Possibilité et nécessité de la calibration des datations C-14 de l'archéologie du Proche-Orient

Résumé En Fr

For several years there has been a certain amount of confusion as to the terminology of archaeological dates. Indeed, some archaeologists use radiocarbon dates B.C. or B.P. while others calibrate them into real years. In 1993 the appearance in Radiocarbon of a calibration curve covering the whole of the Holocene, and going even beyond, though without as much precision, allows one now to envisage a way of systematically converting to real time the dates for the whole of the recent archaeology of the Near East. We recall that, fundamentaly, calibrating involved a new way of interpreting the dates. We can discern that for certain periods, the method provides a greater amount of precision, while for others it produces a largely indeterminate chronology, for example in the course of the 10th Millennium B.C. (for B.C. read "Cal. B.C."). This means that we must take into account the real length of the diverse cultural phases which have been defined in the Atlas of sites of the Near East. It is now established that certain of these phases are considerably longer than the radiocarbon calendar would have led us to believe. Thus, with the new possibilities for calibration, the entire chronology of the Holocene can be put into real years and one can also get quite a good idea as to the last millennia of the Late Glacial period. Furthermore, for the most recent periods, conversion to the historical calendar con now be made without difficulty.

La parution d'une table de correction des dates radiocarbone couvrant au moins tout l'Holocène peut maintenant permettre de mettre fin à une certaine confusion dans la terminologie des dates C-14 de l'archéologie du Proche-Orient. Apès avoir rappelé pourquoi et comment se font ces corrections, on recommande qu 'elles soient désormais systématiquement faites. Ce passage au calendrier en années réelles a aussi l'avantage de mettre en évidence que la durée de certaines cultures fut parfois plus longue que ne le laissait supposer le calendrier en année radiocarbone.