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Vast burial fields, some with hundreds of burials, categorize the southern Levant’s Intermediate Bronze Age period (IBA). This phenomenon contrasts with a limited number of burials found from the preceding Early Bronze III period. This paper presents the first radiocarbon dating research of sampled bones from shaft tombs from five IBA burial sites across Israel: Yehud, Jebel Qaaqir, Sheikh-Danon, Hazorea, and Kefar-Veradim. Prescreening methods, including Fourier transform infrared analysis, were applied to identify best-preserved collagen in archaeological bones for radiocarbon dating. Overall, the measured date ranges cover the IBA timeline, supporting the observation that the IBA signature shaft tombs are a fundamental tradition of the IBA culture, at least in Israel. A single IBA shaft tomb at Jebel Qaaqir which contained remains of multiple humans, supplied different dates for various people, spanning over a few hundred years. These results suggest a tribal or family-oriented IBA community with a long-lasting tradition reflected in centuries of collective burial practices.

Various archaeological and historical evidence shows that the marginal area of the Negev desert of southern Israel enjoyed great agricultural prosperity in the Byzantine period (4th–7th centuries CE). Among the different types of agricultural installations are pigeon towers, which were built near the fields to produce fertilizer to enrich the nutrient-poor desert soils. Such extensive specialized agriculture practice was much less applied in the Negev in the successive Early Islamic period in the mid-7th century. Here we recoveredin situpigeon bones from five pigeon towers in the Negev, applied multiple characterization methods (FTIR, grinding curve, and C/N ratio) to estimate the preservation of bones, and achieved absolute dating for the abandonment of the towers. The obtained dates indicate rapid decline of agricultural activities in the second half of the 6th century CE and beginning of the 7th century. These findings, together with other evidence for Byzantine decline of agricultural hinterland and urban dysfunction of the settlements, suggest that the farming activities in the Negev declined in the Late Byzantine period (550–640 CE) and support the hypothesis that climatic-driven causes were the main trigger for the eventual cultural-societal decline of the Negev region.

Tel Hazor is one of only a few sites in Israel where remains of the Intermediate Bronze Age (IBA) in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC were found on top of Early Bronze III (EB III) city remains. A probe excavation was held at Hazor in 2017 to explore the chronological relation between the EB III and the IBA occupation. The radiocarbon (14C) absolute dates generated from this probe excavation show that following the EB III city demise, the site was abandoned for up to a few hundred years before it was resettled in the IBA. 14C dates obtained from the last level of the EB III city are well before 2500 BCE, fully aligned with the recent “High Chronology” for the EBA in the southern Levant. The excavation also produced dates associated with IBA “Black Wheel-Made Ware” vessels, which were found in large numbers at Hazor.

The following paper presents the results of radiocarbon (14C) dating of Middle Bronze Age (MB) contexts in Jerusalem. The dates, sampled with microarchaeology methods from three different locations along the eastern slopes of the city’s ancient core, reveal that Jerusalem was initially settled in the early phases of the period, with public architecture first appearing in the beginning of the 19th century BC and continued to develop until the 17th century BC. At that time, a curious gap in settlement is noted until the 16th century BC, when the site is resettled. The construction of this phase continued into the early 15th century BC. The dates presented are discussed in both the site-level, as well as their far-reaching implications regarding MB regional chronology. It is suggested here that the high chronology, dating the Middle Bronze Age between 2000 and 1600 BC is difficult to reconcile with dates from many sites. In contrast, a more localized chronology should be adopted, with the Middle Bronze Age continuing into the early 15th century BC in certain parts of the southern Levant, such as the region of Jerusalem.

