engleski

Radiocarbon dating and its application to early Neolithic in Croatia

The radioactive isotope of carbon, 14C, is produced in the Earth’s atmosphere by reaction of neutrons from cosmic rays with 14N nuclei and together with other carbon isotopes enters the natural carbon cycle. Carbon is a constituent component of all living organisms, in which the equilibrium between the decay and replenishment of 14C is established. After the death, only the radioactive decay occurs and this is the basis of the use of 14C for dating applications. The half-life of 14C is conveniently long (5730 y) to cover the period of development of human civilization. Therefore, the 14C dating is the most interesting and widely spread application of radiocarbon. Two early Neolithic settlements, Slavonski Brod – Galovo and Zadubravlje – Dužine in Eastern Croatia have been studied by both archaeological methods and 14C dating. Both settlements belong to the Linear A phase of the Starčevo culture complex according to the typological and stylistic analyses of archaeological material. 18 dated charcoal and wood samples from Galovo and 8 samples from Zadubravlje have shown that the Linear A phase of the Starčevo culture lasted over an extended duration of about 1000 years: for Galovo we found the time span 6070 – 5000 cal BC and for Zadubravlje 6000 – 5050 cal BC. Slavonski Brod – Galovo is one of the oldest Early Neolithic settlements in continental Croatia and the oldest one where the residential part and the ritual-burial areas were strictly defined and separated by wooden fences. Combined archaeological interpretation and 14C dating enabled a scientifically-founded portrayal of the vertical and horizontal stratigraphy allowing thus the determination of three phases of development of the Galovo settlement. Excavations performed in 2009 in the settlement Galovo resulted in an unexpected finding of an object above the ground level. A shallow pit 323, stratigrafically above the object, was dated to 6070 – 5770 cal BC, indicating that the object above the ground level had been in function already before that period. Until now, the objects above ground level were found at sites belonging to the later phases of the Starčevo culture, about 1000 years later than showed by the 14C dates of Galovo. As in other parts of the settlements, all artefacts belong to the Linear A phase of the Starčevo culture.

14C dating; archaeology; neolithik; Starčevo culture; Sl. Brod - Galovo; Zadubravlje - Dužine

Plenary Invited lecture PL8