This commentary aims at raising awareness and fostering a discussion on the need of a new approach to the radiocarbon (14C) dating of historic mortars. Over the last decades, important advancements have been made in the application of the 14C dating methods to lime mortar samples, including the use of lime lumps instead of generic pieces of mortar. However, a relevant number of results in disagreement with the chronological framework of the related archaeological cases are published every year without a clear understanding of the reasons for such results. This suggests that further developments to the methodology are needed. The commentary argues that to further develop this particular application of the 14C dating method, a new, more holistic approach is needed that moves away from the very “applied” approach that dominated the last decades and focuses more on the causes of contamination and the mechanism of the reactions involved. Two actions are suggested that can immediately improve our ability to critically assess the results obtained: the publication of a chemical and mineralogical characterization of the binding fraction for the dated mortars, and the publication of sampling depth for each dated sample.

Museum collections are extremely valuable sources of material for ongoing research, although the conservation history of some objects is not always recorded, which can be problematic for chemical analyses. While most contamination is removed using the acid-base-acid treatment, this may not be the case for cross-linked contamination. The XAD resin protocol was implemented at the radiocarbon (14C) laboratory in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, and the setup was tested using known age bone samples and a consolidated Palaeolithic bone. Known age samples were consolidated with shellac or Paraloid, aged for a month, treated with or without the XAD resin and 14C dated. Bone blank results showed that XAD resin was able to remove shellac, which was not the case for the ABA-only method. Results from VIRI I were more variable and VIRI F was possibly too young to show the effects of the consolidants. Two 14C dates on the Palaeolithic bone after XAD treatment are statistically the same, while a sample without XAD treatment was significantly older, suggesting that the contaminant was not fully removed by the ABA-only treatment. This study demonstrates the potential of the XAD treatment to clean heritage bone samples stored in museums prior to geochemical analyses.

Bone points were one of the major hunting implements in northern European hunter-gatherer societies. They differ in shapes, types, and manufacturing techniques. In this paper, we investigate 22 bone points from the territory of Lithuania, by studying their morpho-technological characteristics, direct dates, and adhesive residues. The majority are isolated finds, but four points were selected from excavated archaeological sites dated between the 5th and 3rd millennia cal BC. Most of the points belong to the barbed points category, but six slotted points were also studied. Of the 22, 16 previously undated points were sampled for accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dating. The results of 10 successfully dated samples are discussed together with previously published 14C dates of bone points from the same region. ATR-FTIR analysis of adhesive residues from six points suggest that birch bark tar was used to haft barbed points and lithic inserts. The results reveal the diversity of types of Early Holocene bone points in the territory of Lithuania, while the slotted and Kunda-type bone points fall into narrow timeframes.

Analysis of 20 calibrated accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) ages reveals a chronology for the habitation of a unique peripheral settlement at Zahrat adh-Dhra‘ 1 (ZAD 1), Jordan during the Middle Bronze Age of the Southern Levant. Bayesian modeling distinguishes three phases of occupation between the first settlement at ZAD 1, perhaps as early as about 2050 cal BCE, and its abandonment by 1700 cal BCE. ZAD 1 represents a marginal community, both environmentally and culturally, on the hyperarid Dead Sea Plain, and exemplifies the peripheral settlements that are envisioned as important elements of Bronze Age Levantine society. Most importantly for this study, it is the only peripheral site in the Southern Levant that provides a Bayesian model for its habitation during the growth of Middle Bronze Age urbanized society. The timing of ZAD 1’s constituent phases, early in Middle Bronze I, across the Middle Bronze I/II transition and in Middle Bronze II, correspond well with emerging chronologies for the Middle Bronze Age, thereby contributing to an ongoing reassessment of regional social and settlement dynamics.

This gazette presents to the reader outside Rome news of recent archaeological activity (July 2022–June 2023) gleaned from public lectures, conferences, exhibitions and newspaper reports.