High and Low Chronologies of the Mediterranean Bronze Age

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One very long lasting debate

in Bronze Age Mediterranean
archaeology has to do with
attempting to match calendar
dates to those associated with
Egyptian regnal lists. To some
scholars, the debate henges
on a single olive branch.

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Egyptian Dynastic History is

traditionally split into three
Kingdoms (during which a big
hunk of the Nile valley was
consistently unified),
separated by two intermediate
periods (when non-Egyptians
ruled Egypt).

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Lahun Papyrus 10419a, Late Middle Kingdom (2025-1700 BC).

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(The late Egyptian Ptolemaic

dynasty, established by
Alexander the Great's generals and including the famous Cleopatra, has no such
problem). The two most-used chronologies today are called "High" and "Low"--the "Low"
being the younger--and with some variations, these chronologies are used by scholars
studying all of the Mediterranean Bronze Age.

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As a rule these days, historians generally use the "High" chronology. These dates were
compiled using historical records produced during the lives of the pharaohs, and some
radiocarbon dates of archaeological sites, and have been tweaked over the past century
and a half. But, the controversy continues, as illustrated by a series of articles in Antiquity
as recently as 2014.

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Beginning in the 21st century, a team of scholars led by Christopher Bronk-Ramsay at the
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit contacted museums and obtained non-mummified
plant material (basketry, plant-based textiles, and plant seeds, stems and fruits) tied to
specific pharaohs.

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Those samples, like the Lahun papyrus in the image, were carefully selected to be
"short-lived samples from impeccable contexts", as Thomas Higham has described them.
The samples were radiocarbon-dated using AMS strategies, providing the last column of
dates in the table below.
High and Low Bronze Age Chronologies
Event

High

Low

Bronk-Ramsey et al

Old Kingdom Start

2667 BC

2592 BC

2591-2625 cal BC

Old Kingdom End

2345 BC

2305 BC

2423-2335 cal BC

Middle Kingdom Start

2055 BC

2009 BC

2064-2019 cal BC

Middle Kingdom End

1773 BC

1759 BC

1797-1739 cal BC

New Kingdom Start

1550 BC

1539 BC

1570-1544 cal BC

New Kingdom End

1099 BC

1106 BC

1116-1090 cal BC

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In general, the radiocarbon dating supports the conventionally used High chronology,
except perhaps that the dates for Old and New Kingdoms are slightly older than that of the
traditional chronologies. But the issue has yet to be resolved, in part because of the
problems associated with dating the Santorini eruption.

The Santorini Eruption

Santorini is a volcano located on the island of Thera in the Mediterranean Sea. During the
Late Bronze Age of the 16th-17th centuries BC, Santorini erupted, violently, pretty much
putting an end to the Minoan civilization and disturbing, as you might imagine, all the
civilizations within the Mediterranean region. Archaeological evidence sought for the date
of the eruption has included local evidence of a tsunami and interrupted groundwater
supplies, as well as acidity levels in ice cores as far away as Greenland.
Dates for when this massive eruption occurred are startlingly controversial. The most
precise radiocarbon date for the occurrence is 1627-1600 BC, based on the branch of an
olive tree that was buried by ashfall from the eruption; and on animal bones on the Minoan
occupation of Palaikastro. But, according to archaeo-historical records, the eruption took

10.08.2015 00:27

High and Low Chronologies of the Mediterranean Bronze Age

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http://archaeology.about.com/od/bronzeage/fl/High-and-Low-Chronolo...

place during the founding of the New Kingdom, ca. 1550 BC. None of the chronologies,
not High, not Low, not the Bronk-Ramsay radiocarbon study, suggest that the New
Kingdom was founded any earlier than ca. 1550.

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High and Low Chronologies of the Mediterranean Bronze Age

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