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Issues of radiocarbon chronology of Post-Catacomb cultural communities of the Volga region and Volga-Urals are considered in the article. They are represented by sites of the Volga-Don Babino culture and the Volga-Ural cultural group, which went through two completely synchronous stages in their development. The 14C data analysis makes it possible to date the Post-Catacomb antiquities in these regions within the 22nd –20th centuries BC. Comparison of the radiocarbon dates of the Volga-Don Babino culture and the Volga-Ural cultural group with the dates of the Middle Don Catacomb culture of the Middle Bronze Age and chariot cultural communities of the early Late Bronze Age shows that the Post-Catacomb sites followed the Catacomb ones and preceded the Pokrovka, Potapovka, and Sintashta antiquities.

The study of human evolution and cultural patterns relies on empirical evidence provided by the archaeological record. Accessing dependable archaeological data from scholarly publications can often be challenging due to the variability in site documentation and the diversity of academic practices in publication processes. This study presents a comprehensive synthesis of the published literature documenting dated and undated archaeological materials from the Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age in Northwest Africa, notably Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. No previously published open-access database exists for these chronocultural periods in the region. Our dataset encompasses 993 sites and 1152 dates spanning approximately 370,000 to 8,000 years ago. Through a critical evaluation of the dates, we reveal qualitative and quantitative disparities and highlight the potential of the current archaeological record. While only ~10% of sites are dated and ~4.5% have reliable dates associated with a human occupation, this database holds significant potential for demographic and taxonomic meta-analyses as well as for methodological studies associated with chronological data in archaeology.

This paper presents the first review of biases impacting Pleistocene and Holocene radiocarbon dates from Central Africa. Based on the pooling of the research expertise of the co-authors, twenty-four biases are listed, explained and documented and their impact on any radiocarbon date corpus demonstrated. To achieve this, a new corpus has been created of 1764 radiocarbon and TL assays from 601 archaeological sites published in the literature. Each date has been checked for its context. The irregular dynamics of research in space and time seriously impact the end result of previous analyses aiming to achieve a regional understanding of past demographic fluctuations. While peaks in the number of dates from the late Holocene seem to correspond to a positive demographic trend, it is suggested that the declines identified cannot be of any such use for the time being and that today's picture does not presently support claims of a population "crash" at a regional or local level for any time period. The numbers are obscured by overall research deficits identifiable throughout the region. The maps of the dated sites presented offer good evidence of this and illustrate the vast expanses where no archaeological research has yet been carried out. The number of radiocarbon dates in Central Africa is more an indicator of the effort archaeologists have put into understanding a settlement than it is of ancient demographics. Successive waves of incoming people since c. 3500–3000 cal. BP, the two most important ones known since the 1990s, have created a cultural mosaic of coexisting technological groups. The last 40 years of research have revealed the inner complexity of these waves, some of which avoided parts of the region for centuries, thereby creating an irregular cultural mosaic of land use that is outlined by patterning in the radiocarbon dates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NeoNet Atlantic dataset complements the NeoNet Mediterranean dataset by providing new curated radiocarbon dates for the study of the pioneer farming front (i.e. Neolithisation, ca. 7500 to 3500 cal BC) in the Southern European Atlantic Coast river basin (Portugal, Western Spain, Southwestern France). The complete dataset is formed by the id00164_doc_elencoc14.tsv file, a data frame with tab-separated values, and a related dataframe: id00164_doc_thesaurus.tsv. The dataset contains 1,143 radiocarbon dates from 254 archaeological sites and 817 different archaeological contexts (stratigraphic units, structures, negative features, hearths, etc.) informed by 233 bibliographical references. As for the NeoNet Mediterranean dataset, particular attention has been paid to homogenisation of the laboratory code, the archaeological context, and the references, in order to facilitate further data extractions. Indeed, the dataset is linked to an open source R Shiny interactive web app (NeoNet app), a series of functions hosted on GitHub, and a getter function (R package c14bazAAr, R function get_c14data(“neonetatl”).

