Aspects Of Radiocarbon Determinations and the Dating of the Transition from the Chalcolithic Period to Early Bronze Age I in the Southern Levant

Although a chrono -cultural sequence , including a Chalcolithic period followed by an Early Bronze Age has long been accepted for the Southern Levant , relatively little was understood of the transition between those two distinct entities. Recent discoveries , particularly in the area of the western piedmont of the Judea- Samaria incline (the Shephela), have yielded substantial evidence of continuity in occupation and thus, the nature of the transition for that region and its relationship to the greater Southern Levant. This paper examines the radiocarbon evidence from the site of Modi' in in the Shephela , which indicates the transition there to have occurred in the first half of the 4th millennium BC. Using Bayesian analyses of the data , it further considers additional radiocarbon dates from other sites in the greater region , while offering a practical guide for evaluating validity of individual data to date archaeological deposits to which they have been ascribed