TY - JOUR
T1 - High-precision dendro-14C dating of two cedar wood sequences from First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom Egypt and a small regional climate-related 14C divergence
AU - Manning, Sturt W.
AU - Dee, Michael W.
AU - Wild, Eva M.
AU - Bronk Ramsey, Christopher
AU - Bandy, Kathryn
AU - Creasman, Pearce Paul
AU - Griggs, Carol B.
AU - Pearson, Charlotte L.
AU - Shortland, Andrew J.
AU - Steier, Peter
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by the College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell University , the National Science Foundation , award BCS1219315, the Malcolm H. Wiener Foundation , and individual sponsors. We thank the laboratory teams at Oxford, Vienna and Cornell. We thank the Oriental Institute Museum, The University of Chicago, for permission to publish on the coffin of Ipi-ha-ishutef. We thank, and acknowledge, Peter Ian Kuniholm and Maryanne Newton for their previous work on the Pittsburgh and Chicago tree-ring samples.
PY - 2014/6
Y1 - 2014/6
N2 - Cedar (Cedrus sp.) wood from two archaeological contexts in Egypt - (i) the First Intermediate Period coffin of Ipi-ha-ishutef, (ii) a funerary boat at the pyramid of Middle Kingdom king Senusret (or Sesostris or Senwosret) III - form floating tree-ring sequences. Since one of the sample sets had been mounted with Elmer's glue products in core-mounts for dendrochronological examination, we investigate whether pretreatment can remove this potential contaminant before 14C dating. We find that even in (unrealistic) cases of extensive glue contamination this can be largely/successfully removed - making it likely that the samples in this study, where, moreover, only wood samples without traces of glue were employed, can provide accurate 14C dates. Dendro-14C-wiggle-matching was then employed to provide precise calendar dates for the two tree-ring sequences. The last extant ring of the Ipi-ha-ishutef coffin lies ca. 2081-2064BC (95.4% probability), supporting, but refining, its assumed date. In the case of the Senusret III boat, we find a temporary, small, but important offset within the period ca. 2200-1900BC in contemporary 14C ages between the Levant and central and northern Europe. It is suggested this is likely a result of exaggeration of normal seasonal variations in the uptake of 14C and its latitudinal distribution caused by climate change in the 2200-1900BC/4200-3900Cal BP (y2k) interval. A date for the last extant ring of the Senusret III boat is probably around 1898/95-1879/76BC (95.4% probability) - more consistent with a high Middle Kingdom Egyptian chronology.
AB - Cedar (Cedrus sp.) wood from two archaeological contexts in Egypt - (i) the First Intermediate Period coffin of Ipi-ha-ishutef, (ii) a funerary boat at the pyramid of Middle Kingdom king Senusret (or Sesostris or Senwosret) III - form floating tree-ring sequences. Since one of the sample sets had been mounted with Elmer's glue products in core-mounts for dendrochronological examination, we investigate whether pretreatment can remove this potential contaminant before 14C dating. We find that even in (unrealistic) cases of extensive glue contamination this can be largely/successfully removed - making it likely that the samples in this study, where, moreover, only wood samples without traces of glue were employed, can provide accurate 14C dates. Dendro-14C-wiggle-matching was then employed to provide precise calendar dates for the two tree-ring sequences. The last extant ring of the Ipi-ha-ishutef coffin lies ca. 2081-2064BC (95.4% probability), supporting, but refining, its assumed date. In the case of the Senusret III boat, we find a temporary, small, but important offset within the period ca. 2200-1900BC in contemporary 14C ages between the Levant and central and northern Europe. It is suggested this is likely a result of exaggeration of normal seasonal variations in the uptake of 14C and its latitudinal distribution caused by climate change in the 2200-1900BC/4200-3900Cal BP (y2k) interval. A date for the last extant ring of the Senusret III boat is probably around 1898/95-1879/76BC (95.4% probability) - more consistent with a high Middle Kingdom Egyptian chronology.
KW - Cedar
KW - Climate change
KW - Dahshur boats
KW - Dendrochronology
KW - Egyptian chronology
KW - Ipi-ha-ishutef
KW - Radiocarbon-wiggle-matching
KW - Senusret III
KW - Senwosret III
KW - Sesostris III
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jas.2014.03.003
DO - 10.1016/j.jas.2014.03.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84899818923
SN - 0305-4403
VL - 46
SP - 401
EP - 416
JO - Journal of Archaeological Science
JF - Journal of Archaeological Science
IS - 1
ER -