The problems regarding hunter-gatherer/early farmer interactions are quite an important topic in southeast European archaeology. According to the available data, the two economic subsistence systems have coexisted for some 2000 years during the 6th–4th millennia cal BC (Telegin 1985; Lillie et al., 2001). In some areas, hunter-gatherer and early farmer sites are located just a few kilometers apart. The Southern Buh River valley has yielded evidence of Linear Pottery culture, early Trypillia and Trypillia B1 Neolithic settlements as well as hunter-gatherer sites with pottery attributable to the so-called sub-Neolithic or para-Neolithic (Haskevych et al., 2019; Kiosak et al., 2021). Trial-trenches have been opened within some of these sites, which have been radiocarbon-dated from Bern University laboratory (LARA). Soil samples for micromorphological analysis have been collected from these sites to interpret their paleogenetic formation. The soil development is attested since, at least, the beginning of the 5th mill BC, followed by the developed of chernozem soils, which was interrupted by an erosional episode in the end of 5th millennium BC. The available data show that the soils of early farmers arable as are the present day ones. The early farmers were able to exploit relatively heavy soils to cultivate wheat and barley as early as 5250–5050 cal BC. In contrast, the sites of ceramic hunter-gatherers were often located on the soils which formed under wet conditions along seasonally flooded riverbanks, which were almost unsuitable for agricultural practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we preset the first systematic archaeological surveys in the Iguazú National Park. As a result, we detected several surficial and stratigraphic sites just nearby the Iguazú falls, showing the great archaeological potential of the area. Two radiocarbon dates were obtained including the earliest date registered in Misiones province. The detection of nine new archaeological sites located on different environments and the establishment of absolute chronologies allow us to take the first steps to address the temporal and spatial variability of the archaeological signal in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a radiocarbon database for the Japanese archipelago compiled from over 5,500 site excavation reports covering a chronological span from 55,000 BP to the present day. The complete database in Japanese contains over 44,000 entries, providing contextual information directly obtained from descriptions provided in the site reports. Here we provide a curated English translation of the database, containing a subset of 39,284 dates from the original database, which excludes duplicates and errors and includes new information concerning the dated material.

The dataset described in this paper presents an annotated compilation of absolute dates obtained from archaeological sites located in northern Iberia corresponding broadly to the Cantabrian region (Spain). It consists mainly of radiocarbon dates chronologically framed between 45–30 ka BP. This is the period when the last Neanderthals disappeared and the first Anatomically Modern Humans dispersed into northern Iberia, widely considered a key region for understanding the patterns and processes of this transition. Providing chronological information as well as serving as palaeodemographic proxies, this novel compilation facilitates new analyses of this key period. The dataset contains 224 dates from 37 archaeological sites and more than 87% of the dates included have been positively assessed for use. It is available at Github and linked to Zenodo with the aim to ensure accessibility, reproducibility and continued extension.

Main stages of the search for Paleolithic sites on the territory of the Kazan Volga region from the second half of the XIX century to the current moment are presented in the paper. According to the author, reliable data on the settlement of this territory in the Lower and Middle Paleolithic have not been received to date. At the same time, stratified Paleolithic sites discovered in 2018 – 2020 in the left bank of the Kama–Volga confluence open up the possibility of a comprehensive study of sites of the transition period from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic here in the future. The first radiocarbon date obtained in the Kazan Volga region for the paleolithic and paleofaunal location of the Beganchik (about 47 thousand years ago) confirms the assumptions about the presence of an early cultural layer in this area of the confluence of the Volga and Kama. This layer has obviously a much older archaeological age than the sites of the Late Paleolithic and the Ust-Kama culture of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic transition, studied in the Kazan Volga region and the adjacent territory of the Middle Volga region.

The radiocarbon dating record from sites in the territory that comprises the Plurinational State of Bolivia has been previously included in datasets that are either obsolete, inaccurate, or incomplete. The Bolivian Radiocarbon Database compiles over three thousand radiocarbon dates produced in the context of archaeological and other paleo-scientific research. By conducting an exhaustive review and correcting various errors from previous regional datasets, this database currently incorporates the largest and most accurate information of radiocarbon dates from the country of Bolivia. In addition to describing how the data was collected and the structure of the database, here I also summarize some general patterns and emergent trends from this data.

The dataset described in this work represents the first open-access compilation of uncalibrated radiocarbon dates for the archaeology of the Canary Islands (Spain). This collaborative ongoing dataset will be updated step by step with newly published radiocarbon dates. Finally, this database has a Shiny application hosted at the Universidad de la Laguna and is freely accessible.

