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Tracing the Absolute Time-Frame of the Early Bronze Age in the Aegean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2018

Theodora Arvaniti  and
Yannis Maniatis
Theodora Arvaniti
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Archaeometry, Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, NCSR “Demokritos”, 153 10 Aghia Paraskevi, Attiki, Greece
Yannis Maniatis*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Archaeometry, Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, NCSR “Demokritos”, 153 10 Aghia Paraskevi, Attiki, Greece
*
*Corresponding author. Email: y.maniatis@inn.demokritos.gr.
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Abstract

The Early Bronze Age (EBA) is associated with technological and cultural changes that may suggest the onset of a new culture. The question usually posed is whether the spread of the EBA culture is a matter of contemporary evolutionary practices or a matter of migration of peoples. We contribute to this discussion by tracing the appearance and spread of the EBA in the Aegean using an absolute time-frame provided by more than 200 radiocarbon (14C) dates from 25 different Aegean sites. These have been compiled and statistically treated, individually, and in geographical groups to allow temporal and spatial comparisons. A new model is constructed for the first time for northern Greece. The dates are compared between various settlements and areas in each of the traditional cultural divisions EBA I, EBA II, and EBA III and possible subdivisions. The statistical treatment and comparisons indicate that the EBA appeared slightly earlier, around 3300 BC, in northern Greece than in southern Greece, and the Cycladic Islands and also lasted longer in some areas in northern Greece, ending at around 1900 BC.

Keywords

AegeanBayesian analysisCycladesEarly Bronze AgeEBA IEBA IIEBA IIIGreecenorthern Greeceradiocarbon datingsouthern Greece
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 60 , Issue 3 , June 2018 , pp. 751 - 773
Copyright
© 2018 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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