radiocarbon dating of the early neolithic ......sea (oakley hw do , 1977). the upper paleolithic...

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INTRODUCTION

Within the project FEPRE (The formation of Europe: Prehistoric population dynamics and the

of the 6th Framework Programme of the European Union, the Radiocarbon Laboratory in Poznan carried out 14C analyses of several samples obtained from Early Neolithic sites in southern Romania. The analyses were performed on animal bone collagen, on samples from wooden artefacts such as fragments of a vessel from

differed considerably from dates obtained on charcoal and animal bones from the same archaeological contexts. This suggested that fossil wood could have been used for the production of the examined wooden objects and, for this reason,

The use of wood for manufacturing everyday

recovered from bog or peat sediments i.e., from the environment in which organic materials, including wood, are well preserved. Finds of wooden artifacts as for example spears are known from Lower and Middle Paleolithic sites,

Sea (Oakley , 1977). The Upper Paleolithic provided wooden beads as for example from Gönnersdorf (Street , 2012). A greater variety of wooden objects and artefacts made of bark were recovered from the Mesolithic, mainly from peat sites in northern Europe (Holst, 2010;

, 2011; Riede, 2010; Rosendahl , 2006; Schmölcke

, 2006).

RADIOCARBON DATING OF THE EARLY NEOLITHIC

WOODEN OBJECTS FROM SOUTHERN ROMANIA

1, Tomasz Goslar2, 3 4, Pavel Mirea5

3

4

Abstract

s that the Early Neolithic Starcevo Culture groups from South Romania intentionally searched and used mineralized fossil wood available in river valleys beds from South Carpathian slopes.

Keywords: , Early Neolithic, mineralized fossil wood, South Romania

118

Mesolithic are fairly numerous, wooden objects

Europe and Anatolia) are rare as the preservation conditions were unfavorable. Among such

1967), where wooden pots and baskets which can be regarded as prototypes of ceramic vessels were found but which role did not diminish throughout the entire Neolithic period (Mellaart, 1967:216). Recently a number of small wooden objects were discovered in the Middle Neolithic lacustrine site

, 2014).

wooden pots were also recently discovered at the Early Neolithic sites of Cristian 3 (Sibiu County; Luca , 2014) and the unpublished site of Uliuc (Timisoara county; L.Ciobotaru personal communication).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

well known since the early eighties, because they were the oldest ones found in Romania and were

found relatively recently and their context was dated by radiocarbon samples on bone.

Neolithic site

brook, near to the Studina train station, 150 m

Nica excavated the site between 1977 and 1981,

Radian Andreescu (Andreescu and Popovici, 2009:115; Luca and Suciu, 2011:107). The publication of the site is not complete, and included only some excavation plans and some

objects). The incomplete report mentioned six surface structures and some pit houses.

An entire wooden bowl (from which we

1981 campaign, 32 m from the river bed (Fig.

and it was retrieved from its bottom part, 0.65 m below the actual ground level. The pot walls were covered by a thin layer of limestone deposit, today preserved only inside. The external side

brown in color, very well polished and carved from one piece of wood. Four rounded buttons as ornaments were carved too, disposed as a cross. Similar buttons are known on the pottery from the same horizon of the Early Neolithic (Nica,

appeared under a material

the house is characteristic to lower level (1) (Fig.

Neolithic ground surface. The wooden pot was discovered in the northern part of the structure

The dimensions of the pot are: 50 mm high, with the mouth diameter of 86 mm and maximum body diameter of 116 mm; the weight is 177 grams. The wood from which the pot was produced was probably (European yew).

The object is stored at Olteniei Museum Craiova, with inventory number and was included in category at

with the order number (Ridiche, 2008). A small sample from the crack in the middle of the pot has been extracted using a special pincer and sent to Poznan Radiocarbon Laboratory.

