Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age structure (Area F)

Analysis of the fuel wood used in Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age copper mining sites of the Schwaz and Brixlegg area (Tyrol, Austria)

Charcoal analysis was carried out as part of an interdisciplinary project focusing on the copper mining history of the former mining area of Schwaz and Brixlegg, a region pivotal as a copper source in prehistoric Europe. The goal was to use remains of carbonised wood to investigate environmental implications of prehistoric mining, as well as to gain new insight about the ancient mining techniqu...

The Many Ways between Late Bronze Age Aegeans and Levants

Chronology for the Aegean Late Bronze Age 1700-1400 B.C.

Radiocarbon (carbon-14) data from the Aegean Bronze Age 1700-1400 B.C. show that the Santorini (Thera) eruption must have occurred in the late 17th century B.C. By using carbon-14 dates from the surrounding region, cultural phases, and Bayesian statistical analysis, we established a chronology for the initial Aegean Late Bronze Age cultural phases (Late Minoan IA, IB, and II). This chronology c...

Environmental Roots of the Late Bronze Age Crisis

The Late Bronze Age world of the Eastern Mediterranean, a rich linkage of Aegean, Egyptian, Syro-Palestinian, and Hittite civilizations, collapsed famously 3200 years ago and has remained one of the mysteries of the ancient world since the event's retrieval began in the late 19(th) century AD/CE. Iconic Egyptian bas-reliefs and graphic hieroglyphic and cuneiform texts portray the proximate caus...

Dating the Aegean Late Bronze Age with Radiocarbon*

When Cadogan wrote ‘Dating the Aegean Bronze Age without radiocarbon’ (1978), this writer agreed completely with the view that the absolute dating of the Aegean Late Bronze Age was already established. Correlations with Egypt and other parts of the eastern Mediterranean seemed secure, and virtually all Aegean prehistorians felt that radiocarbon dates could be ‘tested’ by comparison with the Aeg...