4.2 ka BP event

Absolute dates for the end of the Early Bronze Age ancient Near East are of crucial importance for assessing the nature and extent of mid-to late 3rd millennium BC transitions in the Near East and their alleged link to the 4.2ka BP climatic event. This article presents a radiocarbon sequence for the Early Bronze Age site of Tell Fadous-Kfarabida (Lebanon) and argues that the end of the Early Bronze III period has to be dated considerably higher than previously estimated. There is no reason to assume that the 4.2ka BP event might have contributed to or even triggered the collapse of the first urban cities in the southern and central Levant.

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the strongest abrupt collapse of the Asian monsoon system during the full Holocene interval. The correlations between ASM and the atmospheric 14 C production rate, the North Atlantic drift ice records and Greenland temperature indicated that the weakened ASM event at around 9.2 cal ka BP could be interpreted by the co-influence of external and internal factors, related to the changes of the solar activity and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

Based on a database that organizes the various categories of contexts in the Northwest of Iberia displaying Bell Beaker pottery, this text undertakes a critical analysis focusing on: (i) the contextual and stratigraphic nature as a determinant for interpretation; (ii) the geographical distribution of sites
and its socio-economic and ideological expression in regional settlement during the Chalcolithic (3rd millennium BCE); (iii) the social role that Bell Beaker pottery may have played in each category of contexts – funerary and non-funerary (dolmen/mound, open settlement, walled/ditched enclosures, rock shelter/cave, and related to rock art). The stylistics of pan-European and regional pottery are also discussed. 14C dates are correlated with sites and ceramic styles, concluding the multifaceted character of the Bell Beaker phenomenon and its long-term use for more than eight centuries in this region, between the second quarter of the 3rd and the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE.

The Mediterranean region and the Levant have returned some of the clearest evidence of a climatically dry period occurring around 4200 years ago. However, some regional evidence are controversial and contradictory, and issues remain regarding timing, progression and regional articulation of this event. In this paper we review the evidence from selected proxies (sea-surface temperature, precipitation and temperature reconstructed from pollen, δ 18 O on speleothems, and δ 18 O on lacustrine carbonate) over the Mediterranean basin to infer possible regional climate patterns during the interval between 4.3 and 3.8 cal 5 ka BP. The values and limitations of these proxies are discussed, and their potential for furnishing information on seasonality is also explored. Despite the chronological uncertainties, which are the main limitations for disentangling details of the climatic conditions, the data suggests that winter over the Mediterranean was drier condition, in addition to already dry summers. However, some exceptions to this prevail, -where wetter condition seems to have persisted -suggesting regional heterogeneity in climate patterns. Temperature data, even if sparse, also suggest a cooling anomaly, even if this is not uniform. The most 10

