It is in the Eastern Mediterranean where the cradle of those civilisations which shaped Old World history can be found. Taking a closer look at the 2nd Millennium B.C., the chronologies of these civilisations differ as much as 150 years or more from one region to the next. This kind of disparity would make the writing of history quite a problem. This is why it ls imperative to use every effort to try to build up an overall chronological framework for this region to help tie up events from one place correctly with events in others. Only then can a sounder foundation for writing history be built.
This volume does not offer such a framework, but it does stake out a research programme in an attempt to arrive at such an overall chronological scheme. It includes scientific, historical, archaeological and anthropological studies, dealing – as it does – with matters like “Data Management, Electronic Communication and Application of Quantitative Methods”;
Establishing the date of the eruption of the Santorini (Thera) Volcano by means of “Volcanic ashes in archaeological stratigraphies in the Eastern Mediterranean”; “the analytical method SIMS (secondary ion mass spectrometry)” and studies on “Greenland ice-stratigraphy and vulcanic ash”. Other articles deal with astrochronology; “the current state of research on Mesopotamian chronology”; “Regnal and Genealogical Data of Ancient Egypt”;
dendrochronology and “the practicability of 14C dating for the absolute Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean Cultures in the 2nd Millennium BC”. This is followed by a review of relevant archaeological projects: Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Anatolia, Cyprus, Crete and the Aegean. A fair part of this research programme has since been approved by the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF) for the Austrian Academy. It is clear, however, that what such a programme needs is broad international support and cooperation.

This volume should therefore be taken as an open invitation and a cue for the international scholarly community to join in.

…

Im Bereich des östlichen Mittelmeeres entstanden jene Kulturen, welche die Geschichte der Alten Welt entscheidend prägten. Im 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. jedoch weichen die Chronologien einzelner dieser Kulturen um bis zu 150 oder mehr Jahre voneinander ab, was für die Geschichtsschreibung ein bedeutendes Hindernis darstellt. Es ist daher unumgänglich, größte wissenschaftliche Anstrengungen auf die Errichtung eines überregional einheitlichen chronologischen Rahmensystems zu konzentrieren, um historische Ereignisse einer Region in eine chronologisch korrekte Beziehung zu Ereignissen anderer Regionen stellen zu können.
Der vorliegende englischsprachige Sammelband bietet kein solches System an, aber er skizziert ein Forschungsprogramm mit dem Ziel der Etablierung eines solchen überregionalen chronologischen Rahmens. Er enthält naturwissenschaftliche, historische, archäologische und anthropologische Studien, u.a. zur Astrochronologie, Dendrochronologie, der 14C-Methode, der Anwendung quantitativer Methoden in der Chronologieforschung, der Datierung des Thera (Santorin) Vulkanausbruches u. v .m.

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