The End of the Chalcolithic Period in the South Jordan Valley: New ¹⁴C Determinations from Teleilat Ghassul, Jordan

Abstract

This article reports on 12 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates from the latest phases of the Chalcolithic period occupation (late 5th millennium cal BC) at Teleilat Ghassul, type site for the south Levantine Ghassulian Chalcolithic culture. The new AMS dates from Teleilat Ghassul favor an amendment to a previous suggestion (Bourke et al. 2001), that all significant occupation at the site had ceased by 4000/3900 cal BC. This end-date should now be amended to 3900/3800 cal BC. Follow-up statistical modelling sourced to published 14C data drawn from a wide selection of south Levantine Chalcolithic period sites (Bourke 2001; Burton and Levy 2001) raises the possibility that Chalcolithic period occupation had ceased at virtually all major centers by 3800/3700 cal BC. This, in turn, suggests that the new data bearing on the end-date for occupation at Teleilat Ghassul may reflect a more widespread horizon of abandonment in the southern Levant.

The Beginning of the Early Bronze Age in the North Jordan Valley: New14C Determinations from Pella in Jordan

“…This finding is consistent with more recent work in the south Jordan Valley, which advocated an end date for Ghassulian Chalcolithic occupation no later than 3800 cal BC (Bourke et al 2001(Bourke et al , 2004bBourke 2008). At the same time, new research on the radiometric chronology of the earliest EBA cultures of the coastal plain (Golani and Segal 2002;Golani 2004), and in southern Jordan (Görsdorf 2002;Kerner 2008), was turning up results that strongly support an early 4th millennium cal BC beginning for the EBA.…”

“…This article reports on 10 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from early phases of the Early Bronze Age at the long-lived settlement of Pella (modern Tabaqat Fahl) in the north Jordan Valley. The new AMS dates fall between 3400 and 2800 cal BC, and support a recent suggestion that all Chalcolithic period occupation had ceased by 3800/3700 cal BC at the latest (Bourke et al 2004b). Other recently published Early Bronze Age 14 C data strongly supports this revisionist scenario, suggesting that the earliest phase of the Early Bronze Age (EBA I) occupied much of the 4th millennium cal BC (3800/3700 to 3100/3000 cal BC).…”

Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant: New Analysis for a High Chronology

“…Based on 14 C dates in Ashqelon Area E, Golani (2004) has proposed an earlier date for the beginning of EB I A, closer to 3800 BC, similar to the date of 3700 suggested by Yekutieli (2007), based on 14 C dates from a cluster of sites at Ashqelon. These early dates for the beginning of the EB IA are consistent with the high 14 C dates obtained for the preceding Late Chalcolithic (Bourke et al 2001(Bourke et al , 2004Burton and Levy 2001;Joffe and Dessel 1995;Klimscha 2009). The differences in chronology for the EB I are mostly due to how the 14 C dates are associated with the archaeological contexts they purport to date (Boaretto 2007), which Egyptian chronology is used, and the way their correlations with south Levantine chronology are interpreted.…”

Primary domestication and early uses of the emblematic olive tree: palaeobotanical, historical and molecular evidence from the Middle East

“…Olive cultivation, based on the domesticated form, is considered to have begun during the Chalcolithic cultural period (also termed Copper Age), when the development of techniques for oil extraction and the presence of olives is recorded at several sites in the Jordan Valley, in the Golan Heights, and in the rest of the Levant (Abu Hamid, el‐Khawarij, Rasm Harbush, Samaria, Teleilat Ghassul, Tel Saf, Tell esh‐Shuna) (Gophna & Kislev, 1979; Neef, 1990; Liphschitz et al , 1991; Epstein, 1993; Carmi & Segal, 1998; Zohary & Hopf, 2000). Radiocarbon dating data from Teleilat Ghassul and el‐Khawarij, Jordan Valley, give a maximum age of 5510 ± 40 14 C BP (2 σ range: 6400‐6270 BP) for olive pits, and 5370 ± 70 14 C BP (2 σ range: 6300‐6000 BP) for oil extraction, indicating a possible Chalcolithic emergence of olive cultivation (Bourke et al , 2004; Lovell et al , 2010). However, Chalcolithic extractions of oil may still result from oleasters (Salavert, 2008), pushing the origin of the domesticated form to the Early Bronze Age (5300‐4100 BP), when olive remains became more abundant at sites such as Tel Yarmouth, Tel Erani, Tel Qashish and Tel Taanach (Liphschitz et al , 1991; Salavert, 2008).…”