The purpose of this article is to broaden the information available on the chronology of the Inca expansion in Collasuyu by analyzing all radiocarbon dates obtained in Argentina’s Inca sites. We evaluated and classified all the dates (n=178) into three different groups (G1, G2, and G3), according to the quantity and quality of contextual information, and the possibility of effectively verifying this information through published articles. The interpretation was mainly based on the dates showing the best information regarding the origin and context of the samples (28 of the G1, and 36 of the G2). Our results indicate that the Inca advance started towards the beginnings of 15th Century AD in the northernmost part of Argentina and rapidly continued southwards, probably reaching the province of Mendoza some 50 years later. This study confirms the differences between the ethnohistoric chronology and the radiocarbon data, previously pointed out by other authors. Moreover, it suggests a sequence of at least three stages in which the Incas would have incorporated the existing territories until ca. 24°, 28°, and 34° 30' S, respectively. This is the first global study of Inca chronology in Argentina, and the first time that dates are classified to determine their level of context information and reliability.

The NeoNet dataset aims to provide a new research tool for the study of the pioneer farming front (i.e. Neolithisation) in the North Central and North Western Mediterranean basin by focusing on the period of transition from a foraging to a farming economy (ca. 7000 to 3500 cal BC). The complete dataset is formed by the elencoc14.tsv file, a dataframe with tab-separated values, and a connex dataframe: thesaurus.tsv. The dataset contains 2,506 radiocarbon dates from 526 archaeological sites and 1,769 different archaeological records (stratigraphic units, structures, negative features, hearths, etc.). To ensure and facilitate the reuse of the radiocarbon dates, NeoNet’s data structure is based on the Euroevol database layout. Among other fields, particular attention has been paid to homogenisation of the laboratory code, the archaeological context, and the references, in order to facilitate further data extractions. Indeed, the dataset is linked to an opensource R Shiny interactive web app (NeoNet app), and a getter function (R package c14bazAAr, R function get_neonet).

To our knowledge, the dataset described in this paper represents the largest existing repository of uncalibrated radiocarbon dates for the whole Near East from the Late Pleistocene to the Late Holocene (15,000 – 1,500 cal. yr. BP). It is composed of 11,027 radiocarbon dates from 1,023 sites that have been collected comprehensively by cross-checking multiple sources (extant digital archives and databases, edited volumes, monographs, journals papers, archaeological excavation reports, etc.) under the umbrella of the Leverhulme Trust funded project “Changing the Face of the Mediterranean” and of the ERC project “CLASS – Climate, Landscape, Settlement and Society: Exploring Human-Environment Interaction in the Ancient Near East”. This is an ongoing dataset that will be updated step by step with newly published radiocarbon dates.

The dataset described in this paper represents the largest and most comprehensive collection of radiocarbon dates from the Czech Republic to date. The dataset offers 1579 samples from 357 archaeological sites dating from the Early Mesolithic (10,000 BC) to AD 1250. Published in a simple spreadsheet format, it offers researchers a quick tool for further analyses.

The Mesoamerican Radiocarbon Database (MesoRAD) compiles radiocarbon dates from the archaeological literature of Mesoamerica. The inaugural data set, ‘Lowland Maya Dates’, includes 1846 radiocarbon dates from 132 sites in 21 distinct environmental zones in the Maya lowlands. These data span the Paleoindian to Colonial Periods (11,670 to 190 uncal BP, 13,740 cal BP to modern) across southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Here, we describe the methods used to compile and organize these dates, including the spatial, chronological, and environmental coverage of the data set.

Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates directly integrates information obtained through archaeological analysis. Here, I explain how to add known information/reasonable assumptions about the length of a deposition phase, using the example of date sequences from two Early Neolithic communities in the Aegean whose dating has been hotly debated, i.e. basal Knossos (Crete) and Nea Nikomedeia (Northern Greece). The consequences of the re-evaluation of their dates are discussed for the broader picture of the Neolithisation in the Aegean and for the chronology of the regional use of stamps.

