A03_15

When the boundaries do not hold: alternative interpretation for archaeological transition, cultural changes and climate

Boaretto E¹

¹D-REAMS Radiocarbon Lab, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Chronology is at the base of archaeological and paleoclimate research and it is fundamental for synchronization of different events. The time frames need to be as precise as possible and to be determined independently from other stratigraphic and cultural sequences. The assumption of time contemporaneous boundaries between archaeological periods is often used for synchronization between sites, and to correlate the cultural periods without radiocarbon dating. I have documented several examples of misinterpretation of such correlations in the absence of radiocarbon dating, and in some cases sites are just a few kilometers apart and in the same environmental niche. Furthermore, when the assumption that «similar cultural remains reflect similar time periods» is applied, and when time boundaries contradict radiocarbon dates, the latter are often regarded as the source of the problem. The underlying inconsistencies are often revealed in the radiocarbon modelling. The study of the archaeological record and its stratigraphy both at the macroscopic level and most important at the microscopic level is of fundamental importance. Examples will be presented along the 50000 years of ¹⁴C range, such as the association of the Younger Dryas and the transition to the earliest settlements, the integration or replacement of the Byzantine culture by the Islamic conquest in the peripheral region of the Negev, and the decline of the City States in the Levant.