Las motillas son un referente identitario para Castilla-La Mancha y un tipo de yacimientos excepcional a nivel mundial. No existe esta clase de monumentos fuera de nuestra región. Se trata de grandes infraestructuras hidráulicas utilizadas para almacenar recursos básicos para la subsistencia, construidas a finales del III milenio cal BC en un momento de cambio climático y social. Su número ronda las 50 unidades; se encuentran en peligro de desaparición, amenazadas constantemente por agresiones diversas y por el paso del tiempo. Este tipo de asentamientos forman parte principal de la Cultura de las Motillas, primer grupo cultural descrito con personalidad propia en Castilla-La Mancha. Sus arquitecturas son de las más antiguas del sur de la Meseta, constituyendo un hito para la Historia de la Arquitectura regional. Sólo tres motillas han sido declaradas Bienes de Interés Cultural: El Acequión (Albacete) -la primera en obtener esta calificación-, El Azuer (Daimiel) y Los Palacios (Almagro).
El Acequión fue excavada durante cuatro meses entre 1986 y 1989 bajo la dirección de Manuel Fernández Miranda, María Dolores Fernández Posse ‘Pachula’ y Concepción Marín Morales, documentándose una ocupación durante la Edad del Bronce y otra durante la del Hierro. En la actualidad es un sitio conocido internacionalmente y que ha generado abundante literatura científica.
El 26 de julio de 1989 el diario La Verdad de Albacete anunciaba en su portada “El Ministerio de Cultura publicará un libro sobre la excavación”. Tal publicación no llegó a ver la luz.
Esta monografía que ahora se presenta, promovida desde el Ayuntamiento de Albacete, reúne a 61 especialistas de diferentes disciplinas integrados en 31 instituciones, que han preparado 25 capítulos de divulgación científica.
El Ayuntamiento de Albacete acaba de poner en marcha un proyecto para recuperar esta motilla, apoyado por la Diputación de Albacete y la Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha. Durante el proceso de edición de esta obra falleció la doctora Rubí Sanz Gamo. Los trabajos en El Acequión siempre contaron con su decidido apoyo, desde el Museo de Albacete en los inicios y hasta el final de sus días participando en la edición de esta monografía. El Museo de Albacete sigue colaborando con el proyecto, al igual que hizo durante las excavaciones de los años ochenta del pasado siglo.
El ‘Proyecto El Acequión’ ha conseguido arrancar gracias al impulso del Área de Participación Ciudadana y Voluntariado del Ayuntamiento de Albacete. Este proyecto considera que la gestión del patrimonio cultural y la valorización de los yacimientos arqueológicos requieren un enfoque integral, que combine la investigación, la conservación, la difusión y la participación ciudadana. Invertir en la preservación de la motilla es fundamental no solo para conocer y proteger nuestra historia, sino también como elemento en el fomento del desarrollo económico sostenible de nuestro territorio. La protección del patrimonio arqueológico es una inversión a largo plazo capaz de beneficiar tanto a la sociedad como a la economía locales.
El papel de los municipios en la gestión del patrimonio arqueológico es fundamental para garantizar su conservación y disfrute por parte de las generaciones futuras. La colaboración entre las administraciones local, regional y nacional, así como el apoyo de la ciudadanía y el sector privado, la utilización de las nuevas tecnologías o la colaboración con las instituciones educativas y las organizaciones culturales son claves fundamentales para el éxito de las políticas de preservación y gestión.
Bajo este planteamiento de Albacete la participación ciudadana permitirá aumentar la valorización social del patrimonio arqueológico, fomentando así su protección a largo plazo y contribuyendo al desarrollo cultural, social y económico de esta sociedad.

This article presents the results of excavations in Early Bronze Age levels at the site of Hamoukar in northeastern Syria. During the 2008 and 2010 field seasons, excavations in the lower town at Hamoukar uncovered evidence for three distinct architectural phases dating to the second half of the third millennium B.C. Prior to these excavations, attention had been focused on the final phase of Early Bronze Age occupation in the lower town, when the settlement was violently destroyed and then abandoned. It is now possible, however, to provide a backstory for the settlement's violent end and also a more complicated-if still preliminary-account of exactly how the urbanisation process played out at the site. This article presents a summary of the Early Bronze Age stratigraphic sequence in the lower town at Hamoukar and, at the same time, a description of new evidence for the evolution of social, economic, and ritual practice across three phases of urban development. A brief comparison with urban trajectories at two other contemporary sites highlights the heterogeneity of cities and urban dynamics in Early Bronze Age northern Mesopotamia.

In 1884, one of the burials discovered at El Argar, the eponymous site of the El Argar culture, revealed the remains of a woman wearing an unusual silver bangle. This ornament appears to be the first evidence of a silver object produced by lost-wax casting in Bronze Age Iberia and, to date, in Western Europe. It demonstrates that El Argar metalworking technology was probably more complex and innovative than previously thought, opening up new perspectives on the organization of metalwork production and the degree of craft specialization in the earlier Bronze Age of southeastern Spain.

