Pyla Kokkinokremos: preliminary report on the 2014 excavations

The new excavations have also confirmed the surprising ethnic mix of material culture at Pyla: a Minoan amphoroid krater together with Cypriote pithoi and Canaanite jars in Sector 4, a Cypriot spindle bottle together with imported deep bowl and mug rhyton from the central plateau Trench 3.1, or a Canaanite jar, Mycenaean stirrup jar, Cypriot storage jar from the northwest trench , etc. To these may be added the Sardinian, Mycenaean and Hittite vases encountered in previous seasons. In view of the brevity of occupation and localization of the site, many of these objects may be regarded as resulting from intensive trade. The discovery of such mixed assemblages in all parts of the site, however, seems to suggest that all households had already adopted and adapted to a new set of practices. Why and how they did this are questions we would like to see answered during the following campaigns

Stable isotope studies on humans and animals from Tell Tweini, Syria (2600-550 BC)

Tell Tweini is a coastal Syrian site with settlement remains of diverse periods between the Early Bronze Age and the Iron Age (2600-550 BC). Inside urban contexts in Field A at the site, eleven burials have been unearthed. Most date to the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 BC), including one collective grave. Stable isotope ratio analysis (δ13C and δ15N) was carried out on human remains from these Middle Bronze Age graves in order to reconstruct human dietary practices. In addition, a large sample of faunal remains from the major periods of occupation at Tell Tweini, Early Bronze Age (2600-2000 BC), Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 BC), Late Bronze Age (1600-1200 BC) and Iron Age (1200-550 BC) have been subjected to stable isotope ratio analysis. The large dataset on animals is the first of its kind for the period and region. The results add to a reconstruction of the human diet. More importantly, they allow us to make diachronic inferences on livestock management practices and the natural environment. The results will be discussed in the context of data on the faunal composition through time at Tell Tweini as well as that of the palaeo-environmental data which points to an abrupt climatic change at the transition between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age

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