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Radiocarbon Results for the British Beakers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Janet Ambers ,
Sheridan Bowman ,
Alex Gibson  and
Ian Kinnes
Janet Ambers
Affiliation:
Department of Scientific Research, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, UK
Sheridan Bowman
Affiliation:
Department of Scientific Research, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, UK
Alex Gibson
Affiliation:
Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust, Welshpool, Powys S42 7DL, UK
Ian Kinnes
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquities, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, UK
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Abstract

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The beginning of the Bronze Age in the British Isles has traditionally been marked by the appearance, in the archaeological record, of Beaker assemblages, mainly characterized by the Beaker pottery form itself. Ceramic typologies based on this style, which is undoubtedly continental in origin, have been used both for relative dating and as evidence of the social and economic developments of the period. Systematic radiocarbon dating has been attempted for the continental European Beaker material (Lanting, Mook & van der Waals 1973), but no such program has been carried out on British material. An examination of the existing radiocarbon results for the British Beakers showed many to be flawed in some way, particularly in the use of materials, such as mature wood, where there is no a priori reason for assuming a direct relationship between sample death and context. An attempt has been made at the British Museum to test the validity of archaeologically derived chronologies for the Beaker pottery of the British Isles. This involved analysis of a group of carefully selected human bone samples from Beaker burials, where there is a known direct association between ceramic usage and the cessation of carbon exchange. Twenty such samples have been identified and measured. The results presented here, combined with other previously produced determinations, show no obvious relationship between pottery style and calendar date of deposition.

Type
V. Archaeological Applications
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 34 , Issue 3: Proceedings of the 14th International Radiocarbon Conference , 1992 , pp. 916 - 927
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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