Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-lqqdg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-23T20:36:44.066Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

NEW RADIOCARBON DATES FROM SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA (FARA AND UR)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2018

Maciej M. Wencel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article reports three new radiocarbon dates from the Iraqi sites of Tell Fara (Shuruppak) and Tell Muqayyar (Ur), produced as a part of a larger dating project on the absolute chronology of Southern Mesopotamia from the Uruk period until the Akkadian era. The radiocarbon results presented here offer good absolute time estimates for the ED I/II period at Fara and the most reliable absolute age so far for the important archaeological find that is the earliest graves in the Royal Cemetery of Ur.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 80 , December 2018 , pp. 251 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2018 

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Barker, H. and Mackey, J.. 1961. “British Museum Natural Radiocarbon Measurements III”. Radiocarbon 5(1): 39–45.Google Scholar
Biggs, R.D. 1966. “The Abū Ṣalābīkh Tablets. A Preliminary Survey”. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 20(2): 73–88.Google Scholar
Biggs, R.D. 1974. Inscriptions from Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Biggs, R.D. and Postgate, J.N. 1978. “Inscriptions from Abu Salabikh, 1975”. Iraq 40(2): 101–118.Google Scholar
Bowman, S.G.E., Ambers, J.C. and Leese, M.. 1990. “Re-evaluation of British Museum radiocarbon dates issued between 1980 and 1984”. Radiocarbon 32(1): 59–79.Google Scholar
Brock, F., Ramsey, C. Bronk and Higham, T.. 2007. “Quality assurance of ultrafiltred bone dating”. Radiocarbon 49(2): 187–192.Google Scholar
Brock, F., Higham, T., Ditchfield, P. and Ramsey, C. Bronk. 2010. “Current Pretreatment Methods for AMS Radiocarbon Dating at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU)”. Radiocarbon 52(1): 103–112.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., Higham, T. and Leach, P.. 2004. “Towards high-precision AMS: progress and limitations”. Radiocarbon 46(1): 17–24.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., Dee, M.W., Rowland, J.M., Higham, T., Harris, S.A., Brock, F., Quiles, A., Wild, E.M., Marcus, E.S., Shortland, A.. 2010. “Radiocarbon-Based Chronology for Dynastic Egypt”. Science 328(5985): 1554–1557.Google Scholar
Bruins, H. J. 2001. “Near East Chronology: Towards an Integrated Approach”. Radiocarbon 43(3): 1147–1154.Google Scholar
Bruins, H.J. and Mook, W.G.. 1989. “The Need for a Calibrated Radiocarbon Chronology of Near Eastern Archaeology”. Radiocarbon 31(3): 1019–1029.Google Scholar
Bruins, H.J., van der Plicht, J. and Mook, W.G.. 1991. “Establishing calibrated 14C chronologies; problematic time zones and high-precision dating with reference to Near Eastern archaeology”. Radiocarbon 33(2): 183–184.Google Scholar
Buccellati, G. and Biggs, R.D.. 1969. Cuneiform Texts from Nippur: the Eighth and Ninth Seasons. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Burleigh, R. and Matthews, K.J.. 1982. “British Museum Natural Radiocarbon Measurements XIII”. Radiocarbon 24(2): 151–170.Google Scholar
Cherkinsky, A. 2009. “Can we get a good radiocarbon age from “bad bone”? Determining the reliability of radiocarbon age from bioapatite”. Radiocarbon 51(2): 647–655.Google Scholar