The ceramic vessels associated with the wooden pot have the same shapes and are

The pottery decoration by are either curved white

of the ceramic fragments are small in size and

Other wooden pot fragments were recovered from the same area in the 1980 campaign (Fig. 2.2a, b). One bottom of the vessel was found in

at a depth of 0.6 m. Another wooden pot bottom fragment (Fig. 2.3) was found at the base of the Early Neolithic layer at a depth of 0.6 m. Finally, a fragment of a wooden bracelet was recovered from at a depth of 1.1 m

Radiocarbon dating of the Early Neolithic wooden objects from southern Romania 119

in the oldest levels (1 and 2) belong, according to the diagnostic pottery, to the Early Neolithic

The (TELEOR

village and was host to a number of remarkable discoveries (Fig. 1). The site was excavated under Radian Andreescu’s supervision in the period 2006

14 fragments of pots walls and bases, bracelets, pendants and other wooden objects (Fig. 5) The pottery, including painted vessels (Fig. 6), and

the context of the wooden objects, correlated well with the radiocarbon data showing an evolution

proximately from 6,100 to 5,700 cal BC (Balasse , 2013:222; Mirea, 2005:48, 2011:42). More

radiocarbon dates from early Neolithic complexes await publication in the near future.

One of the analyzed samples – a bracelet

) belonging

suggested by a radiocarbon date of 6,970 ±27

Fig. 1.

120

Fig. 2.

2 (according to Nica, 1983)


BP (bone collagen, UBA 18097; Balasse , 2013:222). The bracelet fragment (approximately 5 cm long) has a trapezoidal shape in section with slightly rounded corners. Some traces of white paint are visible on the exterior surface (Fig. 5.1). The was an approximately 5.5 m² (2.70 x 2.00 m), irregular oval shaped pit,

with a depth of 0.55 m. The associated inventory suggests a rubbish pit: a high quantity of animal

bone tools. Pottery shapes and some typical

painted potsherd fragments – white dots on a

beginning of the Early Neolithic. The painted pottery, typical for the earliest

phase of the Neolithic, is represented by the red slipped ware and white dots, spirals or hatched strips on different red hued backgrounds. The archaeological remains are common for this phase and comprise a high quantity of animal bones,

quartz, quartzite and other rocks), bone tools and various clay objects.

Fig. 3.

122

RESULTS

result it was necessary to take into consideration the possibility that the pot suffered contamination in the last 30 years. However, the person responsible for the preservation of the vessel in

based organic material was used in the process. A second sample was processed in 2014 to

check the earlier results in the Poznan Radiocarbon

Laboratory and was again far away from the Early

BP, in rough agreement with the previous dating. The difference of 14C ages measured in the

Poznan Laboratory on the same sample could stem

(processed in 2014), was additionally treated by washing with acetone + alcohol + water (removing eventual preservatives), and bleaching with NaClO

2 (removing eventual waxes and resins; for

review of 14C pretreatment protocols, see Brock , 2010). So, the higher 14C amount measured in

Fig. 4.

Samplecode

Carboncontent

For prep.

Afterprep.

Forcomb.

Aftercomb.

AMSdate

pMC Age 14C d13C

(%) (mg) (mg) (mg) (mg). (BP) (‰)

25226n.m. 62 42 6 2.37

20081.04±0.1 36,678 ±772

6207028.2 133 83 2.4 1.04

20140.35±0.14 45,426 ±3213

Table 1. Parameters of processing the two subsamples of the Gradinile wood. The carbon content in the raw wood was measured

with an elemental analyzer. N.m. – not measured. pMC – percent modern carbon, prep. – chemical pretreatment, comb. –

combustion


caused by the incomplete removal of waxes and resins. One must say in general, that 14C analysis at the level of 1% modern carbon or below, is

contamination by younger carbon (e.g., Pigati , 2007), so the difference between the two

dates obtained is not very extraordinary.

