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Interpreting Radiocarbon Dates from the Paleolithic Layers of Theopetra Cave in Thessaly, Greece

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Yorgos Facorellis*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Instrumental and Chemical Analysis, Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Department of Antiquities and Works of Art Conservation, Technical Educational Institute of Athens, Aghiou Spyridonos, 12210 Egaleo, Athens, Greece
Panagiotis Karkanas
Affiliation:
Ephorate of Paleoanthropology and Speleology of Southern Greece, Ardittou 34B, 116 36 Athens, Greece
Thomas Higham
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
Fiona Brock
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
Maria Ntinou
Affiliation:
TDPEAE, Scientific Committee of Nikopolis, Mytikas, Preveza, Greece
Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika
Affiliation:
Ephorate of Paleoanthropology and Speleology of Southern Greece, Ardittou 34B, 116 36 Athens, Greece
*
Corresponding author. Email: yfacorel@teiath.gr.

Abstract

Theopetra Cave is a unique prehistoric site for Greece, as the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods are present here, bridging the Pleistocene with the Holocene. During the more than 20 yr of excavation campaigns, charcoal samples from hearths suitable for 14C dating were collected from all anthropogenic layers, including the Paleolithic ones. Most of the samples were initially dated using the ABA chemical pretreatment protocol in the Laboratory of Archaeometry of NCSR Demokritos, Greece, and the Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. The 14C results, which were not always consistent versus depth, showed that the earliest limit of human presence is ∼50,000 yr BP, thus reaching the age limits of the 14C dating method. However, 10 TL-dated burnt flint specimens unearthed from the lower part of the Middle Paleolithic sequence of the cave gave ages ranging between ∼110 and 135 kyr ago. These results are in disagreement with the 14C dates, as they support a much later date for these layers. In order to clarify the situation further, charcoal samples originating from hearths were conventionally dated in the Laboratory of Archaeometry of NCSR Demokritos using the ABA pretreatment. Additionally, hand-picked charcoal fragments also underwent 14C dating by AMS in the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit using the acid-base wet oxidation (ABOX-SC) pretreatment protocol. The 14C dates from the cave's Paleolithic layers obtained by both pretreatment protocols suggest a probable charcoal diagenesis affecting the 14C results of these very old samples. However, the dates obtained with ABOX-SC pretreatment are considered more reliable and in the younger stratigraphic part produced consistent results with the TL dating.

Type
Radiocarbon Dating and the Paleolithic
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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