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Document Details : Title: The Date of the Destruction of the Early Phrygian Period at Gordion Author(s): MUSCARELLA, Oscar White Journal: Ancient West & East Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Date: 2003 Pages: 225-252 DOI: 10.2143/AWE.2.2.3291951 Abstract : For decades the date of the destruction of the Phrygian site of Gordion in central Anatolia has been accepted to have occurred ca. 700 BC or later. In 2001 the Heidelberg Akademie der Wissenshaften laboratory released the results of 14C analyses of material from the destruction level indicating a date of 830 to 800 BC. Members of the Gordion excavation team accepted the new chronology. This high chronology significantly alters the dating of all the artefacts recovered in the destruction level, affects knowledge of the specific Gordion phase in which King Midas reigned and the proper assignment of royal tumuli burials to a specific culture level, and mandates a major evaluation of Anatolian Iron Age history and archaeology. The present study examines artefacts recovered from the destruction level and the tumuli and concludes that the destruction occurred at the time previously recognised. It is argued that the 14C determination does not reflect the historical reality. |
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