The low 14C content measured in the Grandinile sample, strongly indicates that this wood is indeed

wood grown in the Early Neolithic would have 14C content corresponding to 50% of the modern carbon, while in the analyzed samples, only 1% or less modern carbon was measured. So, if the

Fig. 5. . Early Neolithic wooden objects: bracelets (1a, 1b, 4), pendants (2, 3), pot walls (5, 6)

and base (7). Samples from fragments (code W02) and (code W01) were sent to Poznan for AMS dating

124

Fig. 6.


wood indeed descended from the Early Neolithic, its sample analyzed today would have to contain as little as 2% original carbon (i.e. carbon assimilated at the time of tree growth) and as much as 98% of 14

into the structure of wood during burial of the pot in the sediments. The loss of organic carbon from the fossilized wood, and its contamination with ambient carbon is possible in the course of wood mineralization. This process, however, leads to a decrease in the total carbon content, especially

content in the raw sample (28.2%, Table 1) was lower than in dry fresh wood, but still much

can claim that whatever mineralization occurred,

wood was still that connected with the original tissues. Also, the amounts of carbon retrieved from the aliquots forwarded to combustion (2.37

mg in the second processing), nearly the percentage of carbon in fresh wood, absolutely

carbon on the measured 14C ages. Another factor capable of altering 14C age,

would be contamination with 14

the excavation of the pot. However: a) – the reports from the restoration team claim no use of any preservatives, b) – 14C analysis made without (1st subsamples), and with (2nd subsample) using organic solvents gave the same 14C ages, and c) – presence of as much as 98% of carbon (i.e. the amount required to alter 14C age by 35000 years) due to preservative substances could not be overlooked. Thus we are sure that the analyzed wood was indeed much older than the Early Neolithic.

the radiocarbon dating method range. Electron Scanning has shown that the original structure is completely destroyed and the species attribution was impossible.

We considered the hypothesis that the old carbon from the nearby peat deposit could have

analyses indicate that there is an absence of lignine in the sample. The samples did not come into contact with substances based on petrol or resin after excavation. The spectroscopic chemical analysis showed high iron content in the

excavated and did not undergo any chemical treatment in the laboratory.

DISCUSSION

are far away in time from the oldest cluster of data of the Early Neolithic from Southern Romania,

was that the wooden pots were preserved because there was a thin limestone layer present which protected them and because of the water present inside the soil. He mentions on a number of occasions that the fragments were but this it is possible to refer only to the limestone

We excluded human contamination for the

of old carbon; it was impossible to introduce

discovery. There were also no interactions with peat deposits from the area because we did not

brownish and the structure is compact. We know that for fossil wood, the dark pigmentation came about because of the

, 2010:116).

and, in consequence, indicates the use of fossil wood. Studies show that a high amount of iron inside the wood is a clear indicator of the

, 2010).

southern slopes of the Carpathians were covered by relatively compact mixed forests, which were

126

undergoing destruction due to slope erosion. As a result, in some river alluvia on the southern slopes of the Carpathians there are some fossil

1977, L. Starkel pers. comm.)

settlement, regarding the Telorman river development in the Late Glacial and Holocene, recovered some wooden samples from test pits (former river beds) that were radiocarbon dated. The oldest wood sample recovered at a depth of 2 m, yielded a radiocarbon age estimate of ca.

(Howard , 2004).

CONCLUSIONS

The fossilization of wood is generally considered an exception in the natural cycle where the bulk of organic matters are disappearing over time (Fengel, 1991:153). Our research indicates that wood was already mineralized at the time it was used by early Neolithic communities. The existence of two settlements of the Early Neolithic in southern Romania with woodworking objects from mineralized wood indicates an intentional search for this kind of raw material because of its characteristics – the objects preserved the characteristics of wood as being lightweight but were more resistant against

For certain objects, where the mineralized wood was available (e.g., southern Romania), the Early Neolithic groups prefer to use it but this does not exclude the use of contemporary wood too. However, objects made from the latter would not have survived in the typical conditions of the Early Neolithic sites.

Acknowledgments

To our colleague’s dr. Florian Chioar Dumitrescu and dr. Marin Nica – who passed away – for their comments and support during the FEPRE

Sabin Adrian Luca, dr. Florin Ridiche, dr. Radian

and Leopold Ciobotaru for their help and fruitful discussion

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radiocarbon dating of the early neolithic ......sea (oakley hw do , 1977). the upper paleolithic...

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