Kyrenia Ship Hull during excavation. Kyrenia Ship hull on the seabed off northern Cyprus during underwater excavation in the later 1960s.
Kyrenia Ship hull remains shortly after the reassembly of the timbers recovered from the seabed excavation. Credit: Image provided to authors by Kyrenia Ship Excavation team for use with this paper,Accurate radiocarbon dating relies on calibration data based on known-age tree-ring dates to correct for errors caused by variations in atmospheric carbon over time.
This study emphasizes the importance of continuing revision of radiocarbon calibration data. The authors note that further refinements to this and other time periods will be especially important for archaeological materials that require dating precision on the order of decades. The authors add: “We are excited to apply scientific techniques to date the famous Kyrenia Ship a little over 2300 years ago. Central to the history of ship technology and maritime trade in the classical Mediterranean, the methods we use to date the ship – and solutions to various technical challenges we had to overcome – will now help date other shipwrecks and better inform the history of ancient seafaring.
Reference: “A revised radiocarbon calibration curve 350–250 BCE impacts high-precision dating of the Kyrenia Ship” by Sturt W. Manning, Brita Lorentzen, Martin Bridge, Michael W. Dee, John Southon and Madeleine Wenger, 26 June 2024,Cancel replySciTechDaily: Home of the best science and technology news since 1998. Keep up with the latest scitech news via email or social media.