Prof Christopher Ramsey: Publications

Dating the Thera (Santorini) eruption: archaeological and scientific evidence 91̽��ing a high chronology

Antiquity Cambridge University Press (CUP) 88:342 (2014) 1164-1179

Authors:

Sturt W Manning, Felix Höflmayer, Nadine Moeller, Michael W Dee, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Dominik Fleitmann, Thomas Higham, Walter Kutschera, Eva Maria Wild

Abstract:

The date of the Late Bronze Age Minoan eruption of the Thera volcano has provoked much debate among archaeologists, not least in a recent issue of Antiquity (‘Bronze Age catastrophe and modern controversy: dating the Santorini eruption’, March 2014). Here, the authors respond to those recent contributions, citing evidence that closes the gap between the conclusions offered by previous typological, stratigraphic and radiometric dating techniques. They reject the need to choose between alternative approaches to the problem and make a case for the synchronisation of eastern Mediterranean and Egyptian chronologies with agreement on a ‘high’ date in the late seventeenth century BC for the Thera eruption.

Integrating timescales with time-transfer functions: a practical approach for an INTIMATE database

Quaternary Science Reviews Elsevier BV 106 (2014) 67-80

Authors:

Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Paul Albert, Simon Blockley, Mark Hardiman, Christine Lane, Alison Macleod, Ian P Matthews, Raimund Muscheler, Adrian Palmer, Richard A Staff

The importance of independent chronology in integrating records of past climate change for the 60–8 ka INTIMATE time interval

Quaternary Science Reviews Elsevier BV 106 (2014) 47-66

Authors:

Achim Brauer, Irka Hajdas, Simon PE Blockley, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Marcus Christl, Susan Ivy-Ochs, Gina E Moseley, Norbert N Nowaczyk, Sune O Rasmussen, Helen M Roberts, Christoph Spötl, Richard A Staff, Anders Svensson

A High Resolution Chronology for Steward’s Promontory Culture Collections, Promontory Point, Utah

American Antiquity Cambridge University Press (CUP) 79:4 (2014) 616-637

Authors:

John W Ives, Duane G Froese, Joel C Janetski, Fiona Brock, Christopher Bronk Ramsey

Abstract:

AbstractDespite the rich array of perishables Julian Steward (1937) recovered during his 1930s excavations, the Promontory Cave assemblages were dated in relative terms with just a handful of radiocarbon assays until recently. Yet Promontory Caves 1 and 2 are the type sites from which the Promontory Culture was defined, and these assemblages have a critical bearing on our conception of three significant issues in western North American prehistory: the terminal Fremont transition, Numic expansion, and the potential presence of migrating ancestral Apachean populations. To better fix the age of the Promontory Phase, we have undertaken an additional 45 AMS determinations for Promontory perishables. Because of a research focus concerning Promontory footwear, most age estimates come from moccasins, but we have also dated gaming pieces, a bow, an arrow, netting, basketry, matting, and cordage. With the exception of a winnowing basket fragment and some ceramic residue dates, all Promontory Phase assays are tightly focused in an interval running from 662 to 826 radiocarbon years before present (a calibrated 2s range spanning A.D. 1166–1391). Bayesian analyses of the Cave 1 and 2 Promontory Phase perishables suggest that this late period occupation comprised one or two human generations, centering on the interval running from ca. A.D. 1250–1290.

Sea-level variability over five glacial cycles

Nature Communications Springer Nature 5:1 (2014) 5076

Authors:

KM Grant, EJ Rohling, C Bronk Ramsey, H Cheng, RL Edwards, F Florindo, D Heslop, F Marra, AP Roberts, ME Tamisiea, F Williams

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