Radiometric datings

RADIOMETRIC DATINGS (excerpt).

For the first time (around 2000) it is possible to establish calibration curves or graphic representations of the datings obtained from three samples of different ages, comparing them with real or calendar ages.

In this case the dendro-chronological calibration of the carbon 14 dates in accordance with Pearson and Stuiver’s high-precision curve, using the program CA-LIB (Radiocarbon Calibration Program 3.0.3c Mac Test Version 9) kindly provided by Paula J.Reimer of the University of Washington (Seattle) on the basis of the program designed by Stuiver and Reimer (1986) and revised in 1993, which converts conventional radiocarbon into calibrated calendar dates.

The conventional carbon-14 dates are expressed in years BP (Before Present), while the calibrated age is expressed in years BC (Before Christ). Here are gathered only the radiometric dates from the Iberian Peninsula, which constitute at present the largest assemblage of the whole Mediterranean as far as the Phoenician colonization is concerned.

In the radiometric sequence for the Phoenician-Punic world in the Iberian Peninsula, several significant features stand out. For a start, it should be possible to place the beginnings of Phoenician colonization in the Malaga-Algarrobo region as early as the ninth century BC (a probability coefficient of 93% for Phoenicians settling in Morro de Mezquitilla between 894 and 835 BC), and at the beginning of the eight century BC in the Velez-Toscanos region.

Secondly the first trading contacts with some of the regions of the interior, like Acinipo, would have followed immediately after the first Phoenicians settled at Morro de Mezquitilla.

Lastly, these datings highlight the continuity and duration of the indigenous “orientalising” phenomenon and, especially, the possible gap that exists between the Phoenician and the punic along the Malaga coastline.

Appendix III

The Phoenicians and the west, Maria Eugenia Aubet, Cambridge University Press, 2001 (2^nd edition), translated from the Spanish by Turton.

A selection:

Morro de Mezquitilla

Earliest Phoenician level trench VIII

Sample: wood

Laboratory: B-4178

C14 (BP): 2750+/-50

Prob.Int: 919-826 BC

Cal: 894-835 BC

Bibliography: Schubart 1983 p.130

Toscanos

Level Iva

Sample: wood

Laboratory: KN

C14 (BP): 2580+/-120

Prob.Int: 827-519 BC

Cal: 788 BC

Bibliography: Almageo Gorbea 1972 p.233

Jardin:

Punic:tomb 22

Sample: Carbon

Laboratory : Gr.N-6831

C14 (BP) : 2500+/-35

Prob.Int: 659-519 BC

Bibliography: 759-453 BC

Acinipo:

Orientalizing

Sample: round hut

Laboratory: Carbon I

C14 (BP) : 2770+/-90

Prob.Int: 974-825 BC

Cal: 899 BC

Bibliography: Aguayo et al. 1989 p.311

Cerro de la Mora

Orientalizing

Sample : layer 42 phase 1b-11

Laboratory : Carbon UGRA-235

C14 (BP) : 2740+/-90

Prob.Int : 944-801 BC

Cal : 890-833 BC

Bibliography : Gonzalez et al.1987 p.384

Alcacova de Santarem

Orientalizing

Sample : phase 1

Laboratory : Carbon ICEN-532

C14 (BP) : 2640+/-50

Prob.Int : 831-769

Cal : 801 BC

Bibliography : Arruda 1993 p.198