Bank on Aegean Subjects
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Scirè - Radiocarbon dating: theoretical concepts and applications
a.a. 2012-13
Caterina Scirè Calabrisotto
If archaeology is intended to reconstruct historical events, through the analysis of material culture, art and technology in human history, then chronology is the necessary condition to write that history with the correct order of occurrence. All the material remains and activities need to be sequenced and anchored to an absolute chronology; the final result would be the designation of valid historical and cultural subdivisions of the period investigated. In order to obtain a well-grounded periodization, many different dating techniques can be used, and, among the several science-based methods, radiocarbon dating is probably the most common one. This lesson is intended to provide students with the basic principles that lie at the basis of the technique of radiocarbon dating, with particular attention to the key concepts that must be taken into consideration during the phase of interpretation and discussion of the results. Eventually, the case study of radiocarbon dating of samples coming from the archaeological excavation of Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou (Limassol, Cyprus) is given as an example of application.
Table of contents:
Radiocarbon dating: theoretical concepts and applications (Il metodo del radiocarbonio: teoria e applicazioni
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