Interpreting Radiocarbon Dates from Neolithic Halai, Greece

Abstract

Archaeological investigations at Halai, a small city-state on the sea coast of East Lokris in Greece, have been carried out since 1986 by the Cornell Halai and East Lokris Project (CHELP). The town’s acropolis, first inhabited in the Neolithic period, was in Greco-Roman times a political and cultural center controlling and serving a considerable territory. Radiocarbon dating of charred material unearthed from Neolithic deposits indicate that the Neolithic occupation probably lasted from about 6000 to 5300 BC. Details of dating are somewhat problematic, however, because of outlying determinations and lack of close agreement between determinations from the same or stratigraphically comparable material.