What is it about?
Modeling calendar age of archaeological occurrences with radiometric measurements on cross-dated tree rings provides the most accurate calendar age of material remains of ancient civilizations. We apply this dating approach to determine the calendar age of archaeological timbers from the renowned warrior kurgans of Saka elite built in the first millennium BCE. The dated kurgan of Bes Shatyr necropolis is located in the Lake Balkhash Basin (Tian Shan Mountains) on the border of Kazakhstan with Russia and Mongolia, which was the southeastern fringe of the Scythian World stretching from the Black Sea to the Altai Mountains. The estimated age of Bes Shatyr kurgan 3 is ca. 550 BCE.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Precise chronology of ancient artifacts empowers modeling tools used in the archaeological studies (e.g. DNA, GIS, isotopes etc.) to track mobility and conductivity of past societies and outline the pathways for the exchange of commodities, technologies, and cultures. Accurately dated archaeological objects connect and cross-reference various archaeological records thru large space at annual scale resolution.
Perspectives
The work opens the perspective to apply this dating approach to other Saka timbers in Central Asia to refine the calendar scale and resolution of Saka chronology.
Dr Irina P. Panyushkina
University of Arizona
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Radiocarbon and Tree-Ring Dates of the Bes-Shatyr #3 Saka Kurgan in the Semirechiye, Kazakhstan, Radiocarbon, January 2013, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16199.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