Recent radiocarbon (14C) research demonstrates that the urban culture of Early-Bronze III in the southern Levant ends around 2500 BC, and not around 2300 BC as was widely assumed. This should extend the Intermediate Bronze Age by 200 years. Charred olive pits from Intermediate Bronze Age contexts in the site of Khirbat el-‘Alya Northeast in the Judean Shephelah region (Israel) were 14C dated, resulting in calibrated dates around 2500 BC. The date range of Khirbat el-‘Alya Northeast samples is an indication that in the Mediterranean parts of the southern Levant, the Intermediate Bronze Age material culture appeared around the time of the decline of the preceding culture of Early-Bronze III—around 2500 BC or somewhat earlier. Possible Intermediate Bronze settlement pattern and the site’s relation to the nearby Early-Bronze city of Tel Yarmuth are discussed based on previous Intermediate Bronze and Early-Bronze related research in the surrounding area.

The question under discussion is whether the dates of the Late Bronze (LBIIB)-LBIII (Iron IA) transitions in three sites in the southern Levant, namely Megiddo, Tell es-Safi/Gath and Qubur el-Walaydah occur at the same time, as has been proposed by Israel Finkelstein in his article in 2016 in Egypt and Levant. Here we respond to Finkelstein’s comments. We add some new data, clarify the issues that were raised, and conclude that the Late Bronze (LBIIB)-LBIII (Iron IA) transitions occurred at different times in northern and southern Israel.

The Late Bronze Age to Iron Age transition in the Levant includes the appearance of new material culture that is similar in styles to the Aegean world. In the southern Levant, the distribution of early styles of Aegean-like pottery, locally produced, is limited to the coastal areas of Canaan, making synchronization with the rest of the region difficult. Radiocarbon (14C) dating provides a high-resolution absolute chronological framework for synchronizing ceramic phases. Here, absolute14C chronologies of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition in the sites Tel Beth Shean, Tel Rehov, Tel Lachish, and Tel Miqne-Ekron are determined. Results show that the ranges of transitions vary in an absolute time frame by 50–100 years between different sites and that the range of the Late Bronze Age to Iron Age transition in Canaan spans the 13th–11th centuries BC plateau. These chronologies, based on a site-by-site approach for dating, show that the change between early types of Aegean-like pottery (Monochrome) to developed types (Bichrome), occurred over 100 years in Canaan and that the transition occurred in southern sites prior to sites in the north. These ranges show that not only is the Late Bronze to Iron Age not contemporaneous, but also synchronization between sites based on their ceramic assemblages is problematic.

Insoluble bone collagen is one of the most common materials used for high-resolution radiocarbon (14C) dating. Unfortunately, in some bones, poor preservation of the insoluble collagen excludes the possibility of dating. During the burial of the bone the collagen sometimes degrades into peptides. These peptides are soluble in the acid used to dissolve the bone mineral. It is known that under appropriate conditions, collagen has the ability to self-assemble. Here we exploit this capability and present a method for reassembling the soluble collagen peptides in archaeological bones and dating them. We treated the acid fraction generated during the demineralization of the bone by desalting and neutralizing the solution by dialysis. During the dialysis, the soluble collagen peptides reassemble and precipitate in the dialysis bag. We used FTIR spectroscopy to determine that the precipitated material is indeed collagen. The14C dates obtained from the reassembled collagen were compared to the dates of “standard” insoluble collagen, extracted in parallel from the same bone. Although there are some divergences of the dates, 3 out of 10 samples could have been dated only by the reassembled collagen. This shows that collagen peptides reassembly can be a valuable tool for dating bones with little or no insoluble collagen.

One of the most impressive structures in Jerusalem’s ancient landscape is the tower that was built to surround and protect the Gihon Spring, Jerusalem’s perennial water source. The structure, first discovered by Reich and Shukron (2004), encompasses the cave in which the spring sprouts from, with walls 7 m thick built of large boulders. The Spring Tower, along with the other features relating to it, were all attributed to the Middle Bronze Age II, based on their architectural and stratigraphical relationship, the type of architecture, and the pottery found. In the continued excavations carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority along the outer, eastern face of the Spring Tower, it was noted that at least the northeast side of the tower was not built on bedrock, but rather on layers of sediment, which were sealed by the massive boulders at the base of the tower. In order to provide an absolute dating for the structure, two sections were sampled for radiocarbon (14C) dating beneath the foundation stones at two locations. Scenarios for the construction of the tower during Middle Bronze Age (MB) and Iron Age II are considered, based on the new14C data, yielding a series of dates, the latest of which falls in the terminal phases of the 9th century BCE, alongside previous excavation data.

