1. The Early Bronze Age dendrochronology of Sovjan (Albania): A first tree-ring sequence of the 24th – 22nd c. BC for the southwestern Balkans
- Author
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Cécile Oberweiler, Ariane Ballmer, Gilles Touchais, Petrika Lera, Maja Gori, Albert Hafner, Andrej Maczkowski, Sönke Szidat, Matthias Bolliger, Archéologie et Philologie d'Orient et d'Occident (AOROC), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Université Fan S. Noli de Korçë, Institut archéologique de Tirana, Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité (ArScAn), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1), Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR), University of Bern, Universität Bern [Bern], Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Département des Sciences de l'Antiquité - ENS Paris (DSA ENS-PSL), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Protohistoire égéenne (ProtoEgéenne), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Universität Bern [Bern] (UNIBE)
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,930 History of ancient world (to ca. 499) ,Sovjan -- Albania ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,[SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory ,Dendrochronological dating ,Plant Science ,01 natural sciences ,[SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences ,Prehistory ,Sequence (geology) ,Bronze Age ,540 Chemistry ,Dendrochronology ,Early Bronze Age ,Sequence stratigraphy ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Ecology ,Trackway ,Archaeology ,Iron Age ,570 Life sciences ,biology ,900 History ,010606 plant biology & botany ,Chronology - Abstract
The archaeological site of Sovjan is situated on the edge of the Korce Basin, southeastern Albania. Its remarkably long and well investigated stratigraphic sequence, spanning from the Neolithic till the Iron Age, makes it an important type- and reference-site for the whole region. At different periods of prehistory it was located on the shores of the former Lake Maliq that once filled the Korce Basin, but was definitely drained in the 1940′s. These permanent wetland conditions on the site allowed for a high degree of preservation of organic material, especially wood. Based on the current knowledge, level 8 of Sovjan contains the best-preserved wooden material of all the Early Bronze Age sites in the Balkans. Through the combination of dendrochronology and Bayesian modelling, i.e. wiggle-matching, a floating 269-years long tree-ring chronology was constructed, with an absolute end-date range falling between 2158 and 2142 cal BC (2σ). It was possible to establish that the dwellings and the trackway associated with the last occupation phase of level 8 are contemporaneous. Additionally, with the help of the new dendrochronological data and based on previously published charcoal dates, the absolute chronology of the subsequent level 7 is being narrowed-down to a range from the mid-22nd to mid-20th c. cal BC (2σ). The Early Bronze Age layers of the archaeological site of Sovjan, which are particularly pertinent for the 3rd millennium chronology of the southwestern Balkans, can now be dated with high precision for the first time and hence offer a major chronological reference point in the region.
- Published
- 2021
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