Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T23:11:50.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dating resin coating on pottery: the Spirit Cave early ceramic dates revised

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

C.D. Lampert ,
I.C. Glover ,
R.E.M. Hedges ,
C.P. Heron ,
T.F.G. Higham ,
B. Stern ,
R. Shoocongdej  and
G.B. Thompson
C.D. Lampert
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, UK
I.C. Glover
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK
R.E.M. Hedges
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Oxford University, UK
C.P. Heron
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, UK
T.F.G. Higham
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Oxford University, UK
B. Stern
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, UK
R. Shoocongdej
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
G.B. Thompson
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pottery found at Spirit Cave, Thailand, has been claimed as among the earliest ceramics in the world – a radiocarbon date of 7500 BP being obtained from associated charcoal. However radiocarbon dating of organic resin found on some of the sherds gave a date of around 3000 BP. This is another example of improved precision in dating by pin-pointing the context and using AMS. The authors describe how it was done and assess its validity

Keywords

Spirit Caveceramicsresinradiocarbon dating
Type
Method
Information
Antiquity , Volume 77 , Issue 295 , March 2003 , pp. 126 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beck, C. W., Stewart, D. R. & Stout, E. C.. 1994. Analysis of Naval Stores from the Late-Roman Ship, in McCann, A. M. and Freed, J., Deep Water Archaeology: A Late-Roman Ship from Carthage and an Ancient Trade Route near Skerki Bank off Northwest Sicily, Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series Number 13, 109—121. Ann Arbor, MI: Journal of Roman Archaeology.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1995. Radiocarbon Calibration and Analysis of Stratigraphy: The OxCal Program, Radiocarbon 37(2): 425–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burkill, I. H. 1935. A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula, Vol. I. London: Crown Agents for the Colonies.Google Scholar
Ehrich, R.W. 1992. Chronologies in Old World Archaeology, Chicago: university of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Gorman, C. F. 1969. Hoabinhian: A Pebble-Tool Complex with Early Plant Associations in Southeast Asia, Science 163: 671—673.Google Scholar
Gorman, C. F. 1972. Excavations at Spirit Cave, North Thailand: Some Interim Interpretations, Asian Perspectives 13: 79—107.Google Scholar
Higham, C. 1989. The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia: From 10,000 BC to the Fall of Angkor, Cambridge: Cambridge university Press.Google Scholar
Higham, C.F.W & Thosarat, R.. 1998a. Prehistoric Thailand: from early settlement to Sukhothai, London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. 1998b (in press), Noen U-Loke and the Implications for the Origins of Early States, paper presented at the 16th Congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, Melaka,1998.Google Scholar
Hotchkis, M. A. C., Fink, D., Jacobsen, G. E., Lawson, E. M., Shying, M., Barbetti, M., Grave, Hua Minh Quan, P. & Head, J.. 1994. 14C Analyses at the ANTARES AMS Centre: Dating the Log Coffins of Northwest Thailand, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 92: 27—30.Google Scholar
Howes, F. N. 1949. Vegetable Gums and Resins, Waltham, Massachusetts: Chronica Botanica Co.Google Scholar
Lampert, C. D., Glover, I. C., Heron, C.P, Stern, B., Shoocongdej, R. & Thompson, G. B.. 2002. Characterization and Radiocarbon Dating of Archaeological Resins from Southeast Asia, in Jakes, K. A. (ed.), Archaeological Chemistry: Materials, Methods and Meaning, ACS Symposium Series 831, 84—109. Washington: American Chemical Society.Google Scholar
Roberts, A., Barton, N. & Evans, J.. 1998. Early Mesolithic Mastic: Radiocarbon Dating and Analysis of Organic Residues from Thatcham III, Star Carr and Lackford Heath, in Ashton, N., Healy, F. and Pettitt, P. (eds.), Stone Age Archaeology: Essays in honour of John Wymer, Oxbow Monograph 102, Lithic Studies Society Occasional Paper 6: 185—192. Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Shoocongdej, R. 2001. personal communication.Google Scholar
Solheim, W. G. 1972. An Earlier Agricultural Revolution, Scientific American 206: 34—41.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P. J., Bard, E., Beck, J. W., Burr, G. S., Hughen, K. A., Kromer, B., McCormac, G., van der Plicht, J., & Spurk, M.. 1998. INTCAL 98 Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 24,000—0 cal BP, Radiocarbon 40(3): 1041—1083.Google Scholar
Yen, D. E. 1977. Hoabinhian Horticulture? The Evidence and the Questions from Northwest Thailand, in Allen, J., Golson, J., and Jones, R. (eds.), Sunda and Sahul: Prehistoric Studies in Southeast Asia, Melanesia and Australia, 567—599, London: Academic Press Inc.Google Scholar