Radiocarbon and the Chronologies of Ancient Egypt

This volume presents the findings of a major international project on the application of radiocarbon dating to the Egyptian historical chronology. Researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Cranfield in the UK, along with a team from France, Austria and Israel, radiocarbon dated more than 200 Egyptian objects made from plant material from museum collections from all over the world. The results comprise an accurate scientifically based chronology of the kings of ancient Egypt obtained by the radiocarbon analysis of short-lived plant remains.
This volume presents the findings of a major international project on the application of radiocarbon dating to the Egyptian historical chronology. Researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Cranfield in the UK, along with a team from France, Austria and Israel, radiocarbon dated more than 200 Egyptian objects made from plant material from museum collections from all over the world. The results comprise an accurate scientifically based chronology of the kings of ancient Egypt obtained by the radiocarbon analysis of short-lived plant remains. Despite Egypt's historical significance, in the past the dating of events has been a contentious undertaking with Egyptologists relying on various chronologies made up from archaeological and historical records. The radiocarbon dates nail down a chronology that is broadly in line with previous estimates. However, they do rule out some chronologies that have been put forward particularly in the Old Kingdom, which is shown to be older than some scholars thought.
The research has implications for the whole region because the Egyptian chronology anchors the timing of historical events in neighbouring areas tied to the reign of particular Egyptian kings. The results will allow for more historical comparisons to be made in countries like Libya and Sudan, which have conducted radiocarbon dating techniques on places of archaeological interest in the past.

Table of Contents

Preface (1)
A.J. Shortland and C. Bronk Ramsey

I. Introduction
Establishing Chronology in Pharaonic Egypt and the Ancient Near East: Interlocking Textual Sources Relating to c. 1600-664 BC (2)
K. A. Kitchen

An Introduction to Egyptian Historical Chronology (3.1)
A.J. Shortland

Using Radiocarbon Evidence in Egyptian Chronological Research (3.2)
C. Bronk Ramsey

II. Radiocarbon Dating Methodology
Sample Selection for Radiocarbon Dating (3.3)
F. Brock and M. W. Dee

Preparing Samples for AMS Radiocarbon Dating
F. Brock (3.4)

Investigating the Accuracy of Radiocarbon Dating in Egypt: Checks With Samples of
Known Age (3.5)
M. W. Dee

III: The New Kingdom
A Radiocarbon-Based Chronology for the New Kingdom (4.1)
M.W. Dee

Antagonisms in Historical and Radiocarbon Chronology (4.2)
M. Bietak

Radiocarbon Data for Aegean Pottery in Egypt: New Evidence From Saqqara (Lepsius) Tomb 16 and Its Importance For Lm IB/LH IIA (4.3)
F. Höflmayer, A. Hassler, W Kutschera and E. M. Wild

Radiocarbon Calibration in the Mid to Later 14th Century BC and Radiocarbon Dating Tell El-Amarna, Egypt (4.4)
S. W. Manning, B. Kromer, M. Dee, M. Friedrich, T. F. G. Higham and C. Bronk Ramsey

The Ramesside Period: A Case Of Overstretch? (4.5)
A. Dodson

Garlands from the Deir el-Bahri Cache (4.6)
S. McAleely

New Radiocarbon Dates for the 21st Dynasty (4.7)
J. H. Taylor

IV. The Middle Kingdom
A Radiocarbon-Based Chronology for the Middle Kingdom (5.1)
M.W. Dee

Correlating and Combining Egyptian Historical and Southern Levantine Radiocarbon Chronologies at Middle Bronze Age IIA Tel Ifshar, Israel (5.2)
E. S. Marcus

V. The Old Kingdom and Early Dynastic Period
A Radiocarbon-Based Chronology for the Old Kingdom (6.1)
M.W. Dee

Radiocarbon Dates for the Old Kingdom and Their Correspondences (6.2)
M. Bárta

Early Dynastic Egyptian Chronologies (6.3)
E. C. Köhler

Problems and Possibilities for Achieving Absolute Dates from Prehistoric and Early Historic Contexts (6.4)
J. M. Rowland

VI. Appendix (7.0)

VII. Index