Steven Falconer
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Anthropology, Faculty Member
Politiko-Troullia has generated the largest radiocarbon (14C) dataset from a Prehistoric Bronze Age settlement on Cyprus. We present Bayesian modeling of 25 calibrated AMS ages, which contributes to an emerging multi-site 14C chronology... more
Politiko-Troullia has generated the largest radiocarbon (14C) dataset from a Prehistoric Bronze Age settlement on Cyprus. We present Bayesian modeling of 25 calibrated AMS ages, which contributes to an emerging multi-site 14C chronology for Cyprus covering most of the Prehistoric Bronze Age. Our analysis places the six stratified phases of occupation at Troullia between about 2050 and 1850 cal BCE, in contrast to a longer estimated occupation inferred from pottery analysis. We provide a rare 14C determination for the transition from Prehistoric Bronze Age 1 to 2 just after 2000 cal BCE, associated with a major architectural dislocation at Politiko-Troullia in response to local landscape erosion, possibly due to increased regional precipitation. We present a regional 14C model for Prehistoric Bronze Age Cyprus combining the chronology for Politiko-Troullia with modeled 14C ages from Sotira Kaminoudhia and Marki Alonia, which is bolstered by individual ages from five other settlements...
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We present the first Bayesian 14C modeling based on AMS ages from stratified sediments representing continuous occupation across the Early Bronze III/IV interface in the Southern Levant. This new high-precision modeling incorporates 12... more
We present the first Bayesian 14C modeling based on AMS ages from stratified sediments representing continuous occupation across the Early Bronze III/IV interface in the Southern Levant. This new high-precision modeling incorporates 12 calibrated AMS ages from Khirbat Iskandar Area C using OxCal 4.4.4 and the IntCal 20 calibration curve to specify the EB III/IV transition at or slightly before 2500 cal BCE. Our results contribute to the continuing emergence of a high chronology for the Levantine Early Bronze Age, which shifts the end of EB III 200–300 years earlier than the traditional time frame and increases the length of EB IV to about 500 years. Data from Khirbat Iskandar also help direct greater attention to the importance of sedentary communities through EB IV, in contrast to the traditional emphasis on non-sedentary pastoral encampments and cemeteries. Modeling of AMS data from Khirbat Iskandar bolsters the ongoing revision of Early Bronze Age Levantine chronology and its gro...
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... be entailed when pigeonholing an emergent complex society settled over a large region as "chiefdom-" or "state ... the former capital, Thebes, to his new capital Akhetaten (Amarna) approximately 190 miles... more
... be entailed when pigeonholing an emergent complex society settled over a large region as "chiefdom-" or "state ... the former capital, Thebes, to his new capital Akhetaten (Amarna) approximately 190 miles south of Cairo ... The cluster is not centered on an assumed central place. ? ...
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We propose a revised map of plant geographical regions for the Southern Levant (most of Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan). Since this region has been heavily impacted by human activity over millennia we have created a... more
We propose a revised map of plant geographical regions for the Southern Levant (most of Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan). Since this region has been heavily impacted by human activity over millennia we have created a detailed natural vegetation map using GIS, remote sensing and a species distribution model (MAXENT). We created an extensive database of over 1800 historical and field observations for the region, incorporating plant species presence-only data, as well as environmental variables, including temperature and precipitation. Vegetation was modeled according to plant geographical regions and vegetation types. Our revised map generally agrees with previous vegetation maps done for the region, but provides more detail regarding the distribution of various forested communities that have been significantly disturbed by millennia of human activity. Given its digital format, this new map can be used for conservation and other applications that require a vegetation su...
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Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj, an agrarian Early Bronze IV village in the northern Jordan Valley, Jordan, provides a series of 24 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) seed dates spanning seven stratified phases of occupation. Bayesian analysis of... more
Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj, an agrarian Early Bronze IV village in the northern Jordan Valley, Jordan, provides a series of 24 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) seed dates spanning seven stratified phases of occupation. Bayesian analysis of these ages reveals that habitation at Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj began between 2600 and 2500 cal BC and ended just before 2000 cal BC. This sequence provides the longest radiocarbon record of occupation for an Early Bronze IV settlement in the southern Levant and pushes the beginning of the Levantine Early Bronze IV earlier than proposed previously. When integrated with14C dates from an array of sites in the southern Levant, Egypt, and Lebanon, this evidence aligns with recent14C-based chronologies calling for earlier ages for Early Bronze I–III, details Early Bronze IV chronology through the course of this period, and corroborates the date of the Early Bronze IV/Middle Bronze Age transition ~2000 cal BC.
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Dramatic changes in land use were associated with the rise of agriculture in the mid Holocene. Both the surface properties and the drainage networks were changed. Along with the direct modifications to surface properties (vegetation... more
Dramatic changes in land use were associated with the rise of agriculture in the mid Holocene. Both the surface properties and the drainage networks were changed. Along with the direct modifications to surface properties (vegetation change, sediment liberation, and compaction) and drainage network alteration (terracing, canals), up and downstream responses in the watersheds communicated these changes throughout the landscape. The magnitude, rate, and feedbacks with the growing human populations are critical questions ...
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Comparative rank-size analyses reveal highly variable courses of urbanization in ancient Mesopotamia and the southern Levant during the fourth through early second millennia B.C. While traditional rank-size methods do not consider the... more
Comparative rank-size analyses reveal highly variable courses of urbanization in ancient Mesopotamia and the southern Levant during the fourth through early second millennia B.C. While traditional rank-size methods do not consider the effects of archaeological sampling, we propose a revised approach based on Monte Carlo simulation, which incorporates site-recovery rates and demonstrates the advantages of “full-coverage” survey. We highlight the rapid development of urban primacy in southern Mesopotamia’s heartland (Adams 1981) and the more static rural integration of the Diyala hinterland (Adams 1965). In contrast, Bronze Age urbanization in the southern Levant describes a mosaic of urban and rural systems following independent trajectories. We call for greater attention to small sites, which often define the shape of rank-size distributions. Our approach illuminates modest cases of urbanization in terms of structure, rather than simply of reduced scale, and avoids a tendency to cat...