Analizamos los datos cronológicos del registro funerario del yacimiento de Las Mayores, Toledo, un poblado de estructuras subterráneas que incluyen enterramientos. Las fechas obtenidas en su necrópolis campaniforme certifican la ocupación del enclave durante el III milenio a.C. El resto de los enterramientos se sitúan en el Bronce medio. El modelo bayesiano confirma una interrupción del registro temporal de casi medio siglo, que pone en evidencia las dificultades de interpretar las secuencias de ocupación de estos enclaves considerados como permanentes, con ocupaciones reiteradas o recurrentes en el mismo espacio. Yacimientos equiparables en tipología y decurso cronológico del entorno inmediato no muestran la misma discontinuidad en sus secuencias y sí una cierta contracción en el cambio del III al II milenio a. C. coincidiendo con la emergencia de nuevos poblados lo que sugiere una reorganización poblacional que atenúa la idea de un cambio abrupto en la región.

This paper presents a compilation of radiocarbon dates associated with the process of arrival, development and consolidation of the first farming communities that settled between the north-western Mediterranean Arch and the High Rhine area approximately between 5900 and 2000 cal BC covering a large geographical area previously out of the main focus of 14C data compilations. The database includes dates from scientific publications and it incorporates several fields for evaluating the quality and the reliability of the available samples. It overall provides 3617 radiocarbon dates that allow the scientific community to build chronological models that can be combined with other proxies such as spatial location, type of sample or chronocultural phase.

The MedAfriCarbon radiocarbon database and its accompanying web application are outcomes of the MedAfrica project — 'Archaeological deep history and dynamics of Mediterranean Africa, ca. 9600–700 BC'. The dataset presented here in Version 1.0 of the database includes 1587 archaeological 14C dates from 368 sites in Mediterranean Africa. The database is unusual because the majority of the dates within it have been annotated with further cultural and environmental variables, notably the presence/absence of different domestic/wild species and particular material culture traits. MedAfriCarbon also includes an publicly-accessible web application that facilitates data exploration and informal analysis. Funding statement: The Leverhulme Trust provided the core funding for the 'Archaeological deep history and dynamics of Mediterranean Africa, ca. 9600–700 BC (MedAfrica)' Research Project (RPG-2016-261). Additional financial support for the project came from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and IPOCAN, MIUR project, via ISMEO (the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies). ISMEO financially covered the publication costs of this open-access paper.

The chronology of the eastern Fennoscandian Neolithic is organized with the help of pottery styles, one of which is southwestern Finnish Jäkärlä Ware. In this paper a number of new radiocarbon dates connected with Jäkärlä Ware and other relevant ceramic groups are presented and discussed. The radiocarbon dates of each group are modelled within a Bayesian chronological framework. Also, the potential reservoir effect in charred crust dates is estimated for each date based on stable carbon isotopic ratios of the crust samples and incorporated into models. Jäkärlä Ware appears to be a short-living and quite a isolated group, which had no chronological contacts with Sperrings 1–2 Wares, but with possible coexistence with Middle Neolithic Typical Comb Ware. Jäkärlä Ware is partly simultaneous with eastern Finnish asbestos-tempered Kaunissaari Ware, and forms with it a short chronological horizon in the turn of the Early and Middle Neolithic of eastern Fennoscandia.

Copyright of Revista del Museo de Antropología is the property of Museo de Antropologia - IDACOR and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article continues elaborating upon the topic of the Neolithic household of the Trans-Urals (Zauralye) and Western Siberia population. It aims at clarifying the chronological framework of the Sosnovoostrovskaya culture which occupies an area of the forest-steppe borderlands — South taiga zone of the Tobol river basin. For the first time, a complete summary and analysis of all currently available dates obtained by coal, ceramics and soil samples of palynological columns are presented in the article. The review is preceded by fixation of identification characteristics of dishes as the main cultural diagnostic criterion. The latter is particularly important in light of clearly denoted problems of the chronological framework appearance and local features of Neolithic ceramics ornamented with the use of a comb-stepping technique. Increasingly used radiocarbon dating of ceramics attaches particular topicality to choosing marker characteristics of pottery as the main factor for hasty conclusions about the process of neolithization in the region. Indicator characteristics of Sosnovoostrovskaya pottery are defined as a combination of a number of morphological and decorative features. Besides, the extensive use of walking comb among them are form of vessels (wall-sided and semi ovoid with a round or a bit pointed bottom); the shape of the rim (without an influx, made with a bevel on the inside, and sometimes a little bent out); décor features (continuous ornamentation of the outer surface, often the edge of the vessel and inner side of the rim). Predominance of horizontal zoning with the use of horizontal, slanting, rarely vertical motives in a pattern. The step, unlike that one on the dishes of Kozlovsky-Poludensky circle, is characterized by a variety of modifications. The wide use of rows, less often zones of zigzag, prickings and geometric patterns is specific). A belt of pearls along the edge of the vessel from the outer or inner side is a universal marker of the culture. Chronology of Sosnovoostrovskaya antiquities is updated. It is found that most of the dates gravitate to the first half of the V millennium BC and partly even to the turn of the VI–V millennium BC, which makes the existence of culture more ancient for at least half a millennium. This time interval corresponds to the period of the mid-Atlantic, which is characterized by excessive humidity in these areas. High hypsometric level of Sosnovoostrovskaya settlements arrangement is consistent with this fact.