Obtaining accurate age determinations from minerals in archaeological ash is a major unsolved issue in radiocarbon (14C) dating. This is because the original14C content of calcite, the main component of ash, is altered by isotopic exchange. Pyrogenic aragonite, another mineral phase recently discovered in ash, might preserve its14C signature through time. Using a new method based on density separation and step combustion, we were able to isolate and date aragonitic ash from an archaeological destruction horizon of known age. Here we show that the14C age of aragonite matches the age of the destruction horizon. Our results demonstrate that pyrogenic aragonite is a short-lived material suitable for14C dating and directly related to human activities involving the use of fire, thus bearing major implications for the establishment of absolute chronologies for the past 50,000 yr.

The absolute chronology of the Kura-Araxes (KA) culture in the Southern Caucasus still represents a challenge due to the fragmentation and inadequacy of the radiocarbon record, as well as the inconsistencies in material typologies in the region. Recent archaeological fieldwork at the site of Aradetis Orgora in the Shida Kartli region of Georgia revealed four occupation levels dating to the KA II phase according to the local relative chronology.14C samples were collected from reliable contexts and further selected according to reliability criteria, taking into account both archaeological issues and lab procedures. FTIR was applied in order to determine the preservation of charcoals and to monitor the efficiency of lab treatments on all the samples. Only accurate14C measurements were selected for Bayesian analysis incorporating stratigraphic information. Two models were run, the second of which simulated intervals corresponding to unexcavated stratigraphy or due to a lack of samples. In this article, the available14C dates for the KA occupation at Aradetis are presented for the first time and analyzed using Bayesian principles. The results of Bayesian modeling suggest that the occupation of the excavated KA II levels cover the period between 3040–2810 BC (simple model) or 3090–2720 BC (interval model).

The establishment of an absolute chronology for the Late Bronze and Iron Ages in the southern Levant would make it possible to use changes in material culture in order to study the impact of trade, dissemination of knowledge, and the impact of climate on historical processes. To achieve this, a detailed absolute chronology is needed for individual sites and on a regional scale with a resolution that can differentiate events within a century. To realize this challenging goal, only samples from well-established primary contexts ought to be studied. Such primary contexts (with “dating assemblages”) can be identified by combining macroscopic with microscopic observations. Chronological studies at the sites of Qubur el-Walaydah, Tel es-Safi, and in particular, Megiddo, demonstrate that high-resolution dating can be achieved, with very few outliers in the data sets. The major limitation on applying this approach is the fact that we are currently constrained to dating short-lived samples (charred seeds and olive pits) and collagen from bones. Thus, an immediate goal of radiocarbon research is to develop the ability to date other short-lived materials, such as organic material occluded in siliceous plant phytoliths, wood ash, and possibly organic residues preserved in pottery vessels. DOI: 10.2458/azu_rc.57.18554

