14C record and wiggle – Match placement for the Anatolian (Gordion Area) Juniper Tree – Ring chronology ~1729 to 751 cal BC, and typical Aegean/Anatolian (growing season related) regional 14C offset assessment

Sturt W. Manning, Bernd Kromer, Christopher Bron, Charlotte L. Pearson, Sahra Talamo, Nicole Trano & Jennifer D. Watkins Radiocarbon 52.4 (2010): 1571-1597.

Περίληψη (στα Αγγλικά)

The East Mediterranean Radiocarbon (inter-)Comparison Project (EMRCP) has measured the 14C ages of a number of sets of tree rings from the Gordion Area dendrochronology from central Anatolia at the Heidelberg Radiocarbon Laboratory. In several cases, multiple measurements were made over a period from the 1980s to 2009. This paper presents the final data set from this work (128 high-precision measurements), and considers (i) the relationship of these data against the standard Northern Hemisphere 14C calibration data set (IntCal09), and (ii) the optimum calendar dating of this floating treering record on the basis of the final set of high-precision 14C data. It finds good agreement between the Anatolian data and IntCal09 in some important intervals (e.g. ~1729 to 1350 cal BC) and observes one period (9th–8th centuries BC) where there appears to be some indication of a regional/growing season signal, and another period (later 14th–13th centuries BC) where IntCal09 may not best reflect the real 14C record. The scale of the typical growing-season-related regional 14C offset (ΔR) between the Aegean/Anatolian region and IntCal09 is also assessed (for the mid-2nd millennium BC and mid-2nd millennium AD), and found to be usually minor (at times where there are no major additional forcing factors and/or issues with the IntCal09 data set): of the order of 2–4 ± 2–4 yr.