The good, the bad, the weird: Stone age and early metal period radiocarbon dates and chronology from the Karelian Isthmus, North-West Russia

Abstract

In this paper all the Stone Age and Early Metal Period (ca. 8600 cal BC - 300 AD) radio-carbon dates from the Karelian Isthmus, Russia, are compiled and their archaeological usability as-sessed using a set of evaluation principles. The quality of radiometric dates from such a large area has rarely been methodologically examined in Finnish or North-West Russian archaeology, and is applied here for the first time on the present material. Special attention is given to the discussion on the defi-ciencies and limitations of the current data. Based on the 81 dates evaluated as useful, a tentative ra-diocarbon chronology is presented for the study area. This is generally in sequence with the chronolo-gies of the nearby areas, but suggests some differences especially towards the end of Stone Age, as well as the presence of biases caused by taphonomic and research-related factors. © 2011 Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland. All rights reserved.