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New AMS 14C Dates for Human Remains from Stone Age Sites in the Iron Gates Reach of the Danube, Southeast Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Clive Bonsall ,
Rastko Vasić ,
Adina Boroneanţ ,
Mirjana Roksandic ,
Andrei Soficaru ,
Kathleen McSweeney ,
Anna Evatt ,
Ülle Aguraiuja ,
Catriona Pickard  and
Vesna Dimitrijević
...Show all authors
Clive Bonsall*
Affiliation:
Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, United Kingdom
Rastko Vasić
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Knez Mihailova 35/IV, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Adina Boroneanţ
Affiliation:
“Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, Romanian Academy, Bucureşti, Romania
Mirjana Roksandic
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 2E9, Canada
Andrei Soficaru
Affiliation:
“Francisc I. Rainer” Anthropological Research Center, Bd Eroii Sanitari nr 8, 76241 Bucureşti, Romania
Kathleen McSweeney
Affiliation:
Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, United Kingdom
Anna Evatt
Affiliation:
Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, United Kingdom
Ülle Aguraiuja
Affiliation:
Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, United Kingdom
Catriona Pickard
Affiliation:
Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, United Kingdom
Vesna Dimitrijević
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Čika Ljubina 18–20, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Thomas Higham
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Dyson Perrins Building, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
Derek Hamilton
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride G75 0QF, United Kingdom
Gordon Cook
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride G75 0QF, United Kingdom
*
Corresponding author. Email: C.Bonsall@ed.ac.uk.
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Abstract

Archaeological investigations in the Iron Gates reach of the Lower Danube Valley between 1964 and 1984 revealed an important concentration of Stone Age sites, which together provide the most detailed record of Mesolithic and Early Neolithic settlement from any area of southeastern Europe. Over 425 human burials were excavated from 15 sites. Of these, less than one-fifth have been directly dated. This article presents 37 new AMS dates on human bone from five sites in the Iron Gates, together with the corresponding δ13C and δ15N values. They include the first dates on human bone from two sites, Icoana and Velesnica. The results are important for the chronology of Stone Age mortuary practices in the Iron Gates and the timing of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in the region.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , 2015 , pp. 33 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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