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ABSTRACT Politiko- Troullia has generated the largest radiocarbon ( 14 C) dataset from a Prehistoric Bronze Age settlement on Cyprus. We present Bayesian modeling of 25 calibrated AMS ages, which contributes to an emerging multi-site 14 C chronology for Cyprus covering most of the Prehistoric Bronze Age. Our analysis places the six stratified phases of occupation at Troullia between about 2050 and 1850 cal BCE, in contrast to a longer estimated occupation inferred from pottery analysis. We provide a rare 14 C determination for the transition from Prehistoric Bronze Age 1 to 2 just after 2000 cal BCE, associated with a major architectural dislocation at Politiko- Troullia in response to local landscape erosion, possibly due to increased regional precipitation. We present a regional 14 C model for Prehistoric Bronze Age Cyprus combining the chronology for Politiko- Troullia with modeled 14 C ages from Sotira Kaminoudhia and Marki Alonia , which is bolstered by individual ages from five other settlements on Cyprus. Through the Prehistoric Bronze Age, agrarian villages on Cyprus developed the foundations for the emergence of urbanized settlement and society during the ensuing Protohistoric Bronze Age. Politiko- Troullia , in conjunction with other key settlements on Cyprus, provides a significant independent contribution to increasingly robust Bronze Age 14 C chronologies in the Eastern Mediterranean.
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The earliest Bronze Age culture of the south-eastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia
Studies of the Eurasian Bronze Age have tended to emphasise the homogeneity of social and political processes across the Steppe, evidenced by a common ‘package’ of practices and material culture. The Dornod Mongol Survey examines the major stone monumental forms and associated features of the Ulaanzuukh mortuary tradition of the Gobi region of Mongolia. Combining evidence for mortuary and ritual practices, ceramic traditions and new radiocarbon dates, the authors argue that the appearance of the earliest Bronze Age cultures in this region represents a disparate collection of local, regional and inter-regional expressions that challenge the established narrative of a ‘standard’ Eurasian Bronze Age.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1737687
- PAR ID:
- 10112754
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Antiquity
- Volume:
- 93
- Issue:
- 368
- ISSN:
- 0003-598X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 393 to 411
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.174