The history of lake-level changes at the Dead Sea during the Holocene was determined mainly by radiocarbon dating of terrestrial organic debris. This article reviews the various studies that have been devoted over the past 2 decades to defining the Dead Sea levels during the Bronze and Iron Ages (~5.5 to 2.5 ka cal BP) and adds new data and interpretation. In particular, we focus on research efforts devoted to refining the chronology of the sedimentary sequence in the Ze’elim Gully, a key site of paleoclimate investigation in the European Research Council project titled Reconstructing Ancient Israel. The Bronze and Iron Ages are characterized by significant changes in human culture, reflected in archaeological records in which sharp settlement oscillations over relatively short periods of time are evident. During the Early Bronze, Intermediate Bronze, Middle Bronze, and Late Bronze Ages, the Dead Sea saw significant level fluctuations, reaching in the Middle Bronze an elevation of ~370 m below mean sea level (bmsl), and declining in the Late Bronze to below 414 m bmsl. At the end of the Late Bronze Age and upon the transition to the Iron Age, the lake recovered slightly and rose to ~408 m bmsl. This recovery reflected the resumption of freshwater activity in the Judean Hills, which was likely accompanied by more favorable hydrological-environmental conditions that seem to have facilitated the wave of Iron Age settlement in the region. DOI: 10.2458/azu_rc.57.18560

The Late Bronze Age to Iron Age transition in the coastal southern Levant involves a major cultural change, which is characterized, among other things, by the appearance of Philistine pottery locally produced in styles derived from outside the Levant. This transition in the coastal southern Levant is conventionally dated to the 12th century BC, based on historical and archaeological artifacts associated with the Philistine pottery. Radiocarbon dating can provide a more precise independent absolute chronology for this transition, but dating for the period under discussion is complicated by the wiggles and relatively flat slope in the calibration curve, which significantly reduce precision. An additional complication is that the stratigraphic record below and above the transition at this site, as well as at most other sites in the region, is far from complete. We thus used a variety of microarchaeological techniques to improve our understanding of the stratigraphy, and to ensure that the locations with datable short-lived materials were only derived from primary contexts, which could be related directly to the associated material culture. The 14C dates were modeled using Bayesian statistics that incorporate the stratigraphic information. Using this integrative approach, we date the appearance of the Philistine pottery in Tell es-Safi/Gath in the 13th century BC.

The Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age transition involves profound cultural and political changes in the southern Levant. The transition is dated to the 12th century BC, based on archaeological artifacts and historical documents. A more precise absolute date for this transition for the southern Levant based on radiocarbon is difficult since the14C calibration curve reduces precision significantly due to wiggles that form an approximately 200-yr-long plateau. This article analyzes14C samples from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age transition at Qubur el-Walaydah. To increase the resolution of14C dates within the plateau,14C samples were collected only from well-defined multilayered contexts.14C dates from 11 contexts were obtained and these were analyzed using a Bayesian model that incorporated the stratigraphic information. Using this integrative approach we date the Late Bronze Age III levels at Qubur el-Walydah, containing the initial phase of locally produced Philistine pottery between 1185–1140 BC, and the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition between 1140–1095 BC.

In the original proposal entitled Reconstructing Ancient Israel – The Exact and Life Sciences Perspective, two of us (Israel Finkelstein and Steve Weiner) wrote, “If the microscopic data are well integrated into the macroscopic (archaeological) record, they will undoubtedly provide new insights into the study of Ancient Israel.” And this was what this 5-year (2009–2014) European Research Council (ERC) sponsored program (details below) was all about. New ground was broken on three fronts: conceptual, methodological, and in the generation of new data that indeed provide novel insights into the history and material culture of Ancient Israel in particular and the Iron Age Levant in general. The reviews presented in this special volume synthesize some of these new insights. The findings have been published in about 70 papers (see Appendix). DOI: 10.2458/azu_rc.57.18566

The chronological framework of European protohistory is mostly a relative chronology based on typology and stratigraphic data. Synchronization of different time periods suffers from a lack of absolute dates; therefore, disagreements between different chronological schemes are difficult to reconcile. An alternative approach was applied in this study to build a more precise and accurate absolute chronology. To the best of our knowledge, we have collected all the published 14C dates for the archaeological sites in the region from the Ebro River (Spain) to the Middle Danube Valley (Austria) for the period 1800–750 BC. The available archaeological information associated with the 14C dates was organized in a database that totaled more than 1600 14C dates. In order to build an accurate and precise chronology, quality selection rules have been applied to the 14C dates based on both archaeological context and analytical quality. Using the OxCal software and Bayesian analysis, several 14C time sequences were created following the archaeological data and different possible scenarios were tested in northern Italy and southern France.

