Tracing the Absolute Time-Frame of the Early Bronze Age in the Aegean

Abstract

AbstractThe Early Bronze Age (EBA) is associated with technological and cultural changes that may suggest the onset of a new culture. The question usually posed is whether the spread of the EBA culture is a matter of contemporary evolutionary practices or a matter of migration of peoples. We contribute to this discussion by tracing the appearance and spread of the EBA in the Aegean using an absolute time-frame provided by more than 200 radiocarbon (14C) dates from 25 different Aegean sites. These have been compiled and statistically treated, individually, and in geographical groups to allow temporal and spatial comparisons. A new model is constructed for the first time for northern Greece. The dates are compared between various settlements and areas in each of the traditional cultural divisions EBA I, EBA II, and EBA III and possible subdivisions. The statistical treatment and comparisons indicate that the EBA appeared slightly earlier, around 3300 BC, in northern Greece than in southern Greece, and the Cycladic Islands and also lasted longer in some areas in northern Greece, ending at around 1900 BC.