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Radiocarbon Dates from the Jewish Catacombs of Rome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Leonard V Rutgers ,
Arie F M De Jong  and
Klaas van der Borg
Leonard V Rutgers
Affiliation:
Faculty of Theology, Utrecht University, POB 80105, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands. Email: lrutgers@theo.uu.nl.
Arie F M De Jong
Affiliation:
Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Utrecht University, POB 80000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
Klaas van der Borg
Affiliation:
Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Utrecht University, POB 80000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Abstract

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This paper reports on the first chronological assessment of the Jewish Catacombs of the ancient Rome performed by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating of small-size charcoal fragments scattered in the mortar used for sealing off the graves in the Villa Torlonia Catacomb complex. The significance of the obtained 14C readings has been carefully evaluated by taking into consideration the known technologies of quicklime production during Roman and recent times. The new data are of great concern for providing evidence that the Jewish catacombs were used for burial since the first century AD, thus some two centuries prior to the period traditionally believed to be the starting point of burial in the Jewish catacombs of ancient Rome. Such a significant aging of the Jewish catacombs could result in a deep re-examination of the current understanding of the beginning and the evolution of the custom of catacomb burial in both Jewish and early Christian communities in Rome.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , 2002 , pp. 541 - 547
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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