Radiocarbon age of carbonate in fruits of Lithospermum from the early Bronze Age settlement of Hirbet ez-Zeraqōn (Jordan)

Uncarbonized fruits of the Boraginaceae occur widely in cultural layers of archaeological sites in the Mediterranean and the Near East. To date, interpreting their origin remains problematic. It is difficult for archaeobotanists to tell whether such fruits were deposited as part of the cultural laye...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vegetation history and archaeobotany 2004-08, Vol.13 (3), p.207-212
Main Authors: Pustovoytov, Konstantin E., Riehl, Simone, Mittmann, Siegfried
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeological sites
Biological taxonomies
Bronze Age
Calcium carbonates
Carbonates
Fossils
Fruits
Generalities
Historic sites
Lithospermum
Organisation and history of research
Pericarp
Prehistory and protohistory
Radiocarbon
Radiocarbon dating
Radiometric dating
Sediments
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Summary:Uncarbonized fruits of the Boraginaceae occur widely in cultural layers of archaeological sites in the Mediterranean and the Near East. To date, interpreting their origin remains problematic. It is difficult for archaeobotanists to tell whether such fruits were deposited as part of the cultural layer or were introduced post-depositionally. In an attempt to answer this question for the early Bronze Age site of Hirbet ez-Zeraqon (Jordan), we used direct 14C dating of biogenic carbonate from calcareous fruits of Lithospermum. The radiocarbon ages of seven fossil samples of the fruits suggest that they originate from plants that grew during or around the time of occupation.
ISSN:0939-6314
1617-6278
DOI:10.1007/s00334-004-0044-9