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Chronology of the Danish Bronze Age Based on 14C Dating of Cremated Bone Remains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Jesper Olsen ,
Karen Margrethe Hornstrup ,
Jan Heinemeier ,
Pia Bennike  and
Henrik Thrane
Jesper Olsen*
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast, 42 Fitzwilliam Street, Belfast BT9 6AX, United Kingdom.
Karen Margrethe Hornstrup
Affiliation:
Moesgaard Museum, Højbjerg DK-8270, Denmark.
Jan Heinemeier
Affiliation:
AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus DK-8000, Denmark.
Pia Bennike
Affiliation:
Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen DK-2300, Denmark.
Henrik Thrane
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, Moesgaard, Aarhus University, Højbjerg DK-8270, Denmark.
*
Corresponding author. Email: j.olsen@qub.ac.uk.
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Abstract

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The relative Bronze Age chronology for Scandinavia was established as early as 1885. It is traditionally divided into 6 periods (I–VI). Earlier attempts to make an absolute Bronze Age chronology for southern Scandinavia were derived from burials and settlements and were mainly based on radiocarbon-dated charcoal or carbonized cereals, often with undefined archaeological periods. Here, we present high-precision 14C dating on burials with well-defined associated archaeological periods in order to improve the absolute chronology of the Danish Bronze Age. Our results are in broad agreement with the traditional absolute chronology of the Danish Bronze Age. However, our results do indicate that the onset of period III likely occurred earlier than previously thought.

Type
Archaeology
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , 2011 , pp. 261 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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