A Radiocarbon Chronology of the Poltse I Settlement on the Amur River

A Radiocarbon Chronology of the Poltse I Settlement on the Amur River

doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.4.108-116

S.P. Nesterov
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

A revision of archaeological collections obtained in the 1960s from the excavated eastern part of the Poltse I settlement on the Amur channel in the Jewish Autonomous Region, housed at the IAET SB RAS, has made it possible to assemble a number of organic samples for radiocarbon dating. Fifteen of these were analyzed at the Laboratory of Isotope Studies at the Core Facilities Center “Cenozoic Geochronology” of the IAET SB RAS. Dates were calibrated using the latest Calib8.1.0 version. Most calibrated dates form a relatively compact cluster, spanning an interval from the mid-2nd-early 1st century BC to the early 3rd century AD, concentrated in the interval before the 130s AD. Analysis of the calendar intervals indicates a foundation date in the latter half of the 1st century BC. The change of the settlement plan was due to natural factors causing the obsolescence of structures, which were presumably destroyed by fire in the 80s AD. New absolute dates suggesting that the settlement existed in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD are supported by archaeological finds which have parallels in contemporaneous cultures of northeastern China, Korea, the Amur Basin, and Primorye, dating to the Xiongnu-Xianbei stage of East Asia.

Keywords: Eastern Amur region, Poltse I settlement, radiocarbon dating, charred remains on vessels, charcoal, Xiongnu-Xianbei period