Dee, M., Wengrow, D., Shortland, A., Stevenson, A., Brock, F., Girdland Flink, L. and Bronk Ramsey, C.. 2013. “An absolute chronology for early Egypt using radiocarbon dating and Bayesian statistical modelling”. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 469(2159): 20130395.Google Scholar
Dee, M., Wengrow, D., Shortland, A., Stevenson, A., Brock, F. and Ramsey, C. Bronk. 2014. “Radiocarbon dating and the Naqada relative chronology”. Journal of Archaeological Science 46(1): 319–323.Google Scholar
Fishman, B., Forbes, H. and Lawn, B.. 1977. “University of Pennsylvania Radiocarbon Dates XIX”. Radiocarbon 19(2): 188–288.Google Scholar
Frayne, D.R. 2009. “The Struggle for Hegemony in “Early Dynastic II” Sumer”. The Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies Journal 4: 37–76.Google Scholar
Hansen, D.P. 1965. “The Pottery Sequence at Nippur from Middle Uruk to the End of the Old Babylonian Period (3400-1600 B.C.)” in Ehrich, R.W., ed. Chronologies in Old World archaeology. Chicago: Chicago University Press, pp. 201–213.Google Scholar
Hansen, D.P. and Dales, G.F.. 1962. The Temple of Inanna, Queen of Heaven at Nippur Archaeology 15(2) (1962): 75–84.Google Scholar
Hassan, F.A. and Robinson, S.W.. 1987. “High-precision radiocarbon chronometry of ancient Egypt and comparison with Nubia, Palestine and Mesopotamia”. Antiquity 61(231): 119–134.Google Scholar
Hopkins, R., Snoeck, C., and Higham, T.. 2016. “When Dental Enamel is Put to the Acid Test: Pretreatment Effects and Radiocarbon Dating”. Radiocarbon 58(4): 893–904.Google Scholar
Hritz, C., Pournelle, J., Smith, J., Albadran, B., Issa, B.M. and al-Handal, A.. 2012. “Mid-Holocene Dates for Organic-Rich Sediment, Palustrine Shell, and Charcoal from Southern Iraq”. Radiocarbon 54(1): 65–79.Google Scholar
Huber, P.J. 1999. “Astronomical Dating of Ur III and Akkad”. Archiv Für Orientforschung 46/47: 50–79.Google Scholar
Koliński, R. 2007. “The Upper Khabur Region in the Second Part of the Third Millennium BC”. Altorientalische Forschungen 34(2): 342–369.Google Scholar
Krebernik, M. and Postgate, J.N.. 2009. “The Tablets from Abu Salabikh and Their Provenance”. Iraq 71: 1–32.Google Scholar
Manning, S.W. 2001. “Anatolian Tree Rings and a New Chronology for the East Mediterranean Bronze-Iron Ages”. Science 294(5551): 2532–2535.Google Scholar
Manning, S.W., Griggs, C.B., Lorentzen, B., Barjamovic, G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Kromer, B. and Wild, E.M.. 2016. “Integrated tree-ring-radiocarbon high-resolution timeframe to resolve earlier second millennium bce mesopotamian chronology”. PLoS ONE 11(7): 1–27.Google Scholar
Martin, H.P. (1988). Fara: a reconstruction of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Shuruppak. Birmingham: Chris Martin and Associates.Google Scholar
McMahon, A. 2006. Nippur V. The Early Dynastic to Akkadian transition; The Area WF sounding at Nippur. Chicago: The Oriental Institute.Google Scholar
Mellaart, J. 1979. “Egyptian and Near Eastern chronology: a dilemma?” Antiquity 53(207): 6–18.Google Scholar
Molleson, T. And Hodgson, D.. 2003. “The Porters of Ur”. Isimu 3: 101–118.Google Scholar
Moon, J. 1982. “The Distribution of Upright-Handled Jars and Stemmed Dishes in the Early Dynastic Period”. Iraq 44(1): 39–70.Google Scholar
Nissen, H.J. 1987. “The Proto- and Early Historic Periods” in Aurenche, O., Evin, J. and Hours, F., eds. Chronologies du Proche Orient. Lyon: Maison de l'Orient Méditerranéen, pp. 607–614.Google Scholar