Combined archaeological, ecological, and geologic research on Chuginadak and Carlisle Islands in the Islands of Four Mountains (IFM) probed questions about the sustainability of human settlements over the past 4000 years in the face of geologic, ecological, and social hazards. We use a human ecodynamics approach to frame the investigation and present original archaeological evidence from this poorly known region of the remote Aleutian Islands. Several village sites occupied during the last four millennia are clustered in locations that were not damaged by earthquake-induced tsunamis; however, new geologic evidence indicates that at least one volcanic eruption forced humans to abandon one or more prehistoric village sites. Combined archaeological, ecological, and geologic analyses demonstrate resilient Unangax̂ occupations of the IFM through long-term climate change as well as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions with occasional community vulnerability to volcanic eruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents is a review of a conference-debate organized in Paris in June 2014 with Bernhard Weninger, head of the Radiocarbon Laboratory of the University of Köln (Germany) and disciple of a scientific trend described as “Climate archaeology”. According to thisschool of thought , some historical events (population movements, abandonment of sites, etc.) are seen as the result of contemporaneous major climatic changes, namely the episodes of global cooling of the atmosphere known under the name of “Rapid Climate Change events” (RCC). During the debate, the discussion stressed the limits of application of the principle of correlation between social behavior and climatic changes. Arguments referred mainly to the difficulties in (i) characterizing palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimate proxies of short-lived (ca 100 yr-long) events, (ii) transferring global data to local contexts where impacts of climate change gain in variety due to human practices, perception, resource management procedures, and (iii) the time-uncertainties attached to our dating methods which keep us for defining the exact contemporaneity and modes of interactions between different categories of facts. The debate ended in stressing that the correlation is most often not as direct as it seems at first sight. Therefore, the analysis and interpretation of coincident short events of natures as different as climate and human cultures must be supported by data integrating various geographic and cultural time-scales and contexts, especially on the local scale of the archaeological sites and their surroundings.

To our knowledge, the dataset described in this paper represents the largest existing repository of archaeological settlement (7,383 sites) and radiocarbon data (816 samples) for central Italy, spanning the period from the Late Mesolithic (ca. 8,000 BC) to the fall of the Roman Empire (500 AD). This dataset is also one of the six case studies in a Leverhulme Trust funded project called 'Changing the Face of the Mediterranean: Land Cover and Population Since the Advent of Farming' (Grant Ref. RPG-2015-031), a Plymouth-UCL collaboration which aims to reconstruct regional demographic trends and change in land cover/vegetation over the longue 'durée'.

Thessaly in Central Greece is famous for settlement mounds (magoules) that were already partly formed in the Early Neolithic period. Some of these long-lived sites grew to many metres in height during the subsequent Middle, Late and Final Neolithic periods, and were also in­habited in the Bronze Age. Such magoules served as the backbone for defining relative chronolo­gical schemes. However, their absolute dating is still a topic of debate: due to a lack of well-defined se­quences, different chronological schemes have been proposed. New radiocarbon dates obtained in the last few years allow a better understanding of the duration not only of the main Neolithic pe­riods, but also of the different phases and sub-phases.