This research investigates the impact of 4.2 ka and 3.2 ka BP climatic events on the agricultural practices of the Bronze Age Kingdom of Mukish by evaluating wheat and barley remains in archaeobotanical data sets acquired from two sites, Tell Atchana (Alalakh), a capital city, and Toprakhisar Höyük, a periphery site, both located in the Hatay province of southern Türkiye. The aim of this study is to determine whether, and to what extent, these climatic events affected the local agricultural strategies. Stable carbon isotope analysis on wheat and barley grains was also carried out to examine the water conditions under which the plants were grown. The findings demonstrated a shift toward drought tolerant barley at Toprakhisar at the end of the 3rd millennium BC, and at Tell Atchana between 1350 and 1200 BCE. Isotopic evidence indicated water stress at Toprakhisar from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC and at Atchana during the latest phases of the LBA. The timing of shifts in crop preferences and the traces of water stress suggest a response to increasing aridity associated with the 4.2 ka BP and 3.2 ka BP climatic events. At Toprakhisar, the occupation seems to flourish in the corresponding period. By contrast, at Atchana, Hittite administrative control may have further influenced agricultural strategies to buffer the impacts of the 3.2 ka BP event by prioritizing barley production and investments in irrigation as mentioned in the textual sources. Overall, the findings highlighted the drought coping mechanisms adopted by the communities, rather than a total collapse of their agricultural systems during times of environmental variability.

High resolution seismic profiles of the Alicante continental shelf have been studied identifying a seismic prism which top at about -20 m below today sea-level. The prism is covered by recent sediments and can be interpreted as formed during a short interval of stand-by in the general transgression after the last glacial maximum. The -20 m level have been compared with the holocene Mediterranean sea-level-curve to propose an age of about 8 ka BP coinciding with the «8.2 ka cooling event» that was an abrupt, widespread climate instability. The prism top is deeper in the northern seismic profiles thus indicating a more subsidence that the southern coastal shelf where an erosion surface with rocky shoals configure the sea botto

The aim of this paper is to discuss issues of precision and accuracy of radiocarbon dates when testing a specific archaeological hypothesis. Our case study is framed in the Argaric “marriage versus descent” debate (Bronze Age of southeast Spain), where a high chronological resolution is needed in order to interpret the time gap between the deaths of the two adults of opposite sex usually found in double burials. We have dated the time of death of an Argaric male by means of six different skeletal samples. The results of this multiple dating of a single event support the precision of the method but raises questions over the limits of its accuracy when the human life span is on the same scale as the chronological resolution. Múltiples dataciones por radiocarbono de un solo esqueleto. Evaluación de los problemas de precisión y precisión en la Edad del Bronce Argárico Resumen. El objetivo de este artículo es discutir los temas de precisión y exactitud de las fechas de radiocarbono al pr...

Climate change is thought to have played a significant role in the rise and demise of complex Mesopotamian societies throughout the mid-to late Holocene. However, assessing the links between societal change and climate variability has been historically challenging, in part due to an absence of long-term, well-dated palaeoclimate archives located in close proximity to key archaeological sites. Here, we synthesise proxy data with archaeological information from Mesopotamia to demonstrate that the earliest urban development documented in this region coincides with increasing and potentially peak effective moisture in the mid-Holocene by ∼5500 BP. We posit that increasing moisture availability likely facilitated the expansion and development of the earliest cities, with resource extraction under favourable climatic conditions providing new opportunities for urban centres to expand their resource areas into new domains, and far beyond what is evident in earlier periods. Following ∼5200 BP, these same archives show increasing aridity coincident with the end of the Late Chalcolithic, and abandonment of several key settlements. Taken together, our work contextualises the evolution of critical urban centres in Mesopotamia between 6500 to 5500 yrs BP, and underscores the sensitivity of these centres to climatological variability.

In Mesopotamia, climate is regarded as an important contributing factor to major socio-cultural transformations. However, the scarcity of Holocene paleoclimate reconstructions in this region impedes analysis of potential climate-human interactions. Furthermore, current hydroclimatic scenarios for Mesopotamia are predominantly based on oxygen isotope (δ 18 O) proxy records from the eastern Mediterranean, whereas the paleoclimatic significance of δ 18 O remains debated. Here, we present a Holocene stalagmite multi-proxy record from Shalaii Cave in northern Mesopotamia. Based on stable isotope, trace element and strontium isotope measurements, our new Shalaii Cave record suggests that long-term changes in δ 18 O were influenced by multiple factors, such as δ 18 O changes of the source of moisture, amount and seasonality of rainfall. The Shalaii Cave trace element and strontium isotope records indicate rather dry conditions during the early Holocene and wettest conditions during the mid-Holocene. This mid-Holocene hydroclimate optimum at Shalaii Cave is in good agreement with other non-isotopic records from SW-Asia, such as pollen evidence for concurrent rapid forest expansion and peaking lake levels. The mid-Holocene hydroclimatic optimum is most likely related to an increase in the amount of spring precipitation related to the remote influence of the Indian summer monsoon (desert-monsoon mechanism) and spring insolation-driven weakening of the Arabian anticyclone. In particular the latter northward migration of the Arabian anticyclone in spring promoted a longer spring rainfall season.

