The correlation of the radiocarbon dates of Aswad with the published stratigraphy is problematic, particular the radiocarbon dates of the recent layers (récent) are difficult to interpret, as they cover a time range from 8500-8100 BC (62.9%) to 8000-7850 BC (5.3%).[1] If all these dates would be accepted, they would be nearly contemporary with the dates of the oldest Phase (IA), and older than the sum of the dates of the transitional phase (moyen-récent).
On the basis of the radiocarbon dates of Gif-sur-Yvette (Gif) and Groningen (GrN), de Contenson suggested a shift of the settlement from its eastern to its western area (de Contenson 1973:254). Though the radiocarbon dates of Gif and of GrN correlate well with the stratigraphy, the conventional radiocarbon dates of Lyon scatter over a wide range and even the AMS-dates correlate only partially with the stratigraphy.
In order to compare the dates, they were calibrated with and without the Lyon dates (Tab.1). An interpretation of these data is out of the scope of the present analysis and must await the final publication of the new excavations.[2]
[1]I would like to cordially thank Danielle Stordeur and Jacques Evin for the then-unpublished dates of Aswad and for their explanations (Stordeur et al. 2010:58). The interpretation of these dates has to await the final publication of this site.
[2]This discussion should be kept in mind when considering the chronological attribution of the skull burials of Aswad to the late PPNB (phase récent), as the sum of the radiocarbon dates is in the middle PPNB. It is striking that at Aswad the so-called “pointes Aswadien” were discovered together with flints typical for the PPNB, whereas at Mureybet, in Phase Ib (early Khiamian), the Aswad points were associated with El-Khiam points and microliths (Sayej 2004:39).
Fig. 1 Comparison of uncalibrated dates of Aswad arranged as to phases and laboratories (Stordeur et al. in press).