Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T13:08:06.027Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New Radiocarbon Dates for the Kura-Araxes Occupation at Aradetis Orgora, Georgia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2016

Annapaola Passerini ,
Lior Regev ,
Elena Rova  and
Elisabetta Boaretto
Annapaola Passerini*
Affiliation:
Max Planck – Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology, D-REAMS Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100, Israel. Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Ca’ Foscari University, Dorsoduro 3484/D, 30123 Venice, Italy.
Lior Regev
Affiliation:
Max Planck – Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology, D-REAMS Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100, Israel.
Elena Rova
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Ca’ Foscari University, Dorsoduro 3484/D, 30123 Venice, Italy.
Elisabetta Boaretto*
Affiliation:
Max Planck – Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology, D-REAMS Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100, Israel.
*
*Corresponding authors. Email: passerini.ap@gmail.com; Elisabetta.Boaretto@weizmann.ac.il.
*Corresponding authors. Email: passerini.ap@gmail.com; Elisabetta.Boaretto@weizmann.ac.il.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The absolute chronology of the Kura-Araxes (KA) culture in the Southern Caucasus still represents a challenge due to the fragmentation and inadequacy of the radiocarbon record, as well as the inconsistencies in material typologies in the region. Recent archaeological fieldwork at the site of Aradetis Orgora in the Shida Kartli region of Georgia revealed four occupation levels dating to the KA II phase according to the local relative chronology. 14C samples were collected from reliable contexts and further selected according to reliability criteria, taking into account both archaeological issues and lab procedures. FTIR was applied in order to determine the preservation of charcoals and to monitor the efficiency of lab treatments on all the samples. Only accurate 14C measurements were selected for Bayesian analysis incorporating stratigraphic information. Two models were run, the second of which simulated intervals corresponding to unexcavated stratigraphy or due to a lack of samples. In this article, the available 14C dates for the KA occupation at Aradetis are presented for the first time and analyzed using Bayesian principles. The results of Bayesian modeling suggest that the occupation of the excavated KA II levels cover the period between 3040–2810 BC (simple model) or 3090–2720 BC (interval model).