The paper focuses on the analysis of the principles of analogical thinking within Akkadian therapeutic literature, specifically exploring the intimate connection between “words” (incantation) and “actions” (rituals and prescriptions). By concentrating on therapies for treating biliary disorders and jaundice found in the third tablet of the section Šumma amēlu suāla maruṣ (lit. “If a man suffers from phlegm”) of the first-millennium Nineveh Medical Encyclopaedia, alongside Akkadian and Sumerian Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian incantations, the study uncovers consistent patterns in therapeutic analogical strategies. The paper emphasizes the complex relationship between the metaphorical incantatory language by which analogies are expressed and the materia medica prescribed in the prescriptions. Semantic, phonetic, and graphic analogies contribute to a process of analogical recognition between pathologies, the physiological processes, and materia medica. Through a comparative analysis of Mesopotamian therapeutic sources, this study elucidates certain strategies of analogical thinking, revealing it as a foundational aspect of the mindset and worldview of the erudite scribes responsible for composing the core works of Mesopotamian therapeutics.

Rock varnish microstratigraphies from Holocene geomorphic and geoarchaeological features in the Dead Sea basin and Negev Desert of the Middle East record past millennial-scale wetness variations. Age calibration of the varnish record indicates six major wet phases between 11 and 4.9 ka during the early to mid Holocene and six minor wet phases between 3.7 and 0.3 ka during the late Holocene. The earliest (11 ka) and late (2.8, 1.5, 0.3 ka) Holocene wet phases appear to be correlated with Holocene millennial-scale cooling events in the North Atlantic, with a cold/wet (warm/dry) regime corresponding with the influence of the North Atlantic and Eastern Mediterranean climates. The early to mid Holocene (9.9-4.9 ka) wet phases in the varnish record altogether constitute an extended moist interval that is broadly concurrent with the African Humid Period (10.5-4 ka). Such a warm/ wet (cold/dry) regime reflects a possible northward incursion of the African monsoonal moist air masses over the Dead Sea basin and Negev Desert. These findings suggest a climatic interplay between the African monsoon circulations and the westerly circulation/Eastern Mediterranean cyclones in the Southern Levant during the early to mid Holocene. The Holocene varnish microstratigraphy, once radiometrically calibrated, can be used as a correlative dating tool to estimate surface exposure ages of geomorphic and geoarchaeological features in the study region. Varnish microlamination (VML) dating of abandoned shorelines of the Dead Sea yields new insights into the Holocene lake level fluctuations. The Dead Sea attained its Holocene highest stand at 369 mbsl (meters below mean sea level) around 11 ka and transgressed to the levels of 370-380 mbsl four times at ca. 9.9, 8.8, 7.6, and 6.2 ka. It rose intermittently to 383, 385, 387.5, and 389 mbsl around ca. 4.9, 2.8, 2.1, and 1.5 ka, respectively, and has remained below 389 mbsl since 1.5 ka. VML dating of an ancient water diversion channel system at Bortot Hazaz and a quarry site at Masada yields minimum-limiting age estimates of 2.6 and 1.9 ka, both in accordance with the OSL and relative archaeological dating of the sites. VML dating of a stone artifact from the 11 ka highstand shoreline brackets the timing of the tool abandonment at 10.5-10 ka, suggesting an early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (10.5-8.25 ka) site occupation in the Dead Sea basin. These geomorphic and archaeological applications demonstrate that the Holocene varnish microstratigraphy documented in this study has great potential as a unique chronometric tool in the Southern Levant.