Over the years, 40 radiocarbon samples (charcoal and seeds) have been measured from the site of Tel Yarmuth. These samples originate from 3 major archaeological periods: Final Early Bronze Age (henceforth EB) I, EB II, and EB IIIB-C. The samples are further on divided into 8 separate archaeological phases. Bayesian modeling analyses were performed on the data. Separate models were run with seeds and charcoals to detect a possible old-wood effect. Outliers were detected, and finally models with gaps were run to account for the lack of samples from 2 archaeological layers. The results suggest that at Tel Yarmuth the end of the EB II occurred ∼2950–2880 BC, and that the EB III ended at the latest ∼2450 BC, perhaps before 2500 BC. Although these dates are somewhat earlier than traditionally assumed, they are in close accordance with the new analysis of other 14C dates for the Early Bronze Age in the southern Levant (Regev et al., these proceedings).

The chronology of the Early Bronze Age (EBA) in the southern Levant and the synchronization between the sites, considering seriation and radiocarbon dates, have shown large inconsistencies and disagreement. We have assembled 420 14C dates, most of them previously published and a few provided directly by the excavators. The dates have been re-evaluated on the basis of their archaeological context and using analytical criteria. Bayesian modeling has been applied to the selected dates in relation to the given seriation of the EBA subperiods (EB I, II III, IV). Sites with 2 or more sequential subphases were individually modeled in order to define the transitions between the subperiods. The new chronology indicates that the EB I–II transition occurred site-dependently between 3200–2900 BC, with EB II–III around 2900 BC, and EB III–IV ~2500 BC. DOI: 10.2458/azu_js_rc.v54i3–4.16403

The Natufian culture of the southern Levant played an integral role in the transition from simple hunter-gatherers to food-producing societies of the Neolithic, but the major Natufian hamlets are currently poorly dated. Moreover, none of these complex, continuously occupied base camps have delivered an adequate number of dates to enable an in-depth delineation of intra-Natufian developments. This paper presents the first results of our dating program at el-Wad terrace, Mount Carmel (Israel), one of the major Natufian hamlets of the “core area” of this culture. Thirteen accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon age determinations were obtained from 46 bone (both ungulate and human) and charcoal samples, originating in Early Natufian living surfaces, dwellings, and burials. The obtained dates are largely in agreement with the cultural affiliation of the samples (13–15 kyr cal BP). Two series of dates from different locations show good agreement with the stratigraphy. The ages of the burials clearly point to their being younger than the living surfaces seemingly associated with them. Presently, no burials may be linked with the major architectural phase of Early Natufian el-Wad. Our ongoing dating program and the processing of additional samples from refined contexts will help shed important light on the initial phases of the Natufian culture, habitation duration, intensity, and continuity, as well as the relationships between site features and stratigraphy. DOI: 10.2458/azu_js_rc.v54i3–4.16165

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) site of Yiftahel, Israel, contains abundant plaster floors. We surveyed the states of preservation of the plasters using an infrared spectroscopic assay that characterizes the extent of disorder of the atoms in the calcite crystal lattice. We identified the 3 best-preserved plaster samples that had disorder signatures most similar to modern plaster. We then studied the surface layers, fine-grained matrices, and large aggregates of these samples using micromorphology, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscopy, stable carbon and radiocarbon concentrations. Even though some of the plaster components have a geogenic appearance in micromorphology slides and in FTIR spectra, the14C analyses show that all components were exposed to high temperatures and as a result were equilibrated with the14C content of the atmosphere ∼10,000 yr ago. This implies that the plasters at Yiftahel were produced entirely from heat-altered calcite. We also show that these plasters have undergone significant diagenesis. The plaster component with the most disordered atomic signature, and hence the most similar in this respect to modern plaster, did indeed produce a14C date close to the expected age.

