https://arkeonews.net/radiocarbon-dating-makes-it-possible-for-the-first-time-to-check-the-extent-to-which-archaeological-findings-match-historical-events-from-written-sources/
Worth a read
Thanks for pointing this article out, Dave. I saw this about a week or so ago. Arkeonews has become one of my favorite sites to keep abreast of the latest discoveries and scholarship in quick, easy to read, and manageable chunks.
Comes up with quite a few articles of merit.
Quote from: Imperial Dave on December 01, 2023, 06:50:40 AMhttps://arkeonews.net/radiocarbon-dating-makes-it-possible-for-the-first-time-to-check-the-extent-to-which-archaeological-findings-match-historical-events-from-written-sources/
Worth a read
I suspect rather than matching archaeology to written sources it will raise as many questions as it answers!
Undoubtedly but keeps us all interested and I find these things fascinating
Quote from: lionheartrjc on December 01, 2023, 08:09:31 AMQuote from: Imperial Dave on December 01, 2023, 06:50:40 AMhttps://arkeonews.net/radiocarbon-dating-makes-it-possible-for-the-first-time-to-check-the-extent-to-which-archaeological-findings-match-historical-events-from-written-sources/
Worth a read
I suspect rather than matching archaeology to written sources it will raise as many questions as it answers!
Exactly. Whilst I don't hold with some, indeed many, of the New Chronology constructs, I do think they raise legitimate concerns over aspects of the standard model, so a date of 1200 for a destruction layer proves nothing about Merneptah, simply that one of the times Gezer was torched was around 1200...
Key question is what can be found in the now dateable destruction layers, such as ceramics or scarabs, and how these match the chronology models.
A weak point with this approach is that our records tend to be incomplete and focussed on political events. A fire starting in a bakery in a back alley which burnt half the town may not make it to the historical record. As we know from more completely recorded times, cities had a tendency to catch fire without the need for military intervention.
As I used to tell students who saw articles debunking it that the idea of radiocarbon dating is sound it just needed to be calibrated to real world, this done it can be quite accurate.
Quote from: Erpingham on December 01, 2023, 10:33:58 AMA weak point with this approach is that our records tend to be incomplete and focussed on political events. A fire starting in a bakery in a back alley which burnt half the town may not make it to the historical record. As we know from more completely recorded times, cities had a tendency to catch fire without the need for military intervention.
Agreed, witness the arguments over sackings vs earthquakes at Troy, Jericho, etc, as old as modern archaeology itself.
Furthermore there is also a tendency to assume that when a king says he "destroyed" a city in his domestic propaganda, that he actually did so. As opposed sometimes to putting its inhabitants not so much to the sword, as to great inconvenience, having to buy him off or replant their orchards once he had marched away, but with the city proper relatively intact. Not that I am suggesting that Pharaohs or Assyrian monarchs ever gilded the lily of their military achievements, no sir! 8)