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The End of the Chalcolithic Period in the South Jordan Valley: New 14C Determinations from Teleilat Ghassul, Jordan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Stephen Bourke ,
Ugo Zoppi ,
John Meadows ,
Quan Hua  and
Samantha Gibbins
Stephen Bourke*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Ugo Zoppi
Affiliation:
ANSTO, PMB1, Menai, New South Wales 2234, Australia.
John Meadows
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Quan Hua
Affiliation:
ANSTO, PMB1, Menai, New South Wales 2234, Australia.
Samantha Gibbins
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
*
Corresponding author. Email: stephen.bourke@arts.usyd.edux.au.
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Abstract

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This article reports on 12 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates from the latest phases of the Chalcolithic period occupation (late 5th millennium cal BC) at Teleilat Ghassul, type site for the south Levantine Ghassulian Chalcolithic culture. The new AMS dates from Teleilat Ghassul favor an amendment to a previous suggestion (Bourke et al. 2001), that all significant occupation at the site had ceased by 4000/3900 cal BC. This end-date should now be amended to 3900/3800 cal BC. Follow-up statistical modelling sourced to published 14C data drawn from a wide selection of south Levantine Chalcolithic period sites (Bourke 2001; Burton and Levy 2001) raises the possibility that Chalcolithic period occupation had ceased at virtually all major centers by 3800/3700 cal BC. This, in turn, suggests that the new data bearing on the end-date for occupation at Teleilat Ghassul may reflect a more widespread horizon of abandonment in the southern Levant.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 46 , Issue 1: Proceedings of the 18th International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2), Conference Editors: Nancy Beavan Athfield, Rodger J Sparks , 2004 , pp. 315 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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