Archaeological investigations of ‘desert kites’ in south Israel show them to have been animal traps of considerable sophistication and capacity, constructed in the Early Bronze Age or earlier. Extensive stone-wall arms gather in gazelles from their habitual trails and canalise them into a sunken enclosure, cunningly hidden from view of the galloping herd until it was too late…

In this article, we present a set of radiocarbon measurements from Atar Haroa, a site that belongs to the early Iron IIA Negev Highlands settlement system in southern Israel. The results place activity at the site in the 9th century BCE, with a possibility that it was founded in the 10th century BCE, probably in the second half. The Atar Haroa measurements seem to indicate that the early Iron IIA phase in the ceramic typology of Israel lasted until the mid-9th century BCE—somewhat later than previously suggested. These new data shed light on several issues related to the history of southern Israel in the late 10th and 9th centuries BCE.

This work presents an attempt to date brines and determine flow rates of hypersaline groundwater in the extremely dynamic system of the Dead Sea (DS), whose level has dropped in the last 30 yr by ∼20 m. The processes that affect the carbon species and isotopes of the groundwater in the DS area were quantified in order to estimate their flow rate based on radiocarbon and tritium methods. In contrast to the conservative behavior of most ions in the groundwater, the carbon system parameters indicate additional processes. The dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) content of most saline groundwater is close to that of the DS, but its stable isotopic composition (δ13CDIC) is much lower. The chemical composition and carbon isotope mass balance suggest that the low δ13CDIC of the saline groundwater is a result of anaerobic organic matter oxidation by bacterial sulfate reduction (BSR) and methane oxidation. The radiocarbon content (14CDIC) of the saline groundwater ranged from 86 pMC (greater than the ∼82 pMC value of the DS in the 2000s) to as low as 14 pMC. The similarity between the 14CDIC value and Na/Cl ratio of the groundwater at the DS shore and that of the 1980s DS brine indicates that the DS penetrated to the aquifer at that time. The low 14CDIC values in some of the saline groundwater suggest the existence of ancient brine in the subaquifer.

Radiocarbon dating has had an enormous impact on archaeology. Most of the dates are obtained using charred materials and, to a lesser extent, collagen from bones. The contexts in which charred materials and bones are found are often, however, not secure. There are 3 other datable materials that are usually in secure contexts: plaster/mortar, phytoliths, and the organic material in the ceramic of whole vessels. The plaster/mortar of walls and floors are often in very secure contexts. Phytoliths are abundant in archaeological sites and in some situations form well-defined surfaces. Whole vessels are usually found in secure contexts and their typologies are indicative of a specific period. Dating each of these materials has proved to be difficult, and solving these technical problems represents major future challenges for the14C community. The effective use of charcoal and bone collagen for dating can also be improved by paying careful attention to the micro-contexts in which they are found, such as in clusters or as part of well-defined features. Pre-screening to identify the best preserved material can also contribute to improving the accuracy of the dates obtained. A general objective should be to have an assessment of the quality of the material to be dated so that the potentially invaluable information from outliers can be exploited.

Chemical and structural similarities between poorly preserved charcoal and its contaminants, as well as low radiocarbon concentrations in old samples, complicate 14C age determinations. Here, we characterize 4 fossil charcoal samples from the late Middle Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic strata of Kebara Cave, Israel, with respect to the structural and chemical changes that occur when they are subjected to the acid-base-acid (ABA) treatment. Differential thermal analysis and TEM show that acid treatment disrupts the structure, whereas alkali treatment results in the reformation of molecular aggregates. The major changes are ascribed to the formation of salt bridges at high pH and the disruption of the graphite-like crystallites at low pH. Weight losses during the treatments are consistently greater for older samples, implying that they are less well preserved. Based on the changes observed in vitro due to pH fluctuations, various methods for removing contamination, as well as a mechanism for preferential preservation of charcoal in nature, are proposed.

