D-REAMS Radiocarbon Laboratory, Scientific Archaeology Unit, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, Israel.
PLoS One. 2020 Jun 3;15(6):e0233307. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233307. eCollection 2020.
Radiocarbon dating is rarely applied in Classical and Post-Classical periods in the Eastern Mediterranean, as it is not considered precise enough to solve specific chronological questions, often causing the attribution of historic monuments to be based on circumstantial evidence. This research, applied in Jerusalem, presents a novel approach to solve this problem. Integrating fieldwork, stratigraphy, and microarchaeology analyses with intense radiocarbon dating of charred remains in building materials beneath Wilson's Arch, we absolutely dated monumental structures to very narrow windows of time-even to specific rulers. Wilson's Arch was initiated by Herod the Great and enlarged during the Roman Procurators, such as Pontius Pilatus, in a range of 70 years, rather than 700 years, as previously discussed by scholars. The theater-like structure is dated to the days of Emperor Hadrian and left unfinished before 132-136 AD. Through this approach, it is possible to solve archaeological riddles in intensely urban environments in the historical periods.
放射性碳测年法在东地中海的古典时期和后古典时期很少被应用，因为它被认为不够精确，无法解决特定的年代问题，这常常导致历史古迹的归属基于间接证据。这项在耶路撒冷进行的研究提出了一种解决这个问题的新方法。通过将野外工作、地层学和微考古分析与威尔逊拱下建筑材料中烧焦残留物的密集放射性碳测年相结合，我们将纪念性建筑绝对确定为非常狭窄的时间窗口——甚至是特定的统治者。威尔逊拱是由希律大帝发起的，并在罗马总督时期由 Pontius Pilatus 等人扩建，时间跨度为 70 年，而不是之前学者所讨论的 700 年。这座剧院式建筑的年代可以追溯到哈德良皇帝时期，在公元 132-136 年之前尚未完工。通过这种方法，可以解决历史时期城市环境中存在的考古谜团。
