Levantine Epipalaeolithic 14C Calibration Analysis
Description
Data from Stutz, Aaron Jonas (in press) Hidden Hazards and the Long-term Robusticity of Foraging Societies in the Levantine Epipalaeolithic (25-12 ka). In (Marcel Bradtmöller, Astrid J. Nyland, Noa Lavi and Sonja Grimm, Eds.) Living Well with Climate Hazards. Human Environment Interaction Series. Springer Nature, Cham. This dataset consists of three Excel files with Excel VBA macros, including a custom cubic spline function written by Gary Jenkins, along with a series of macro routines written by the author Aaron Jonas Stutz. The data files include an annually cubic-spline interpolated version of the INTCAL 2020 atmospheric 14C calibration curve (0-55,000 BP), a list of published radiocarbon dates from Epipalaeolithic archaeological contexts in the Levant, results of calibrating individual dates, results of summed and standardized probability density distributions for site components, Epipalaeolithic periods, and for the Epipalaeolithic timeframe (ca. 25,000-12,000 BP) as a whole. The files also include statistical analyses of trends and variations in the available published radiocarbon dataset. The aim of the analyses for which this dataset has been compiled and studied is to address whether general trends as well as significant fluctuations in the radiocarbon-based footprint of human population presence in the Epipalaeolithic timeframe may be identified. The theory, methods, results and discussion are presented in Stutz (in press). (See above.)
Files
Steps to reproduce
The results presented in this dataset build on previously published methods for using summed calibration probability distributions from large numberes of geographically grouped radiocarbon dates, using the empirically tested expectation that the calibrated radiocarbon age likelihoods correlate with the relative size of the human population. Thus, radiocarbon date calibration analysis has repeatedly been used to test regional and comparative regional hypotheses about fluctuations in prehistoric human populations (e.g., Riris et al. 2024). The data files in this dataset refer to sources with the published radiocarbon dates from Epipalalaeolithic archaeological contexts in the Levant. They show how the individual dates were calibrated, with annually resolved probabilities for the range 0-55,000 BP (before 1950 CE). They show how the individual dates were grouped into archaeological sites or within-site stratigraphic components, with the results of summed standardized calibration ranges for these archaeological units, which vary in the number of associated radiocarbon dates. The data files also include the binned probability density values per millennium, from 25,000-12,000 BP, for the summed standardized calibration probability density distribution for all 71 archaeological sites/site components. The data files further include statistical analysis results showing taphonomic corrections, the best fit polynomial curve for the millennially binned calibration distribution, and a bootstrapping test for significant fluctuations in the non-binned (non-smoothed) calibration distribution for the Epipalaeolithic dataset. The VBA editor in the files includes VBA modules with code for the previously published custom function for cubic spline interpolation, by Gary Jenkins (http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/cubic-splines/), used to resolve annual calibration probabilities for each date. Additional macro code written by the author Aaron Jonas Stutz runs routines for carrying out multiple regression Mantel tests of the smoothed binned curve and bootstrapping tests of fluctuations in the non-smoothed curve. For questions about how best to reproduce this study using other software, please contact the author at aaronjstutz@gmail.com or aaron.stutz@bohuslansmuseum.se.