The traditional chronology of ancient Israel in the 11th–9th centuries BCE was constructed mainly by correlating archaeological phenomena with biblical narratives and with Bible-derived chronology. The chronology of Cyprus and Greece, and hence of points further west, are in turn based on that of the Levant. Thus, a newly proposed chronology, about 75–100 yr lower than the conventional one, bears crucial implications not only for biblical history and historiography but also for cultural processes around the Mediterranean. A comprehensive radiocarbon program was initiated to try and resolve this dilemma. It involves several hundreds of measurements from 21 sites in Israel. Creating the extensive databases necessary for the resolution of tight chronological problems typical of historical periods involves issues of quality control, statistical treatment, modeling, and robustness analysis. The results of the first phase of the dating program favor the new, lower chronology.

We investigated the feasibility of using Melanopsis shells as radiocarbon chronometers of paleolakes and springs in the Jordan Valley, Israel. For this purpose, we analyzed the 14C content of aragonite of living Melanopsis shells from different freshwater bodies of the northern Jordan Valley and Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and compared them to the contemporaneous water values. The Melanopsis shells are in 14C equilibrium with their habitat waters, allowing to specify a particular reservoir age for various water types. We measured ∼750 yr for Lake Kinneret, ∼2300 yr for northern Jordan, ∼4600 yr for springs in the north Kinneret, and ∼7200 yr for streams flowing directly from carbonate aquifers. These results were tested and corroborated by analyzing fossil Melanopsis shells of known age, measured on contemporaneous organic matter. We conclude that Melanopsis shells are reliable 14C chronometers and have the potential to be used as paleohydrological tracers.

Raqefet Cave (35°04'21"N, 32°39'17"W) is situated in the southeastern side of Mount Carmel in Israel (Figure 1) on the left bank of wadi Raqefet (230 m asl), ~50 m above the wadi bed. It is 50 m long with an area of ~500 m2 (Figure 2). Eric Higgs of Cambridge University and Tamar Noy of the Israel Museum conducted excavations at the site between 1970 and 1972 (Higgs et al. 1975). New excavations at the cave began in 2004 (Lengyel et al. 2005).

Nearly a decade ago, a different chronology than the conventional absolute chronology for the early Iron Age in Israel was suggested. The new, lower chronology “transfers” Iron Age I and Iron Age IIA contexts in Israel, traditionally dated to the 11th and 10th centuries BCE, to the 10th and 9th centuries, respectively. Thus, it places the Iron I|IIA transition at about 920–900 BCE. This alternative chronology carries important implications for Israelite history, historiography, and Bible research, as well as for the chronologies of other regions around the Mediterranean. Relevant radiocarbon data sets published to date, which were measured at different sites by different laboratories, were claimed to be incompatible. Therefore, the question of agreement between laboratories and dating methods needs to be addressed at the outset of any study attempting to resolve such a tight chronological dilemma. This paper addresses results pertaining to this issue as part of a comprehensive attempt to date the early Iron Age in Israel based on many sites, employing different measuring techniques in 2 laboratories. The intercomparison results demonstrate that: a) the agreement between the 2 laboratories is well within the standard in the 14C community and that no bias can be detected in either laboratory; and b) calculating the Iron I|IIa transition in 3 different ways (twice independently by the measurements obtained at the 2 labs and then by combining the dates of both) indicates that the lower chronology is the preferable one.

Radiocarbon dating of early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) deposits at the site of Motza, Israel, was achieved by first prescreening many charcoal and bone samples in order to identify those that are in the most suitable state of preservation for dating. For assessing bone preservation, we determined the collagen contents, and by infrared spectroscopy the collagen purity. The collagen samples of the best preserved bones were then further characterized by their C/N ratios and amino acid compositions. Prescreening of the charcoal samples involved monitoring the changes in infrared and Raman spectra during the acid-alkali-acid treatments. In some samples, we noted that the clay content increased with additional alkali treatments. These samples were rejected, as this could result in erroneous dates. No differences were observed in the 14C dates between charcoal and bone collagen samples. The dates range from 10,600–10,100 cal BP, which is consistent with dates for the early PPNB from other sites. This is of much interest in terms of better understanding where and when domestication of animals began in this period, and how agriculture spread throughout the Levant.

