A Radiocarbon Sequence from Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj, Jordan and its Implications for Early Bronze IV Chronology in the Southern Levant

Abstract

Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj, an agrarian Early Bronze IV village in the northern Jordan Valley, Jordan, provides a series of 24 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) seed dates spanning seven stratified phases of occupation. Bayesian analysis of these ages reveals that habitation at Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj began between 2600 and 2500 cal BC and ended just before 2000 cal BC. This sequence provides the longest radiocarbon record of occupation for an Early Bronze IV settlement in the southern Levant and pushes the beginning of the Levantine Early Bronze IV earlier than proposed previously. When integrated with14C dates from an array of sites in the southern Levant, Egypt, and Lebanon, this evidence aligns with recent14C-based chronologies calling for earlier ages for Early Bronze I–III, details Early Bronze IV chronology through the course of this period, and corroborates the date of the Early Bronze IV/Middle Bronze Age transition ~2000 cal BC.

Jericho and the Chronology of Palestine in the Early Bronze Age: a Radiometric Re-Assessment

“…This absolute chronology of Tell es-Sultan/Jericho in the EBA contradicts the recently-proposed Levantine High Chronology (Regev et al 2012a, 2012b, 2014; Höflmayer et al 2014; Falconer and Fall 2016; Regev 2017). The latter, as far as Jericho is concerned, was based on some major misunderstandings of Kenyon’s stratigraphy—and in a complete oblivion of what was more precisely established by the Italian-Palestinian Expedition.…”

HORIZONTAL WATERMILL CHRONOLOGIES BASED ON 14C DATING OF ORGANICS IN MORTARS: A CASE STUDY FROM JARASH, JORDAN

“…The significant age differences between the humic/humin fractions in earthen aerial mortar from WJ-05 and WJ-22 and ABA-pretreated macrocharcoals and BOF from the same mortars reflect different carbon sources. These results contrast with the 14 C dating results from similar fractions from Bronze Age and Iron Age sites in the Middle East, which found close agreement in the dates of humic, humin and ABA-pretreated OM (Wild et al 2013;Falconer and Fall 2016). The results from hydraulic and aerial mortars in WJ-05 imply a similar old carbon source in the humic fraction despite the differing architectural contexts.…”

Bridging the Gap Ebiii-Iba: Early Intermediate Bronze Radiocarbon Dates From Khirbat El-’alya Northeast, Israel

“…what was the trigger/cause for the sharp cultural change from the EB-III to the IBA that is evident in site formation processes, burial practices, and material culture? Common characteristics of this period are unfortified rural settlements, usually with only one main layer of occupation, although there are few sites with robust and stratified IBA occupation and few enclosed by walls (Richard 2010;Bar et al 2013;Falconer and Fall 2016;Fraser 2017), a distinct pottery repertoire, abundance of vast burial grounds and copper/bronze weapons and tools.…”