Although the radiocarbon method was originally developed using archaeological objects from Egypt, up until recently radiocarbon dating has not been used extensively in the Nile Valley, leaving the dating of archaeological contexts mainly reliant on inscriptions bearing royal names or archaeological material – usually pottery. The most substantial radiocarbon sequence for a single site was established for Tell el-Dabca, ancient Avaris, in the Eastern Nile Delta; although still unpublished, preliminary reports suggest a substantial difference between archaeological and scientific dates of up to ~120 years. Further data comes from a recently published project on Egyptian chronology and radiocarbon dating. From this, over 200 new measurements for dynastic Egypt proved the reliability of the historical chronology as outlined by Kenneth Kitchen, although a slightly earlier start for the New Kingdom seems to be possible (the accession date for Ahmose, based on the New Kingdom model published by Christopher Bronk Ramsey and colleagues, falls between 1566 and 1552 for 1σ and 1570 and 1544 for 2σ). Furthermore, the testing of samples of known age from the 19th century AD (short-lived plants) suggests a regional offset for radiocarbon dates of +19 ± 5 radiocarbon years that has to be considered when working with radiocarbon data in Egypt. Still, as most archaeological contexts do not provide a clear link to the historical chronology, contexts have to be dated by material culture in general, usually by pottery. However, as the current understanding of pottery development and dating in Egypt has never been checked scientifically, radiocarbon data for archaeological contexts containing diagnostic pottery are of considerable importance not only for the context being dated, but also for linking material culture to absolute dates. In this paper we present new radiocarbon determinations from two tombs of the cemetery of Sedment (tomb 254 and 246). We selected tombs containing Cypriote pottery, as the date of the first appearance of certain Cypriote wares (e.g. White Slip, Base Ring, Red Lustrous Wheel-Made Ware) often provides key-arguments for dating the context proper, as well as for discussions on absolute chronology and archaeological synchronisms throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. The radiocarbon dating was done at the Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator with generous support from the SCIEM 2000 project. Calibration and modelling was undertaken using the OxCal 4.1 software with resolution = 1 and the INTCAL09 calibration curve.
Radiocarbon evidence for new kingdom tombs: Sedment 254 and 246
Franzmeier H.
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
;
2011
Abstract
Although the radiocarbon method was originally developed using archaeological objects from Egypt, up until recently radiocarbon dating has not been used extensively in the Nile Valley, leaving the dating of archaeological contexts mainly reliant on inscriptions bearing royal names or archaeological material – usually pottery. The most substantial radiocarbon sequence for a single site was established for Tell el-Dabca, ancient Avaris, in the Eastern Nile Delta; although still unpublished, preliminary reports suggest a substantial difference between archaeological and scientific dates of up to ~120 years. Further data comes from a recently published project on Egyptian chronology and radiocarbon dating. From this, over 200 new measurements for dynastic Egypt proved the reliability of the historical chronology as outlined by Kenneth Kitchen, although a slightly earlier start for the New Kingdom seems to be possible (the accession date for Ahmose, based on the New Kingdom model published by Christopher Bronk Ramsey and colleagues, falls between 1566 and 1552 for 1σ and 1570 and 1544 for 2σ). Furthermore, the testing of samples of known age from the 19th century AD (short-lived plants) suggests a regional offset for radiocarbon dates of +19 ± 5 radiocarbon years that has to be considered when working with radiocarbon data in Egypt. Still, as most archaeological contexts do not provide a clear link to the historical chronology, contexts have to be dated by material culture in general, usually by pottery. However, as the current understanding of pottery development and dating in Egypt has never been checked scientifically, radiocarbon data for archaeological contexts containing diagnostic pottery are of considerable importance not only for the context being dated, but also for linking material culture to absolute dates. In this paper we present new radiocarbon determinations from two tombs of the cemetery of Sedment (tomb 254 and 246). We selected tombs containing Cypriote pottery, as the date of the first appearance of certain Cypriote wares (e.g. White Slip, Base Ring, Red Lustrous Wheel-Made Ware) often provides key-arguments for dating the context proper, as well as for discussions on absolute chronology and archaeological synchronisms throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. The radiocarbon dating was done at the Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator with generous support from the SCIEM 2000 project. Calibration and modelling was undertaken using the OxCal 4.1 software with resolution = 1 and the INTCAL09 calibration curve.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.