Radiocarbon chronology of Iron Age Jerusalem reveals calibration offsets and architectural developments

Establishing a detailed absolute chronology in an actively inhabited urban environment is challenging. The key to the solution is to apply stringent field methodologies using microarchaeological methods, leading to dense, radiocarbon-dated stratigraphic sequences. In Iron Age Jerusalem, 103 ¹⁴C measurements on samples from a range of contexts were used to reconstruct Jerusalem's urban history. By wiggle matching against the calibration curve, a decadal resolution, not usually possible during the problematic 300-y-long Hallstatt plateau, was achieved. Results also revealed excursions in ¹⁴C concentration that were outside the ranges of the calibration curve, verified by a set of 100 calendar-dated tree rings. This field and lab approach could well be applicable to dating other urban contexts.