Absolute dating of the European Neolithic using the 5259 BC rapid 14C excursion
Andrej Maczkowski, Charlotte Pearson, John Francuz, Tryfon Giagkoulis, Sönke Szidat, Lukas Wacker, Matthias Bolliger, Kostas Kotsakis, Albert Hafner
Abstract
Abstract Abrupt radiocarbon ( 14 C) excursions, or Miyake events, in sequences of radiocarbon measurements from calendar-dated tree-rings provide opportunities to assign absolute calendar dates to undated wood samples from contexts across history and prehistory. Here, we report a tree-ring and 14 C-dating study of the Neolithic site of Dispilio, Northern Greece, a waterlogged archaeological site on Lake Kastoria. Findings secure an absolute, calendar-dated time using the 5259 BC Miyake event, with the final ring of the 303-year-long juniper tree-ring chronology dating to 5140 BC. While other sites have been absolutely dated to a calendar year through 14 C-signature Miyake events, Dispilio is the first European Neolithic site of these and it provides a fixed, calendar-year anchor point for regional chronologies of the Neolithic.