peninsula, thereby giving rise to various adaptive scenarios. The current radiocarbon data set concerning the Neolithisation process has revealed the rapidity of the spread of farming in Iberia. Considering both the implications of the last hunter-gatherers’ adaptation strategies and the population dynamics of agro-pastoral communities, we address the migration patterns underlying the Mesolithic- Neolithic transition. In conclusion, we propose that the initial colonization process was the result of two successiv…
Current Thoughts on the Neolithisation Process of the Western Mediterranean
2017
The analysis of the Neolithisation process constitutes a recurrent theme in the scientific literature given the fundamental change for human populations implied in the transition from a hunting-fishing-gathering economy to one based on domestication and food production. Nonetheless, the majority of the regional syntheses on a European scale published to date have dealt mainly with the historical narrative of the process, focusing on discussing the Neolithisation process from a demographic and/or cultural perspective. In this respect, the work of Ammerman and Cavalli Sforza (1984) without doubt constituted a turning point in a number of aspects relevant to the study of the Neolithisation of …
New insigths relating to the beginning of the Neolithic in the eastern Spain: Evaluating empirical data and modelled predictions
2018
Abstract In this paper we present recent research concerning the neolithization process in the East of Spain, evaluating the time span between the last hunther-gatherer groups and the first farmers ( c . 5950–5150 cal. BC). To do that we have compiled and filtered current information about radiocarbon dates and sites in order to discuss the state of the art relating to the models used to explain the Neolithic spread in the region. In this sense we compare archaeological data with recent results of virtual model (ABM) in accordance with the scenarios and mechanisms proposed. On this basis we evaluate the empirical data relating to the current model for explaining the Neolithic spread at the …
South Asian monsoon climate change and radiocarbon in the Arabian Sea during early and middle Holocene
2002
The 1 4 C ages of planktonic foraminifers Globigerinoides sacculifer bracketing the Younger Dryas in a δ 1 8 O record of Globigerinoides ruber from a laminated sediment core on the Pakistani continental margin suggest thatsurface reservoir ages in the Arabian Sea were in excess of 1000 years during the deglaciation. A least squares error fit of a detailed 1 4 C chronology to the (atmospheric) tree ring record gave variable early Holocene reservoir ages between 780 and 1120 years, well above the prebomb value of 640 years. Mid-Holocene reservoir ages are less well constrained but were probably closer to the prebomb value. The method used to fit individual core sections to the tree ring recor…
The Gravettian occipital bone from the site of Malladetes (Barx, Valencia, Spain)
2002
Abstract The juvenile occipital bone from the site of Malladetes in Valencia (Spain) is described and compared with other European Pleistocene representatives of the genus Homo . This specimen derives from a Gravettian cultural context and has been AMS radiocarbon-dated to 25,120±240 years bp . As such, it provides evidence on early modern human anatomy from the Central Mediterranean region of the Iberian peninsula. The clear evidence for a late survival of Neandertals in southern Iberia, has led to considerable debate surrounding the biological and cultural interactions between these Pleistocene humans and their early modern human successors, and it is within this context that the Malladet…
Climate change and the collapse of the Akkadian empire: Evidence from the deep sea
2000
The Akkadian empire ruled Mesopotamia from the headwaters of the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers to the Persian Gulf during the late third millennium B.C. Archeological evidence has shown that this highly developed civilization collapsed abruptly near 4170 ± 150 calendar yr B.P., perhaps related to a shift to more arid conditions. Detailed paleoclimate records to test this assertion from Mesopotamia are rare, but changes in regional aridity are preserved in adjacent ocean basins. We document Holocene changes in regional aridity using mineralogic and geochemical analyses of a marine sediment core from the Gulf of Oman, which is directly downwind of Mesopotamian dust source areas and archeological si…
Late Quaternary vegetational history at Navarres, Eastern Spain. A two core approach
1996
summary Percentage and concentration pollen diagrams are presented for two cores (taken 5 m apart) at an upper Pleistocene and Holocene site at Navarres (Valencia, eastern Spain). Chronological information is provided by an internally consistent radiocarbon dating series that extends from c. 20700 to 3075 yr BP. The results highlight the dangers of relying on a single core in interpreting the patterns of variation of particular taxa. Significant palynological differences, seemingly locational, are described between the two cores. The upper Pleistocene records accords well with the widely recognized European sequence of (a) upper Pleniglacial, (b) Bolling-Allerod warm period, and (c) Younger…
An approximation to the study of black pigments in Cova Remigia (Castell on, Spain). Technical and cultural assessments of the use of carbon-based bl…
2014
International audience; Spanish Levantine Rock Art is a unique pictorial expression within the prehistoric European context. Located in shelters in the inland regions of the Iberian Mediterranean basin, this art form, which must be necessarily studied in the frame of the process of neolithization of this territory, still lacks direct dating, and therefore its authorship is still open to debate. In this paper we present the first characterization of black pigments used in the Cova Remigia shelters in the Valltorta-Gassulla area (Castell on, Spain) by means of EDXRF spectrometry combined with SEM-EDS and Raman spectroscopy. Our aim is both to identify the raw material used for the preparation…
Mollusk carbonate thermal behaviour and its implications in understanding prehistoric fire events in shell middens
2018
Abstract Archaeological shell middens are particularly important for reconstructing prehistoric human subsistence strategies. However, very little is known about shellfish processing, especially when related to the use of fire for dietary and disposal purposes. To shed light on prehistoric food processing techniques, an experimental study was undertaken on modern gastropod shells (Phorcus lineatus). The shells were exposed to high temperatures (200–700 °C) to investigate subsequent mineralogy and macro- and microstructural changes. Afterwards, the three-pronged approach was applied to archaeological shells from Haua Fteah cave, Libya (Phorcus turbinatus) and from shell midden sites in the U…
Shedding Light on the Dark Ages: Sketching Potential Trade Relationships in Early Medieval Romania through Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of Sheep Remains
2021
Southeast Europe has played an important role in shaping the genetic diversity of sheep due to its proximity to the Danubian route of transport from the Near East into Europe, as well as its possible role as a post-domestication migration network and long tradition of sheep breeding. The history of Romania and, in particular, the historical province of Dobruja, located on the shore of the Black Sea, has been influenced by its geographical position at the intersection between the great powers of the Near East and mainland Europe, with the Middle Ages being an especially animated time in terms of trade, migration, and conflict. In this study, we analyzed the mitochondrial control region of fi…