Third millennium BC climate change in Syria highlighted by Carbon stable isotope analysis of C-14-AMS dated plant remains from Ebla

摘要

We use AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) techniques for the simultaneous analysis of carbon stable isotopic values and C-14 dating on charred plant remains found in the archaeological site in Ebla (Syria) and propose the diachronic variation in delta C-13 plant values as a possible palaeoclimatic tool. Both anthracological and carpological remains, usually employed in palaeoenvironmental, palaeoagricultural, palaeonutritional and palaeoeconomical reconstructions, are used to study stable Carbon isotopic variations in a chronological framework defined through radiocarbon AMS measurements. The results obtained from the samples of the Ebla archaeological site show a chronological correspondence with other climatic reconstructions based on various proxy data available for the Near East and shed new light on the aridity crisis of the III millennium B.C.