The Sea Peoples, from cuneiform tablets to carbon dating

The 13(th) century BC witnessed the zenith of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean civilizations which declined at the end of the Bronze Age, similar to 3200 years ago. Weakening of this ancient flourishing Mediterranean world shifted the political and economic centres of gravity away from the Levant towards Classical Greece and Rome, and led, in the long term, to the emergence of the modern western civilizations. Textual evidence from cuneiform tablets and Egyptian reliefs from the New Kingdom relate that seafaring tribes, the Sea Peoples, were the final catalyst that put the fall of cities and states in motion. However, the lack of a stratified radiocarbon-based archaeology for the Sea People event has led to a floating historical chronology derived from a variety of sources spanning dispersed areas. Here, we report a stratified radiocarbon-based archaeology with anchor points in ancient epigraphic-literary sources, Hittite-Levantine-Egyptian kings and astronomical observations to precisely date the Sea People event. By confronting historical and science-based archaeology, we establish an absolute age range of 1192-1190 BC for terminal destructions and cultural collapse in the northern Levant. This radiocarbon-based archaeology has far-reaching implications for the wider Mediterranean, where an elaborate network of international relations and commercial activities are intertwined with the history of civilizations

The Sea Peoples, from Cuneiform Tablets to Carbon Dating

The 13th century BC witnessed the zenith of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean civilizations which declined at the end of the Bronze Age, ∼3200 years ago. Weakening of this ancient flourishing Mediterranean world shifted the political and economic centres of gravity away from the Levant towards Classical Greece and Rome, and led, in the long term, to the emergence of the modern western civilizations. Textual evidence from cuneiform tablets and Egyptian reliefs from the New Kingdom relate that seafaring tribes, the Sea Peoples, were the final catalyst that put the fall of cities and states in motion. However, the lack of a stratified radiocarbon-based archaeology for the Sea People event has led to a floating historical chronology derived from a variety of sources spanning dispersed areas. Here, we report a stratified radiocarbon-based archaeology with anchor points in ancient epigraphic-literary sources, Hittite-Levantine-Egyptian kings and astronomical observations to precisely date the Sea People event. By confronting historical and science-based archaeology, we establish an absolute age range of 1192–1190 BC for terminal destructions and cultural collapse in the northern Levant. This radiocarbon-based archaeology has far-reaching implications for the wider Mediterranean, where an elaborate network of international relations and commercial activities are intertwined with the history of civilizations

Assyriology and the history of the Hellenistic period

Boiy Tom. Assyriology and the history of the Hellenistic period. In: Topoi, volume 15/1, 2007. pp. 7-20

Local and Imperial Dates at the Beginning of the Hellenistic Period

Local and Imperial Dates at the Beginning of the Hellenistic Perio

LOCAL AND IMPERIAL DATES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD

Dating and time-reckoning has always meant a lot more than simply keeping track of time. It is of course true that from very early times onwards all people, either pastoralists or agriculturalist, had to take the seasons - which means the solar cycle - into account for the simple reason of bare survival. Since a year is far too long for many practical arrangements the omnipresence of the moon provided a perfect solution, the moon's phases turned out to be an ideal length to divide one year into smaller units. The integration of a lunar cycle into the solar system is not self-evident though and the astronomical knowledge of people can often be judged by the way they tried to solve this dilemma. Still, a lot more factors come into play when time-reckoning and dating systems come into being. Both in the calendar - the division of every individual year - and in year-counting - some kind of superstructure for several years - religious, cultic, ideological and political elements played an important role. Since the sun, the stars and the moon were regularly worshipped in most religions in Antiquity, their cycles often determined religious festivals and other cultic events and therefore the calendar was closely linked with religion. Ideology, especially royal ideology, is found mainly in the system of year-counting

Das Babylonien der Spätzeit (7.-4. Jh.) in den klassischen und keilschriftlichen Quellen / Heller, A. (Berlin, 2010)

status: publishe

The late bronze age collapse and the early iron age in the levant: the role of climate in cultural disruption

It is generally accepted from the historical sources that the fall of the city and kingdom of Ugarit was the result of a military invasion by the Sea Peoples in the first quarter of the 12th century BC. Here we present an advanced picture of cultural and landscape changes for the Late Bronze Age collapse and the ancient Dark Age of history. The Gibala data indicate that the collapse of Levantine countryside towns occurred during a c. 1175-825 calibrated yr BC severe drought event corresponding with the Dark Age and suggest a link between climate induced environmental changes and eastern Mediterranean cultural history. This key study examines the diachronic urban development of the ancient coastal site of Gibala-Tell Tweini. Urban collapse and urban change of Gibala was linked with the Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age new social adaption, possibly stimulated by a climatic stress event in the northern Levant

The ancient near east, a Life! Festschrift Karel Van Lerberghe

This volume in honour of Karel Van Lerberghe contains 47 contributions by his colleagues and students dealing with the history and archaeology of the Syro-Mesopotamian area. The focus on Syria and on the Old-Babylonian period reflects Karel's main research interests. Quite some cuneiform tablets are published here for the first time (both in hand-copy and with the help of the Portable Light Dome). Most recent archaeological field research is presented in contributions concerning Ugarit, Tell Tweini, Tell Beydar and many other sites.This volume in honour of Karel Van Lerberghe contains 47 contributions by his colleagues and students dealing with the history and archaeology of the Syro-Mesopotamian area. The focus on Syria and on the Old-Babylonian period reflects Karel's main research interests. Quite some cuneiform tablets are published here for the first time (both in hand-copy and with the help of the Portable Light Dome). Most recent archaeological field research is presented in contributions concerning Ugarit, Tell Tweini, Tell Beydar and many other sites.B

Primary domestication and early uses of the emblematic olive tree: palaeobotanical, historical and molecular evidence from the Middle East

Publication Inra prise en compte dans l'analyse bibliométrique des publications scientifiques mondiales sur les Fruits, les Légumes et la Pomme de terre. Période 2000-2012. http://prodinra.inra.fr/record/256699International audienceOur knowledge of the origins of olive tree domestication in the Middle East and on the processes governing its extension and persistence in different vegetation types from prehistory through antiquity to modern times derives from diverse sources, spanning the biological sciences to the humanities. Nonetheless, it lacks a robust overview that may lead to floating interpretations. This is especially true in the Middle East, considered as the cradle of agriculture, and where the evolutionary history of this emblematic tree is intertwined with that of civilizations. Olive fruit, oil and wood have been, since Prehistoric times, characteristic products of the lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea. In the domestic economy of these countries, the olive tree gradually became a traditional tree crop since the first oil extraction, through the emergence of regional commerce that accompanied the rise and fall of early Near-Middle Eastern urbanism, until the development of modern trade, with an oil production estimated at circa 3000000 tons per year. The rising importance of the olive tree in human life has turned the tree into an endless source of fascination in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, a symbol and a sacred tree, widely cited in the Bibles, the Koran, and in ancient literature. Here we argue that advances in radiocarbon chronology, palaeobotany, genetics, and archaeology-history have profoundly refined the history of olive trees in the Middle East. This review shows that the heartland of primary olive domestication must be enlarged to the Levant and not only focus on the Jordan Valley. The domestication of the olive tree is a long and ongoing process, linked to the early production of oil and the development of the olive trade. We also suggest that the olive tree became a particular icon, a sacred tree, during the Biblical period in the Levant