The Course of 14C Dating Does Not Run Smooth: Tree-Rings, Radiocarbon, and Potential Impacts of a Calibration Curve Wiggle on Dating Mesopotamian Chronology

We review evidence for near-absolute calendar date estimates for the Waršama Palace at Kültepe and the Sarıkaya Palace at Acemhöyük (Turkey) in light of a forensic examination of the radiocarbon calibration curve. Both palaces can be linked indirectly (but closely) to the Assyrian Revised Eponym List (REL) and can thus be connected with the Mesopotamian historical chronology. The possible relevance of some apparent features of detail in the radiocarbon calibration dataset is noted. In particular, we explore a wiggle-match of the dendro-14C sequences from the palaces employing the IntCal98 calibration curve, which better represents what we argue seems to be a pronounced “wiggle” in contemporary atmospheric 14C ages around 1835 BCE. This “wiggle” is missing in the more smoothed IntCal13 curve (the current standard northern hemisphere radiocarbon calibration curve). Using IntCal98, we find a best fit 8 years later than previously suggested. We suggest that this issue of “detail” requires further investigation in order to achieve a precise solution for Mesopotamian chronology. If this wiggle is relevant, we find that the dendro-14C-derived dates are more in agreement with the Low Middle Chronology, thus refining previous conclusions. This result is also discussed in the framework of the radiocarbon-backed high Middle Bronze Age chronology for the southern Levant and a recently published radiocarbon date for Illahun Papyrus 10012B, reporting the anticipated rise of Sothis, one of the key-anchors of Egyptian historical chronology

Tuwati and Wasusarma: Imitating the behaviour of Assyria

This essay reviews the evidence concerning the Tabalian king Wasusarma and his father Tuwati, who appear in Neo-Assyrian and Urartian annals. The context for the removal of Wasusarma (Uassurme) from power by the Assyrian king is assumed to have lain in the events depicted in the large inscription of TOPADA. The historical and geographical import of this inscription is explored through a close reading of its historical portion, concluding that its background is set in a local struggle for power over north-western Cappadocia

Linguistic supplement to Damgaard et al. 2018: Early Indo-European languages, Anatolian, Tocharian and Indo-Iranian

We recount the evidence for the so-called “Steppe Hypothesis” discussed in Damgaard et al. 2018 and offer a revised linguistic and historical model for the prehistoric dispersal of three important Indo-European language subgroups—the Anatolian Indo-European languages into Anatolia, the Tocharian languages into Inner Asia, and the Indo-Iranian languages into South Asia—based on the newly analysed archaeogenetic data.Descriptive and Comparative Linguistic

Trade, Merchants and the Lost Cities of the Bronze Age

We analyze a large data set of commercial records produced by Assyrian merchants in the nineteenth century BCE. Using the information from these records, we estimate a structural gravity model of long-distance trade in the Bronze Age. We use our structural gravity model to locate lost ancient cities. In many cases, our estimates confirm the conjectures of historians who follow different methodologies. In some instances, our estimates confirm one conjecture against others. We also structurally estimate ancient city sizes and offer evidence in support of the hypothesis that large cities tend to emerge at the intersections of natural transport routes, as dictated by topography. Finally, we document persistent patterns in the distribution of city sizes across four millennia, find a distance elasticity of trade in the Bronze Age close to modern estimates, and show suggestive evidence that the distribution of ancient city sizes, inferred from trade data, is well approximated by Zipf’s law

Ceremonial plant consumption at Middle Bronze Age Büklükale, Kırıkkale Province, central Turkey

A shaft-like room at the Middle Bronze Age site of Büklükale in central Turkey preserved a rich archaeobotanical assemblage of charred and mineralised plant remains, dominated by fruits, spices and nuts mixed with probable bread and wood charcoals. The remains were recovered in association with numerous ceramic vessels, jewellery and exotic artefacts. We combine identification and analysis of the seeds and wood charcoals contained in this deposit with studies of Old Assyrian and Hittite textual records to investigate the circumstances of the assemblage’s formation and its significance for further understanding trade and plant consumption in Bronze Age Anatolia. We present the earliest archaeobotanical example in the region of rare and exotic plant species being consumed in the context of one or more social gatherings, including those possibly linked to ceremonial or ritual events. This offers new insights into the role of plants in the economic and social life of the southwest Asian Bronze Age, as well as the role of commensality and feasting in early states

The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from AAAS via the DOI in this recordThe file includes the article, supplementary material and additional supplementary materialThe published version of the supplementary materials are at http://science.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2018/05/08/science.aar7711.DC1Part of the additional supplementary materials for this article are in ORE at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/32792The Yamnaya expansions from the western steppe into Europe and Asia during the Early Bronze Age (~3000 BCE) are believed to have brought with them Indo-European languages and possibly horse husbandry. We analyze 74 ancient whole-genome sequences from across Inner Asia and Anatolia and show that the Botai people associated with the earliest horse husbandry derived from a hunter-gatherer population deeply diverged from the Yamnaya. Our results also suggest distinct migrations bringing West Eurasian ancestry into South Asia before and after but not at the time of Yamnaya culture. We find no evidence of steppe ancestry in Bronze Age Anatolia from when Indo-European languages are attested there. Thus, in contrast to Europe, Early Bronze Age Yamnaya-related migrations had limited direct genetic impact in Asia.The study was supported by the Lundbeck Foundation (EW), the Danish National Research Foundation (EW), and KU2016 (EW). Research at the Sanger Institute was supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant 206194). RM was supported by an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship (ALTF 133-2017). JK was supported by the Human Frontiers Science Program (LT000402/2017). Botai fieldwork was supported by University of Exeter, Archeology Exploration Fund and Niobe Thompson, Clearwater Documentary. AB was supported by NIH grant 5T32GM007197-43. GK was funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and European Research Council. MP was funded by Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), project number 276-70-028, IU was funded by the Higher education commission of Pakistan. Archaeological materials from Sholpan and Grigorievka were obtained with partial financial support of the budget program of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Grant financing of scientific research for 2018-2020” No. AP05133498 “Early Bronze Age of the Upper Irtysh”

The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia.

The Yamnaya expansions from the western steppe into Europe and Asia during the Early Bronze Age (~3000 BCE) are believed to have brought with them Indo-European languages and possibly horse husbandry. We analyzed 74 ancient whole-genome sequences from across Inner Asia and Anatolia and show that the Botai people associated with the earliest horse husbandry derived from a hunter-gatherer population deeply diverged from the Yamnaya. Our results also suggest distinct migrations bringing West Eurasian ancestry into South Asia before and after, but not at the time of, Yamnaya culture. We find no evidence of steppe ancestry in Bronze Age Anatolia from when Indo-European languages are attested there. Thus, in contrast to Europe, Early Bronze Age Yamnaya-related migrations had limited direct genetic impact in Asia