ABSTRACT. Modern radiocarbon dates were procured for the Cave of the Treasure, Israel reed mat at the University of Arizona accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) laboratory in late 1999 and early 2000. Three samples from various locations on the mat were dated. One of these samples was dated twice, and another was dated three times, yielding a total of six new radiocarbon dates on the mat. The new 14 C dates overturn expectations of a late Chalcolithic, roughly 3500 BC, date for the origin of the mat. It is suggested that the mat may not have been of common use but may rather have been a religious heirloom with a history stretching back into the early Chalcolithic.
INTRODUCTIONProgress in the field of biblical chronology over the past decade (Aardsma 1999) has prompted new interest in the absolute chronology of the archaeological time periods within the land of Israel. One target of current interest stemming from this field is the proper calendar date of the terminal Chalcolithic. The present involvement with the Cave of the Treasure mat results from this interest.It is now beyond reasonable doubt that traditional biblical chronology has inadvertently foreshortened the dates of biblical events from Genesis through Judges by a full millennium (Aardsma 1993). The foreshortening appears to result from a scribal copy error in a single number in a very early manuscript of 1 Kings. Restoration of this biblical number yields a quantitatively precise correction of traditional biblical chronology. This correction moves the chronology of the biblical narrative from Genesis through Judges back exactly 1000 years relative to traditional expectations.A realignment of several key biblical events relative to the secular history of the land of Israel resulting from this correction is shown in the first three columns of Figure 1. While the dates of the monarchical and later biblical periods remain unchanged, the dates of the exodus, conquest, and prior events all fall exactly 1000 years earlier than traditionally calculated, as shown by the dashed lines in Figure 1. This realignment has successfully explained why nothing suitable to the biblical narrative of the exodus and conquest has ever been found in the secular history and archaeology of the second millennium. These events do not belong to the second millennium, but rather to the third millennium, where they immediately find a convincingly suitable secular setting.Interest in the calendar date of the terminal Chalcolithic stems from the observation (Figure 1) that the corrected biblical chronology places Noah's flood in apparent temporal coincidence with the terminal Chalcolithic. Noah's flood is depicted in the Bible as a catastrophe of unusual magnitude and large geographical extent, which left only a handful of survivors. Strikingly, a comprehensive survey of archaeological data for the Chalcolithic in Israel leads modern archaeologists to conclude, independent of all biblical considerations, that: "The impression is created of a sudden end of the period as a result of a c...
Radiocarbon measurements on organic carbon from the varved cores of Elk Lake, Minnesota suggest that the varve count may underestimate calendar years by 18% for the most recent 3800 varve years.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.