RADIOCARBON EVIDENCE FROM THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT AT PORTELLA (AEOLIAN ISLANDS, ITALY): CHRONOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

摘要

This paper deals with radiocarbon determinations from the Middle Bronze Age site of Portella on the island of Salina (Aeolian Archipelago, Italy). The available ~(14)C evidence is taken into account, in a simple Bayesian model, in order to explore the issue of the absolute chronology of both the settlement and the stage of the local cultural sequence to which Portella belongs. A high date is proposed for the start of the Aeolian (and Sicilian) Middle Bronze Age: 1556-1422 cal BC (95.4% confidence), with a a most likely (modal) date of about 1450 cal BC. Further, the analysis suggests that the Portella phase is likely to have been a very short one, with a span of 0-65 yr (68.2%) or 0-131 yr (95.4%). The archaeological implications are explored. The relation of these results to the evidence of ceramic phasing is also considered. Since Aegean datable ceramic imports are documented in Aeolian/Sicilian Middle Bronze Age contexts, the connection between Portella's chronology and the absolute dating of one of the Aegean phases (namely, Late Helladic IIIA1) is also investigated.