The Hallstatt plateau or the first millennium BC radiocarbon disaster, as it is called by some archaeologists and chronologists, is a term used in archaeology to refer to a consistently flat area on graphs that plot radiocarbon dating against calendar dates. When applied to the Scythian epoch in Eurasia, radiocarbon dates of around 2450 BP, so c. 500 BC, always calibrate to c. 800–400 BC, no matter the measurement precision. The radiocarbon dating method is hampered by this large plateau on the calibration curve in a critical period of human technological development. Just before and after the plateau, radiocarbon calibration gives precise dates. However, during the plateau the calendar date estimates obtained when calibrating single radiocarbon measurements are very broad and cover the entire duration of the plateau. Only techniques like wiggle matching can yield more precise calendar dates during this period. The plateau is named after the Hallstatt culture period in central Europe with which it coincides.
Wiggle matching
Wiggle matching involves taking a series of radiocarbon dates where the prior knowledge about the true calendar dates of the samples can be expressed as known differences in age between those samples, or occasionally as differences in age with some small uncertainty. The series of radiocarbon dates can then be matched to the calibration curve to provide a relatively precise estimate of age. When the results are plotted on a graph the "wiggles" in the sample sequence of radiocarbon dates match the "wiggles" in the calibration curve - hence the name.
Effect of the plateau
Peter James cites Mike Baillie (who developed Irish oak dendrochronology): "The immediate conclusion is that it is impossible to sensibly resolve the radiocarbon dates of any samples whose true ages lie between 400 and 800 BC. This is a catastrophe for Late Bronze Age/Iron Age archaeology although one which has been predicted for some time."
See also
References
- Peter James, Thorpe, Kokkinos, Morkot et al Centuries of Darkness: A Challenge to the Conventional Chronology of Old World Archaeology Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ., 1993, ISBN 0-8135-1950-0 (hardcover), ISBN 0-8135-1951-9 (paperback); originally published by Jonathan Cape, London, 1991, ISBN 0-224-02647-X Appendix 1 Dendrochronology & Radiocarbon dating
- van der Plicht, Johannes (January 2004). "Radiocarbon, the Calibration Curve and Scythian Chronology". NATO Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences (PDF). Vol. 42. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. pp. 45-61 (see 45, abstract). doi:10.1007/1-4020-2656-0_5. ISBN 978-1-4020-2655-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- Millard, A.R. Comment on article by Blackwell and Buck http://ba.stat.cmu.edu/journal/2008/vol03/issue02/millard.pdf
Millard, A.R. Comment on article by Blackwell and Buck https://projecteuclid.org/download/pdf_1/euclid.ba/1340370546
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