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Radiocarbon Accelerator (AMS) Dates for the Epipaleolithic Settlement At Abu Hureyra, Syria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

A M T Moore
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
J A J Gowlett
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ, England
R E M Hedges
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ, England
G C Hillman
Affiliation:
Department of Human Environment, Institute of Archaeology, University of London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC 1 H OPY, England
A J Legge
Affiliation:
Department of Extra-Mural Studies, University of London, 26 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DQ, England
P A Rowley-Conwy
Affiliation:
Department of Extra-Mural Studies, University of London, 26 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DQ, England
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Abstract

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The prehistoric settlement of Abu Hureyra in Syria was occupied in both the Epipaleolithic and Neolithic periods. It has provided significant evidence for changes in economy at the time of the inception of agriculture in southwest Asia. Twenty accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates have been obtained to determine the duration of occupation of the Epipaleolithic settlement there and the precise age of samples of cereal grains and animal bones found within it. The results have demonstrated that the AMS technique can answer such questions because it dates exceedingly small samples with high precision. The dates indicate that the Epipaleolithic settlement was inhabited for about a millennium, from before 11,000 to nearly 10,000 bp, significantly longer than had been anticipated from study of the artifacts.

Type
Date Lists
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

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