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Methodological Implications of New Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Holocene Site of Körtik Tepe, Southeast Anatolia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Marion Benz ,
Aytaç Coşkun ,
Irka Hajdas ,
Katleen Deckers ,
Simone Riehl ,
Kurt W Alt ,
Bernhard Weninger  and
Vecihi Özkaya
Marion Benz*
Affiliation:
Department of Near Eastern Archaeology, Albert-Ludwigs-University, 79085 Freiburg, Germany
Aytaç Coşkun
Affiliation:
Dicle Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi, Arkeoloji Bölümü, 21280 Diyarbakır, Turkey
Irka Hajdas
Affiliation:
Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
Katleen Deckers
Affiliation:
Institute for Archaeological Science, Eberhard-Karls-University, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
Simone Riehl
Affiliation:
Institute for Archaeological Science, Eberhard-Karls-University, 72070 Tübingen, Germany Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology, Tübingen, Germany
Kurt W Alt
Affiliation:
Institute of Anthropology, Johannes-Gutenberg-University, 55099 Mainz, Germany
Bernhard Weninger
Affiliation:
Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, Radiocarbon Laboratory, University of Cologne, 50923 Cologne, Germany
Vecihi Özkaya
Affiliation:
Dicle Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi, Arkeoloji Bölümü, 21280 Diyarbakır, Turkey
*
Corresponding author. Email: marion.benz@orient.uni-freiburg.de
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Abstract

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One of the greatest challenges of contemporary archaeology is to synthesize the large amount of radiocarbon and archaeological data into a useful dialogue. For the late Epipaleolithic and the Early Neolithic of the Near East, many 14C ages have been published without precise stratigraphic documentation. Consequently, for archaeological age models we often must use some more elementary approaches, such as probabilistic summation of calibrated ages. The stratigraphy of Körtik Tepe allows us for the first time to study an extended series of 14C ages of the earliest Holocene. In particular, we are able to analyze the data according to stratigraphic position within a well-documented profile. However, because of a plateau in the 14C age calibration curve at the transition from the Younger Dryas to the Early Holocene, dates of this period can be interpreted only if an extended sequence of dates is available. Due to problems remaining in the calibration procedure, the best way to achieve an interpretation is to compare the results of different 14C calibration software. In the present paper, we use the results of the calibration programs OxCal and CalPal. This approach has important implications for future age modeling, in particular for the question of how to date the transition from the Epipaleolithic to the PPNA precisely and accurately.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 54 , Issue 3-4 , 2012 , pp. 291 - 304
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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