THE RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY OF THE TRANSITION FROM THE LATE NEOLITHIC TO THE EARLY BRONZE AGE IN THE AEGEAN AND THE NEIGHBOURING AREAS

• T. Marketou (22^nd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Hippoton Str., 851 00 Rhodes, Greece)
• Y. Facorellis (University of Thessaly, Department of History-Archaeology-Social Anthropology, Argonafton and Filellinon, 382 21 Volos, Thessaly, Greece)

The problem of the transition from the Late Neolithic to the beginning of the Early Bronze Age is still obscure in the Aegean. Regional diversities along with different approaches of the dating problems have provided a great corpus of synchronisms, which make the chronology of the period rather complicated. In the long process of dating both the prehistoric Aegean and Anatolia, several conventional dates yielded conflicting chronological schemes, most of them defining the period as transitional in terms of the cultural change that took place.

Despite the fact that the increasing number of calibrated radiocarbon dates has offered a more precise chronological framework within which the succession from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age Aegean took place, the confusion still exists. This paper, which goes further than a mere review of radiocarbon data, attempts a comprehensive examination of radiocarbon dates, derived from several Laboratories, uniformly calibrated using the latest issue of the international calibration curve (INTCAL98), mainly focused on the limits of the transitional period from the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Radiocarbon dates comprise a long list, classified to regional groups from Macedonia and the Balkans, Anatolia and the Aegean as well as with Mainland Greece.

One of the central issues of the above examination is to examine the gaps in radiocarbon dates, attempting to provide some of the missing calendar years from the record of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age Aegean. Old chronological problems, such as the long-lasting efforts of the absolute dating of Troy Ia and its radiocarbon synchronisms with western Anatolia are re-examined. Western Anatolian 14C dates culturally correlated with eastern Aegean sites show the limits of the transition from one period to the other. The latter are related with recent radiocarbon dates from the Aegean, mainly the Dodecanese and the Cyclades, a region with big gaps in sequences and in our knowledge. Moreover, a framework of new radiocarbon dates is related with the so-called Final Neolithic period of Kephala in Keos.

The lack of sites with continuous habitation and the scarcity of radiocarbon dates from regions with intensive stratigraphical excavations, such as Thessaly is another interesting topic. This is re-examined with all the available radiocarbon data together with Macedonia and the Balkans.

The classification of the increased body of reliable radiocarbon dates includes previous radiocarbon data from Attica, Boetia and the Peloponnese. The procedure permits more definite cross-datings, which would overcome the difficulty and the danger of mere stylistic pottery associations and relevant theories. The above approach of radiocarbon data shows the limits of the Neolithic and Bronze Age Aegean, which are better understood within the wider framework of western Anatolia and the Balkans. Firmly established sequences are included into a final chronological chart showing the succession of the development of material culture and its context, which was created by individual cultural groups in the Aegean, Anatolia and the Balkans.