Boğaziye Höyüğü lies at the northwestern end of the vast and fertile Upper Khabur Region, which stretches along the southern foothills of the Kašiari Mountains. Material culture remains unearthed at the mound by two seasons of excavations (2023-2024) shows significant similarities to assemblages known from other Upper Khabur sites. Our excavations in Trenches BE18-BE17 and BF18 on the northern slope of the mound focused on revealing the stratigraphic sequence in this area. Architectural remains of Building Levels I and II and finds from these contexts in Trench BE18 are dateable to the mid-3 rd millennium BC. In Trench BE17, Building Level I also revealed finds that can be dated to the 3 rd (especially mid-3 rd) millennium BC, and in Trench BF18, ceramic sherds dateable to the 3 rd millennium BC were found in Building Level III. This article presents new findings from Boğaziye Höyüğü and discusses their significance in comparison with the results of surveys and excavations in the Upper Khabur Region, which have continued increasingly since the mid-1930s. We evaluate the significance of Boğaziye Höyüğü as a regional center within the Upper Khabur basin, and we elucidate its habitation sequence and building levels in the light of our recent excavations. Based on a comparative evaluation of its material culture remains within a regional perspective, we contextualize Boğaziye Höyüğü in relationship to the cultural horizons of the early and mid-3 rd millennium BC in the Upper Khabur Valley. Keywords Upper Khabur Region • Early Bronze Age • Early Jezirah Period • Early Dynastic III/IV • terracotta chariot models Author Note The Co-Editor-in-Chief was not involved in the evaluation, peer-review and decision processes of the article. These processes were carried out by the Editor-in-Chief and the member editors of the editorial management board.

The Chalcolithic mega-site and ditched enclosure of Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain) has been extensively discussed regarding its functionality, funerary practices, and highly specialised crafts. However, little
attention has been given to understanding its socio-economic organization, particularly within the settlement area.
This study, part of a broader project investigating the northern part of this ca. 200 ha large settlement, employed a diachronic, techno-functional approach to analyse 635 macrolithic tools with the aim to discern tasks performed within habitation structures, raw material usage, and potential changes across the Chalcolithic period (3300–2200 cal BCE).
The analysis reveals patterns of a stable economy centred around daily subsistence activities and local resources, suggesting a diversified household-based economy rather than one focused on surplus accumulation. This approach challenges previous interpretations and provides evidence supporting Valencina’s characterization as a highly complex settlement and funerary site.

The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication 1 Was there a '4.2 kyr event' in Great Britain and Ireland? Evidence from the peatland record.

Buccellati, G., and Y. Mahmoud. 2017. Archaeology for a Young Future. An Exhibit at the American University of Beirut. Mozan: The Urkesh Press. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8396840.Buccellati, G., and Y. Mahmoud. 2017. Archaeology for a Young Future. An Exhibit at the American University of Beirut. Mozan: The Urkesh Press. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8396840.

Las Lagunas de Ruidera constituyen un territorio con una importante presencia de poblados fortificados de la Edad del Bronce. Una revisión de los mismos en los que se ha utilizado la fotogrametría asistida por RPAS y la tecnología LiDAR ha proporcionado una interesante información que ha permitido mejorar la caracterización de sus fortificaciones.

New speleothem records from northeastern Iberian caves provide data to explore the climatic patterns during the Holocene. We present δ 13 C and Mg/Ca from three speleothems from two different caves located in the Iberian Range allowing replication of the climatic signal for several millennia. Through the integration of those stalagmites covering since the Holocene onset to 2 ka, the early Holocene (11.7-8.5 ka) appears as the wettest interval. A marked change towards aridity is observed during the middle Holocene (8.5-4.8 ka) and an increase of humidity afterwards (4.8-2 ka). This three-part pattern, contrasting with other Iberian sequences, seems to be associated with the different role that seasonality has played in the response of different proxies (or records) to changes in water availability. Interpreting our speleothem records as changes in winter-spring precipitation along the Holocene allows reconciling previous data on hydrological variability from the western Mediterranean borderlands.