cience 18 June 2010: Vol. 328 no. 5985 pp. 1554-1557 DOI: 10.1126/science.1189395
Christopher Bronk Ramsey et al.
quote:
The historical chronologies for dynastic Egypt are based on reign lengths inferred from written and archaeological evidence. These floating chronologies are linked to the absolute calendar by a few ancient astronomical observations, which remain a source of debate. We used 211 radiocarbon measurements made on samples from short-lived plants, together with a Bayesian model incorporating historical information on reign lengths, to produce a chronology for dynastic Egypt. A small offset (19 radiocarbon years older) in radiocarbon levels in the Nile Valley is probably a growing-season effect. Our radiocarbon data indicate that the New Kingdom started between 1570 and 1544 B.C.E., and the reign of Djoser in the Old Kingdom started between 2691 and 2625 B.C.E.; both cases are earlier than some previous historical estimates.
Dating Pharaonic Egypt
Science 18 June 2010: Vol. 328 no. 5985 pp. 1489-1490 DOI: 10.1126/science.1191410
Hendrik J. Bruins
quote:ncient literary sources of Pharaonic Egypt constitute the historical cornerstone of time in the eastern Mediterranean region during the Bronze and Iron Ages (the third to first millennia B.C.E.). Historical chronologies for ancient Egypt are based on abundant but fragmentary written sources, and various chronological interpretations exist (1–5). Radio-carbon dating has the potential to verify those interpretations (6). On page 1554 of this issue, Bronk Ramsey et al. (7) present a comprehensive and sophisticated radiocarbon dating study on the chronology of Pharaonic Egypt, involving 211 samples. The short-lived plant samples for 14C dating were selected from individual funerary contexts in various museum collections. Each sample could be associated with the reign of a particular Pharaoh or with a specific section of the historical chronology.
Troll Patrol Member # 18264
posted "Constraining the Reign of Ancient Egypt: Radiocarbon Dating Helps to Nail Down the Chronology of Kings, Researchers Say"
Illahun Papyrus (Credit: Courtesy of the University of Haifa)
ScienceDaily (June 18, 2010) — For several thousands of years, ancient Egypt dominated the Mediterranean world -- and scholars across the globe have spent more than a century trying to document the reigns of the various rulers of Egypt's Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. Now, a detailed radiocarbon analysis of short-lived plant remains from the region is providing scientists with a long and accurate chronology of ancient Egyptian dynasties that agrees with most previous estimates but also imposes some historic revisions.
Although previous chronologies have been precise in relative ways, assigning absolute dates to specific events in ancient Egyptian history has been an extremely contentious undertaking. This new study tightly constrains those previous predictions, especially for the Old Kingdom, which was determined to be slightly older than some scholars had believed. The study will also allow for more accurate historical comparisons to surrounding areas, like Libya and Sudan, which have been subject to many radiocarbon dating techniques in the past.
Christopher Bronk Ramsey and colleagues from the Universities of Oxford and Cranfield in England, along with a team of researchers from France, Austria and Israel, collected radiocarbon measurements from 211 various plants -- obtained from museum collections in the form of seeds, baskets, textiles, plant stems and fruits -- that were directly associated with particular reigns of ancient Egyptian kings. They then combined their radiocarbon data with historical information about the order and length of each king's reign to make a complete chronology of ancient Egyptian dynasties.
Their research is published in the June 18 issue of Science.
"My colleague, Joanne Rowland, went to a lot of museums, explaining what we were doing and asking for their participation," Bronk Ramsey said. "The museums were all very helpful in providing material we were interested in -- especially important since export of samples from Egypt is currently prohibited. Fortunately, we only needed samples that were about the same size as a grain of wheat."
The researchers' new chronology does indicate that a few events occurred earlier than previously predicted. It suggests, for example, that the reign of Djoser in the Old Kingdom actually started between 2691 and 2625 B.C. and that the New Kingdom began between 1570 and 1544 B.C.
Bronk Ramsey and his colleagues also found some discrepancies in the radiocarbon levels of the Nile Valley, but they suggest that these are due to ancient Egypt's unusual growing season, which is concentrated in the winter months.
For the most part, the new chronology simply narrows down the various historical scenarios that researchers have been considering for ancient Egypt.
"For the first time, radiocarbon dating has become precise enough to constrain the history of ancient Egypt to very specific dates," said Bronk Ramsey. "I think scholars and scientists will be glad to hear that our small team of researchers has independently corroborated a century of scholarship in just three years."
This report by Bronk Ramsey et al. was funded by the Leverhulme Trust with additional financial support from the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development, NERC, CNRS, CEA, IRSN, IRD, and Ministère de La Culture.
Sundjata Member # 13096
posted
Good post. Not very ground-braking tho. 3100 BC signifies a "NEW" timeline? Um..ok. That date was already surmised.
posted
Western Academia in their subtle racism always try to make AfriEgypt civilization younger then Mesopotamian civilization in order to say civilization wasn't born in black Africa. They are saying now dynastic Egypt started in 3100 BC, that is ridiculous. I believe in the long Chronology of Manetho, Herodotus, McNaughton, John J Jackson, Robin Walker that date the beginning of Egyptian civilization to 5600 BC.
The Egyptian Sirius calendar date to 4500BC. The Sphinx water erosion date to 10,000 BC. The Egyptian priest told Manetho they saw the sun rise twice were it set and set twice were it rise meaning the Egyptian priest knew the great year of the zodiac that total 25,000 years
typeZeiss Member # 18859
posted
quote:Originally posted by mena7: Western Academia in their subtle racism always try to make AfriEgypt civilization younger then Mesopotamian civilization in order to say civilization wasn't born in black Africa. They are saying now dynastic Egypt started in 3100 BC, that is ridiculous. I believe in the long Chronology of Manetho, Herodotus, McNaughton, John J Jackson, Robin Walker that date the beginning of Egyptian civilization to 5600 BC.
The Egyptian Sirius calendar date to 4500BC. The Sphinx water erosion date to 10,000 BC. The Egyptian priest told Manetho they saw the sun rise twice were it set and set twice were it rise meaning the Egyptian priest knew the great year of the zodiac that total 25,000 years
How does the article denigrate Africa in anyway? If anything it gives it preeminence. Outside of some know-nothings blog, academics say Sumeria/Mesopotamia starts as a city state around 2800 BC. So not only does that mean, Egypt is 300 years older than Sumeria, The thing is a lot of this stuff is very specific in terms of studies. So a egyptologist may know nothing about Kush and the same goes for a Assyriologist etc. So while these people may not come out and say certain things plainly, it doesn't mean they are racist. It means they just may not know what was going on in other places.
It talks about settlement in 4th millennium BC which is no big deal, Africa had tons of those (settlements). Notice it doesn't mention a unified kingdom or society at that early date. They (sumer) don't get that until 2800 BC. So yeah, Africa is first man. Even still the Elamites seem to have been of African extraction, at least according to Rawlinson who is the father of Assyriology.
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