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Absolute Chronology of Megiddo, Israel, in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages: High-Resolution Radiocarbon Dating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2016

Michael B Toffolo ,
Eran Arie ,
Mario A S Martin ,
Elisabetta Boaretto  and
Israel Finkelstein
Michael B Toffolo*
Affiliation:
Weizmann Institute-Max Planck Center for Integrative Archaeology, D-REAMS Radiocarbon Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Eran Arie
Affiliation:
Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Archaeology Wing, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
Mario A S Martin
Affiliation:
Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Elisabetta Boaretto
Affiliation:
Weizmann Institute-Max Planck Center for Integrative Archaeology, D-REAMS Radiocarbon Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
Israel Finkelstein
Affiliation:
Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Michael B Toffolo is a PhD candidate at Tel Aviv University, working on the theme of Levantine and Aegean chronology in the Iron Age under the supervision of Israel Finkelstein and Elisabetta Boaretto; Mario A S Martin and Eran Arie are senior staff members of the Megiddo Expedition, the supervisors of Areas K and H and experts of Late Bronze and Iron Age pottery; Elisabetta Boaretto is the Director of the D-REAMS Radiocarbon Laboratory at the Weizmann Institute of Science and track leader of the European Research Council project (below); Israel Finkelstein is the Director of the Megiddo Expedition and P.I. of the European Research Council under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ERC project, grant agreement n°229418
*
3. Corresponding author. Email: michael.toffolo@weizmann.ac.il.
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Abstract

Megiddo (Israel) is a key site for the study of the stratigraphy, chronology, and history of the Bronze and Iron ages in the Levant. The article presents a Bayesian chronological model for seven ceramic typology phases and 10 stratigraphic horizons at this site, covering the Late Bronze and much of the Iron Age. The model is based on 78 samples, which provided 190 determinations—the most thorough set of radiocarbon determinations known so far in a single site in the Levant. This set of data provides a reliable skeleton for the discussion of cultural processes and historical events in the region and beyond, including the periods of the Egyptian Empire in Canaan and the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , 2014 , pp. 221 - 244
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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