Jm Rowland

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Lecturer at University of Edinburgh

Egypt has some of the oldest written records and extended lists of named rulers. But radiocarbon dates have only fulfilled expectations 66 per cent of the time. So why haven't the two types of dating made a better match? The authors provide a dozen excellent reasons, which will sound the alarm among researchers well beyond Dynastic Egypt.

The most extensive chronometric study ever undertaken on Egyptian Dynastic sites was published in Radiocarbon by Bonani et al. (2001). It comprised 269 radiocarbon measurements on monuments ranging from the 1st-12th dynasties. However, many of the calibrated dates obtained were significantly offset from historical estimates. The greatest discrepanc...

The historical chronologies for dynastic Egypt are based on reign lengths inferred from written and archaeological evidence. These floating chronologies are linked to the absolute calendar by a few ancient astronomical observations, which remain a source of debate. We used 211 radiocarbon measurements made on samples from short-lived plants, togeth...

Some radiocarbon dates for ancient Egypt have been significantly offset from the established historical chronology (see Bonani et al., 2001). In this paper, short-lived plant species collected in Egypt between 1700 and 1900 AD were used to investigate the possibility that the radiocarbon record had been influenced by reservoir effects. AMS radiocar...

In this thesis I examine evidence for change in social and political organisation at four cemetery sites within the northeast Delta of Egypt. The time period with which I am concerned, the Terminal Predynastic to Early Dynastic, coincides with the final stages of a process of cultural and political development and integration from the early fourth...