In this paper, we present dating of archaeological samples performed since our last report (Obelić et al. 2002). Included are results of samples measured by the gas proportional counting (GPC) method until the abandonment of this technique in 2007, as well as results of several series measured by both GPC and liquid scintillation counting (LSC) methods.

This paper presents a set of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates obtained from various archaeological samples collected from 3 shellmounds—CA-MRN-114, CA-MRN-115, and CA-MRN-328—within China Camp State Park, Marin County, California, USA.

This article is a rejoinder to a recent paper in this journal by van der Plicht et al. (2009) who use radiocarbon determinations from several sites in Israel, Italy, Spain, and Tunisia to advocate a High Chronology system for the entire Mediterranean Basin. We contend that they reached mistaken conclusions due to problematic selection of sites and data. We argue that a reliable way to provide absolute dates for the Iron Age in the central and western Mediterranean is by employing a combination of well-identified Greek pottery found in well-stratified sites and radiometric results from short-lived samples. For the time being, this combination exists only in the Levant, and provides an anchor for Greek chronology, which supports the Conventional Chronology for the Aegean Basin, which corresponds to the Low Chronology in the Levant.

This article is a reply to the preceding rejoinder by Fantalkin et al., which they wrote in response to our article concerning radiocarbon dates of Iron Age sites in the Mediterranean region measured at Groningen (van der Plicht et al. 2009). We do not agree with much of their criticism. Our reply is presented in detail with new viewpoints and evaluations concerning a number of sites in the Levant, including Tel Dan, Megiddo Stratum VIA (= K/4), Horvat Haluqim, Tell el-Qudeirat, Khirbet en-Nahas, Tel Rehov, as well as sites in the central and western Mediterranean region, particularly Carthage and Huelva. Our main conclusions are that 14C dating supports an Iron Age High Chronology for the above sites, though more 14C dating is required, particularly in Greece and the central and western Mediterranean region, to substantiate and refine the current state of knowledge. We prefer detailed investigations per individual site, evaluating both 14C dates and site stratigraphy, rather than the wholesale averaging of strata over many sites, which may lead to oversimplification and erroneous results, also on stratigraphic grounds. Contrary to Fantalkin et al. (2011), we emphasize the importance of 14C dating as an independent methodology—chronostratigraphy—to evaluate site stratigraphy. The 14C dates of Megiddo Stratum VIA (=K/4) clearly indicate field-stratigraphic problems at this site.