Copyright of Intersecciones en Antropología is the property of Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Archaeologists have long examined how the emergence of core polities prompts changes in the settlement patterns of peripheral regions through various processes like warfare, patronage claims, control of ritual rites, and unequal balances of trade. According to historical records, there were 54 small Mahan polities in southwestern Korea, and one of these polities, Baekje, grew to become an ancient state by unifying other polities in the 4th century AD. It is assumed that subsequent changes in the settlement patterns of southwestern Korea were caused directly or indirectly by the expansion of Baekje, but the nature of this presumed influence is not fully explained due to difficulties in establishing chronologies and the limited application of spatial analyses. In this paper, radiocarbon (14C) dates, kernel density estimates, and spatial autocorrelation analyses are used to compare Mahan settlement distributions before and after the rise of the Baekje kingdom. The results demonstrate that the spatial distribution of Mahan settlements changed over time, correlating with the emergence of Baekje statehood, but detailed aspects of the settlement patterns observed in each region were not uniform. Baekje applied various expansion strategies and exerted asymmetrical hegemony based on the conditions and responses of peripheral communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dates for early cultivation in Finland obtained from pollen analysis and remains from archaeological sites are compared with the changes in population size derived from the summed calendar-year probability distributions. The results from these two independent proxies correlate strongly with one another indicating that population size and the advance of farming were closely linked to each other. Moreover, the results show that the adaptation and development of farming in this area was a complex process comprising several stages and with major differences between regions The most intensive expansion having occurred in and after the Iron Age. It is therefore more accurate to describe the introduction of farming into the area as a long-lasting process, rather than an event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerando como punto de partida las diferentes hipótesis referidas a la temporalidad de la alfarería estilo Famabalasto Negro Grabado del Noroeste Argentino, se evalúan un total de 47 fechados radiocarbónicos en sitios de los valles Calchaquí, Hualfín, Andalgalá y -principalmente- Yocavil, con el propósito de ajustar la cronología de este particular estilo alfarero. El análisis contextual crítico propuesto considera los niveles de asociación entre la muestra orgánica fechada y el evento a datar y también los niveles de asociación entre el evento datado y el conjunto cerámico espacialmente vinculado, a la luz de la información disponible. Tomando en cuenta solamente los datos radiocarbónicos con buen nivel de asociación a cerámicas de estilo Famabalasto Negro Grabado, se propone ubicar el lapso de su producción a nivel regional hacia los inicios del siglo XIV y mediados del siglo XVI.Considering as a starting point the different hypothesis referred to the temporality of the Famabalasto Negro Grabado pottery from the Argentinean Northwest, a total of 47 radiocarbon dates from the Calchaquí, Hualfín, Andalgalá and -principally- Yocavil valleys are evaluated with the goal of adjusting the chronology of this particular pottery style. The critical contextual analysis proposed considers the association levels between the dated organic sample and the event to be dated, and also the levels of association between the dated event and the pottery associated to it. Taking into account only the radiocarbon data with good levels of association to the Famabalasto Negro Grabado pottery style, we propose to locate the period of its production to a regional level between the beginnings of the 14th century to the mid of the 16th century.

The Pre-Pottery-Neolithic refers to a period in the Eastern Mediterranean when ceramic containers were not yet in use (although small objects made of clay were already being created). This concept, which reflects a specific and quite unique stage in the development of human history, was introduced to Aegean prehistory under the term of Preceramic during the 1950’s (e.g., in Argissa Magoula and Sesklo). Shortly thereafter, a different term, the Aceramic, was applied in the Aegean (e.g., in Knossos) for levels devoid of pottery, although ceramic products were supposedly used in the wider region. In some cases, the thin levels interpreted as Preceramic or as Aceramic contained sherds that were regarded as being intrusive from above (e.g., Argissa-Magoula, Franchthi Cave). The new sequences of radiocarbon dates allow a more precise description of this early period and thereby contribute, not least, also to the clarification of terminological issues.

Entre 1950 y 1970 el sacerdote Gustavo Le Paige excavó una de las mayores colecciones osteológicas de América Latina, que ha llamado la atención de muchos investigadores en los últimos 40 años. En sus notas de terreno Le Paige consigna la exhumación de 5482 cráneos y cuerpos humanos, depositados en el Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Museo de la Universidad Católica del Norte, en San Pedro de Atacama. Sin embargo, procesos acumulativos de abandono y falta de conservación preventiva produjeron serios daños en el estado de una parte significativa de esta colección, así como la pérdida de sus contextos. Aquí, presentamos el actual estado de conservación de la colección, al mismo tiempo que ofrecemos 50 nuevas dataciones radiocarbónicas que sitúan cronológicamente en forma más precisa a 21 de los cementerios más representativos de donde proviene nuestro objeto de estudio.Between the 1950s and 1970s Father Gustavo Le Paige excavated one of the largest osteological collections of Latin America, attracting the attention of numerous researchers over the past 40 years. In his field notes, Le Paige recorded the excavation of 5482 skulls and human bodies deposited in the Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Museo of the Universidad Católica del Norte (San Pedro de Atacama). However, cumulative processes of abandonment and the lack of preventive conservation resulted in the loss of context and a decrease in the quality of preservation of a significant portion of this skeletal collection. Here, we present the current state of preservation of this collection, and 50 new radiocarbon dates that helps the chronological contextualization of 21 of the larger and more representative cemeteries in the Le Paige collection.