In this study, we aim to characterize the main processes controlling 14CDIC concentrations in porewater at the shallow shelf (water depth less than 120 m) off the Mediterranean coast of Israel. At these water depths, we expected to find evidence for seawater penetration toward the coast, since this area was flooded by seawater only some 18,000 yr ago (the end of the Last Glacial period).Measurements of the chemical composition (14CDIC) and stable carbon isotopic composition (δ13CDIC) were performed in several sediment cores (40–250 cm long) at water depths between 6 and 115 m. At water depths of 60 m, represented by a 2.5-m-long sediment core, the porewater 14CDIC levels (85–87 pMC) were lower than the corresponding sediment values in each layer (92–95 pMC), mainly due to the oxidation of relatively old organic matter (about 70 pMC) with no evidence to advection. In contrast, sediment cores from water depths shallower than 50 m showed only slight anaerobic oxidation and high 14CDIC values of approximately 100 pMC, indicating possible downward advection. These geochemical observations support the perception that the penetration of seawater into the coastal aquifer occurs at the shallow water zone (

Five radiocarbon analyses were performed on 5 different sources within Soreq Cave, which was used as a model for the Judea Group Aquifer of Israel (pMCq0). The transit time of rainwater through the roof of the cave to sources within it had been determined with tritium. From this information, the year of deposition of rain on the roof of the cave, which later appeared in one of the sources, was estimated and the atmospheric 14C concentration at that time was ascertained (pMCa0). The parameter Q = pMCq0 / pMCa0 was found to be Q = 0.60 ± 0.04. This makes it possible to calculate the age of water in any well in the Judea Group Aquifer of Israel by measuring its 14C concentration (pMCqt) by use of the decay equation and applying Q.

One of the largest sources of uncertainty in radiocarbon dating stems from the sample pretreatment procedures used to minimize contamination. A major source of carbon contamination in charcoal from archaeological sites is humic substances carried by groundwater. Here we present a method, independent of 14C dating itself, to evaluate the effectiveness of the cleaning procedure of charcoal. Raman spectra of mixtures of humic substances (HS) and laboratory prepared charcoal indicate that Raman spectroscopy can be used as a semi-quantitative measure of the amount of humic substances associated with archaeological charcoal. Raman spectral analysis of archaeological charcoal samples subjected to different cleaning regimes supports this contention. Such measurements can provide quality control for charcoal preparation procedures and may assist in the interpretation of carbon-dating results.

The carbonate hydrochemistry of groundwater from the Hvinningdal aquifer (Denmark) was studied by radiocarbon (accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)) and δ13C measurements as a preliminary step towards 14C groundwater dating. The 14C concentrations varied between 30 and 100 percent modern carbon (pMC) in apparent contradiction with tritium (3H) data, which in most cases indicate a post-bomb date. The dilution of 14C can be explained as being due to the combined effect of dissolution of old soil carbonate and oxidation of old organic carbon. The last effect proved to be essential. To calculate this correction the dissolved oxygen concentration was used together with the δ13C values. The combined corrections bring the 14C concentrations up to post-bomb levels in better agreement with the 3H data.

This Radiocarbon special double issue is dedicated to the “6th International Radiocarbon and Archaeology” Symposium that took place in Paphos, Cyprus – a real Mediterranean crossroads. The conference demonstrated that the inter- and intra-disciplinary nature of radiocarbon and archaeology research is no longer limited to an “exchange” of samples and dates, but is rapidly becoming an integrated whole, with the same student or researcher working in both worlds: radiocarbon and archaeology.