Presentation

Today exists a lot of web-based ressources for database and calibrate radiocarbon dates, but few solutions exist for their interactive selection and spatialization, NeoNet app and EUROEVOL_R app have been developped for this purpose. These interactive web form map-based allow the selection of radiocarbon dates by:

  • a geographical region of interest (ROI)
  • a time span between a tpq and a taq in cal BC
  • some periods (Late Mesolithic, Early Neolithic, etc.)
  • the quality of the date (live duration, maximum accepted SD)

The apps offer also tools for their analysis like summing probability densities (SPD) depending on different levels of grouping, starting from the archaeoligical unit (layer, structure, etc.) to the total sum of the selected dates.

The NeoNet and EUROEVOL_R apps have been developped with R programming language and the Shiny package. They share the same layout, only the datasets are differents. NeoNet and EUROEVOL_R databases canvas – like the columns’ names or values’ names – is the one of the EUROEVOL database.

  • NeoNet app covers the Central Mediterranean for the Late Mesolithic and Middle Neolithic (ca. 8,000 - 4,500 BC) with near to 1,000 radiocarbon dates.

The database, a Google Sheet, is opensource and active (in development), see the NeoNet app webpage

  • EUROEVOL_R app covers the Central, Western and Northern Europe from Paleolithic times to the end of Bronze Age (ca. 17,000 - 500 BC) with near to 14,000 radiocarbon dates

The app database is the EUROEVOL database, is opensource and static (yet developed), see the EUROEVOL_R app webpage

Radiocarbon ressources

Free ressources exist for radiocarbon apps, databases, calibrations or for analysis

applications

names url
MedAfriCarbon https://theia.arch.cam.ac.uk/MedAfriCarbon/
c14bazAAR https://github.com/ropensci/c14bazAAR
GoGet https://www.ibercrono.org/goget/index.php

The MedAfriCarbon RShiny app offers additional options for selection and calibration of radiocarbon dates

databases

An almost exhaustive inventory of open databases has been made on the c14bazAAR repository

names url
EUROEVOL http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1469811
Radon https://radon.ufg.uni-kiel.de/
ORAU https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk
telearchaeology http://telearchaeology.org/c14-databses/
Archaeological Site Index to Radiocarbon Dates from Great Britain and Ireland http://www.britarch.ac.uk/info/c14.html
14SEA Project http://www.14sea.org/2_dates.html
EX ORIENTE https://www.exoriente.org/associated_projects/ppnd_sites.php
BANADORA http://www.archeometrie.mom.fr/banadora/

analysis

R offers a comprehensive framework to calibrate, plot, sum and use temporal constraints – stratigraphy, periodisations, etc., like bayesian analysis – on radiocarbon datasets. Free software offering a dedicated solution for bayesian inference are: ChronoModel, OpenBUGS, JAGS, etc.

For a overview of the available solutions, see the R Bayesian task view