Pollard, A.M., Davoudi, H. and Mostafapour, U.. 2012. “A New Radiocarbon Chronology for the Late Neolithic to Iron Age in the Qazvin Plain, Iran”. International Journal of Humanities of the Islamic Republic of Iran 19(3): 110–151.Google Scholar
Postgate, J.N. 1994. Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Roaf, M. 2012. “The Fall of Babylon in 1499 NC or 1595 MC”. Akkadica 133: 147–174.Google Scholar
Sallaberger, W. and Schrakamp, I.. 2015. “Part 1: Philological Data for a Historical Chronology of Mesopotamia in the 3rd Millennium” in Sallaberger, W. and Schrakamp, I., eds. ARCANE III. History & Philology. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 1–136.Google Scholar
Stuckenrath, R. 1963. “University of Pennsylvania radiocarbon dates VI”. Radiocarbon 5(2): 82–103.Google Scholar
Stuckenrath, R. and Ralph, E.K.. 1965. “University of Pennsylvania radiocarbon dates VIII”. Radiocarbon 7(1): 187–199.Google Scholar
Tite, M.S., Bowman, S., Ambers, J.C. and Matthews, K.J.. 1987. “Preliminary statement on an error in British Museum radiocarbon dates (BM-1700 to BM-2315)”. Antiquity 61(232): 168.Google Scholar
van der Plicht, J. and Bruins, H.J.. 2001. “Radiocarbon dating in Near-Eastern contexts: confusion and quality control”. Radiocarbon 43(3): 1155–1166.Google Scholar
van Ess, M. 2013. “Neue Radiokarondatierungen aus Uruk” in Crüsemann, N., van Ess, M., Hilgert, M. and Salje, B., eds. Uruk: 5000 Jahre Megacity. Petersburg: Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, pp. 362–363.Google Scholar
van Ess, M. and Heußner, K.-U.. 2015. “Absolute Chronology of the Uruk and Jemdet Nasr Periods at Uruk, Southern Mesopotamia. The Interpretation of Additional 14C Samples”. Zeitschrift Für Orient-Archäologie 8: 10–37.Google Scholar
Weiss, H., Manning, S., Ristvet, L., Mori, L., Besonen, M., McCarthy, A., Quenet, P., Smith, A. and Bahrani, Z.. 2012. “Tell Leilan Akkadian imperialization, collapse and short-lived reoccupation defined by high-resolution radiocarbon dating” in Weiss, H., ed. Seven generations since the fall of Akkad. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 163–192.Google Scholar
Wild, E., Steier, P., Fischer, P. and Höflmayer, F.. 2013. “14C Dating of Humic Acids From Bronze and Iron Age Plant Remains From the Eastern Mediterranean”. Radiocarbon 55(2): 599–607.Google Scholar
Wilson, K.L. 1986. Nippur: The Definition of a Mesopotamian Gamdat Nasr Assemblage” in Finkbeiner, U. and Röllig, W., eds. Gamdat Nasr: Period or Regional style? Papers given at symposium held in Tübingen Nov. 1983. Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert Verlag, pp. 57–89.Google Scholar
Woolley, L.C., Burrows, E.R., Keith, A. and Legrain, L.. 1934. Ur Excavations Volume II: The Royal Cemetery. A report on the Predynastic and Sargonid graves excavated between 1926 and 1931. London: British Museum.Google Scholar
Wright, H.T. and Rupley, E.. 2001. “Calibrated Radiocarbon Age Determinations of Uruk-Related Assemblages” in Rothman, M., ed. Uruk Mesopotamia and Its Neighbors. Santa Fe: SAR, pp. 85–122.Google Scholar
Zaina, F. 2015. “A Radiocarbon Date From Early Dynastic Kish and the Stratigraphy and Chronology of the Ywn Sounding At Tell Ingharra”. Iraq 77(1): 225–234.Google Scholar
Zazzo, A. 2014. “Bone and enamel carbonate diagenesis: A radiocarbon prospective”. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 416: 168–178.Google Scholar
Zazzo, A. and Saliège, J.F.. 2011. “Radiocarbon dating of biological apatites: A review”. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 310(1–2): 52–61.Google Scholar