Bayesian statistics has now demonstrated its strong utility in archaeology, specifically through software that conditions radiocarbon data. Only recently has this technology been applied within Maya archaeology, however, in part because the Maya calendar provides a much greater resolution in dating archaeological events than is possible with radiocarbon data. The Long Count in particular allows for the assignment of some events relative to each other, accurate to the day. In this paper, a new approach is presented to incorporate robust records of both in the same Bayesian analysis through the OxCal software. The results do call for a reconsideration of the earliest radiocarbon studies in the Maya area from the 1960s, as well as the latest attempts to corroborate the currently popular calendar correlation known as the GMT. This new study demonstrates the value of the approach and corroborates the 1σ accuracy of the GMT, while at the same time opening up the possibility of revision by 20 or more years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Durante las campañas de 1992 y 1994 se encontraron en el yacimiento solutrense de La Cueva de Ambrosio (Vélez-Blanco, Almería, España) un conjunto de representaciones artísticas parietales pintadas y grabadas del Paleolítico superior. Entre los grabados del panel I, se ha descifrado una excelente silueta de caballo, una representación de ave, unos protomos de bóvido y de caballo, así como otros trazos todavía no interpretados. En la parte inferior del panel existen pinturas, poco visibles a causa de una colada calcítica y de momento no es posible interpretar ninguna representación figurativa. En el panel II se han identificado un total de 25 figuras tanto grabadas como pintadas. La excepcionalidad del hallazgo reside en el hecho de poder interrelacionar perfectamente estas muestras de arte con los niveles arqueológicos claramente definidos desde el punto de vista cultural y cronoestratigráfico (ca. 20000 BP) Solutrense medio y Solutrense superior del mismo yacimiento.In the solutrean site of La Cueva de Ambrosio (Vélez-Blanco, Almería, Spain) several engraved and painted figures dated on the Upper Palaeolithic, have been found during the field works of 1992 and 1994. In The panel I we have identified an excellent representation of a horse, a bird, one bovidae and another protome of a horse. Below this surface there are many red ochre wall paintings covered by a calcitic speleotheme and for the time being we are unable to give any interpretation for it. In the second panel we have discovered more tone splendid red painted horse, two more enngraved horses and a little head of one other black painted horse. There are many engraved lines and pictural rests that must be studied in the future. The exceptionality of this discovery is that we can interrelate perfectly these rock art paintings with the archaeological levels clearly defined chronologically and culturally (ca. 20000 BP), Middle Solutrean and Upper Solutrean from the same site.

Radiocarbon dates on new evidence of agriculture in Southern Scandinavia document the introduction of domesticated animals and cereal cultivation during the period 4000–3700 cal BC. The speed of the expansion was so rapid that smaller groups of pioneering farmers from Central Europe must have been involved in this process. These farmers cleared the forest and settled on inland sites. For reasons of poor preservation conditions for organic finds, bioarchaeological evidence from these inland sites is rare. However, the small amounts of available evidence clearly points to a dominating agrarian subsistence supplemented by hunting and fishing. Furthermore, the distribution of archaeological stray finds, such as pointed butted flint axes, is in certain cases located around easy accessible inland flint mines, where pioneering farmers settled on easily-workable arable soils. Evidence from contemporaneous coastal and lake shore sites show, on the other hand, a slow and gradual process of change towards agrarian subsistence, thus supporting the availability model. Our results support the theory of cultural dualism, assuming the migration of smaller groups of farmers from Central Europe. The transition towards an agrarian way of life probably happened during a complex and continuous process of migration, integration and gradual assimilation between pioneering farmers and local hunter–gatherers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]