Keywords

Kura-AraxesSouthern CaucasuschronologyBayesian analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 649 - 677
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Asscher, Y, Lehmann, G, Rosen, SA, Weiner, S, Boaretto, E. 2015. Absolute dating of the Late Bronze and Iron Age transition and the appearance of Philistine culture in Qubur El-Walaydah, southern Levant. Radiocarbon 57(1):77–97.Google Scholar
Berna, F, Behar, A, Shahack-Gross, R, Berg, J, Boaretto, E, Gilboa, A, Sharon, I, Shalev, S, Shilstein, S, Yahalom-Mack, N, Zorn, JR, Weiner, S. 2007. Sediments exposed to high temperatures: reconstructing pyrotechnological processes in Late Bronze and Iron Age strata at Tel Dor (Israel). Journal of Archaeological Science 34(3):358–373.Google Scholar
Boaretto, E. 2007. Determining the chronology of an archaeological site using radiocarbon: minimizing uncertainty. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 56:207–216.Google Scholar
Boaretto, E. 2009. Dating materials in good archaeological contexts: the next challenge for radiocarbon analysis. Radiocarbon 51(1):275–281.Google Scholar
Boaretto, E. 2015. Radiocarbon and the archaeological record: an integrative approach for building an absolute chronology for the Late Bronze and Iron Ages of Israel. Radiocarbon 57(2):207–216.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Lee, S. 2013. Recent and planned developments of the program OxCal. Radiocarbon 55(2):720–730.Google Scholar
Chataigner, C, Palumbi, G, editors. 2014. The Kura-Araxes Culture from the Caucasus to Iran, Anatolia and the Levant Between Unity and Diversity. Paléorient 40(2) thematic issue. Paris: CNRS Éditions.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furtwängler, A, Gagoshidze, I, Löhr, H, Ludwig, N. 2008. Iberia and Rome: The Excavations of the Palace of Dedoplis Gora and the Roman Influence in the Caucasian Kingdom of Iberia. Langenweißbach: Beier and Beran.Google Scholar
Gagoshidze, I, Rova, E. In press a. New investigations at Aradetis Orgora, a multiperiod centre of the Shida Kartli region in Georgia. In: Batmaz A, Bedianashvili G, Michalewicz A, Robinson A, editors. Context and Connection: Essays on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East in Honour of Antonio Sagona (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta). Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
Gagoshidze, I, Rova, E. In press b. Two seasons of Georgian-Italian excavations at Aradetis Orgora (Georgia). Rivista di Archeologia 39.Google Scholar
Jalabadze, M. 2014. Bedeni culture and Berikldeebi settlement. In: Narimanishvili G, Kvachadze M, Puturidze M, Shanshashvili N, editors. Problems of Early Metal Archaeology of Caucasus and Anatolia. Proceedings of the International Conference 19–23 November 2014, Tbilisi. p 216–25.Google Scholar
Javakhishvili, A, Glonti, L. 1962. Urbnisi I: Arkheologicheskie Raskopi, Provedennye v 1954–1961 gg. na Selišče Kvatschelebi. Tbilisi: Akademi Nauk Gryzinskoj SSR.Google Scholar
Kohl, P. 1995. Central Asia and the Caucasus in the Bronze Age. In: Sasson JM, Baines J, Beckman G, Rubinson KS, editors. Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Volume 2. Hendrickson: Peabody. p 1051–1065.Google Scholar
Kohl, P. 2007. The Making of Bronze Age Eurasia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kushnareva, Kh. 1997. The Southern Caucasus in Prehistory: Stages of Cultural and Socioeconomic Development from the Eight to the Second Millennium BC. Philadelphia: The University Museum.Google Scholar
Palumbi, G. 2008. The Red and Black: Social and Cultural Interaction between the Upper Euphrates and the Southern Caucasus Communities in the Fourth and Third Millennium BC. Rome: Sapienza Università di Roma.Google Scholar
Passerini, A. 2015. Radiocarbon dates from the 4th and 3rd millennium in the Southern Caucasus: defining a regional absolute chronology [unpublished MA thesis]. Venice: Università Ca’ Foscari.Google Scholar
Rebollo, NR, Cohen-Ofri, I, Popovitz-Biro, R, Bar-Yosef, O, Meignen, L, Goldberg, P, Weiner, S, Boaretto, E. 2008. Structural characterization of charcoal exposed to high and low pH: implications for 14C sample preparation and charcoal preservation. Radiocarbon 50(2):289–307.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatté, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffman, LD, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Niu, M, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Staff, RA, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–1887.Google Scholar
Rova, E. 2014. The Kura-Araxes culture in the Shida Kartli region of Georgia: an overview. Paléorient 40(2):45–67.Google Scholar
Sagona, A. 1984. The Caucasian Region in the Early Bronze Age. Oxford: BAR International Series 214.Google Scholar
Sagona, A. 1993. Settlement and society in Late Prehistoric Trans-Caucasus. In: Frangipane M, Hauptmann H, Liverani M, Matthiae P, Mellink M, editors. Between the Rivers and Over the Mountains: Archaeologica Anatolica et Mesopotamica Alba Palmieri Dedicata. Rome: Sapienza Università di Roma. p 453–474.Google Scholar
Schweingrüber, FH. 1990. Anatomy of European Wood: An Atlas for the Identification of European Trees, Shrubs and Dwarf Shrubs. Bern: Verlag Kessel.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Polach, HA. 1977. Discussion: reporting 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3):355–363.Google Scholar
Yizhaq, M, Mintz, E, Cohen, I, Khalaily, H, Weiner, S, Boaretto, E. 2005. Quality controlled radiocarbon dating of bones and charcoal from the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) of Motza (Israel). Radiocarbon 47(2):193–206.Google Scholar