engleski

New Results from Zagajci near Belišće (Eastern Croatia) Related to the Early Middle Ages: Radiocarbon Dating Places a Single Human Cranium in the 11th Century AD

We present the results of radiocarbon dating a random find of a partial human cranium discovered in Zagajci near Belišće (Eastern Slavonia, Croatia) in the vicinity of the Prehistoric/Medieval Belišće-Zagajci I-II burial site. The cranial remains of an adult female, apparently from a destroyed skeletal burial lacking grave goods, were discovered in 1996, around hundred metres away from the findspot of a prehistoric (Early Iron Age) female discovered in 1992, likewise from a destroyed skeletal grave. The cranium was dated by using the radiocarbon method applying the accelerator mass spectrometry (14C-AMS) technique. The procedure included collagen extraction from bone taken from the skull vault, combustion to CO2 and conversion to graphite by zinc reduction. 14C activity of prepared graphite targets was measured using a compact Pelletron AMS unit at the AMS facility of the University of Georgia (USA). The conventional radiocarbon age was 1000 ± 25 BP resulting in a narrow calibrated age interval of 995 – 1035 cal AD within 1 sigma confidence interval and median 1023 cal AD (OxCal 4.2.4 on-line software, by using IntCal13 atmospheric curve). Although this is about the only 11th century AD dated skeletal remains – stemming from the vicinity of the Belišće-Zagajci I-II cemetery, this new 14C evidence supplements the previous knowledge of burials in that area in light of the (early) part of the Middle Ages, not recorded so far. In conclusion, this study broadens the time span of burials found at Belišće-Zagajci in both overall and historical context: from the prehistory – the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, i.e. Early Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages of the 7th-8th century (burials dated chronologically) to the Early Middle Ages of the 11th century (skeletal burial remains dated by radiocarbon analysis).

female cranium; AMS radiocarbon dating; the Early Middle Ages; the 11th century; Zagajci; Belišće; Eastern Slavonia; Croatia

Sažetak u PDF obliku: Book of abstracts:file:///G:/20th%20European%20Anthropological%20Association%20(EAA)%20Congress%20-%20Book%20of%20abstracts.pdf