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Broadening the Scope of Bone Anvils: Direct AMS 14C Dating from the Island of Menorca (Western Mediterranean)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2016

Alejandro Valenzuela Open the ORCID record for Alejandro Valenzuela [Opens in a new window] ,
Miguel Ángel Cau  and
María José León
Alejandro Valenzuela*
Affiliation:
Departament de Biodiversitat i Conservació, Institut Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), c/Miquel Marqués 21, 07190 Esporles, Mallorca, Spain Equip de Recerca Arqueològica i Arqueomètrica, Universitat de Barcelona (ERAAUB), Departament d’Història i Arqueologia, Facultat de Geografia i Història, c/ Montalegre 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
Miguel Ángel Cau
Affiliation:
ICREA, Passeig de Lluís Companys, 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain Equip de Recerca Arqueològica i Arqueomètrica, Universitat de Barcelona (ERAAUB), Departament d’Història i Arqueologia, Facultat de Geografia i Història, c/ Montalegre 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University, Box 1837, 60 George Street, Providence, RI 02912, USA
María José León
Affiliation:
Museu municipal des Bastió de sa Font, Plaça de la Font, s/n, 07760, Ciutadella de Menorca, Spain
*
*Corresponding author: avalenol@gmail.com.
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Abstract

This article presents the results of direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating of a new bone anvil retrieved in the Iron Age–Roman site of Montefí (Ciutadella), in the southwest of the island of Menorca (western Mediterranean). The radiometric date confirms the chronology obtained through the stratigraphy and typological analysis of ceramics (1st–3rd century AD), and indicates that this bone-made tool not only represents the first archaeological anvil from the island but also constitutes the earliest evidence in the western Mediterranean. This ancient date is more consistent with the known eastern regional chronology and reinforces the importance of obtaining direct AMS 14C dates to refine artifact chronologies.

Keywords

bone anvilMenorcaRoman ironworkingserrated sickleswestern Mediterranean
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , pp. 61 - 67
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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