The saga of the astonishing 14C dates obtained on some “wooden” objects from Grădinile and Măgura sites (Early Neolithic, southern Romania)
The saga of the astonishing 14C dates obtained on some “wooden” objects from Grădinile and Măgura sites (Early Neolithic, southern Romania)

Summary/Abstract: Prehistoric wooden objects have a special status amongst archaeological finds mostly due to a low rate of conservation and because they can be directly dated through archaeometric investigations. This contribution is a review of the papers on the radiocarbon dates obtained for some “wooden” objects from two Early Neolithic sites in southern Romania: Grădinile-La Islaz (Olt County) and Măgura-Boldul lui Moş Ivănuş (Teleorman County). This analysis was also focused on the archaeological research and the geo- archaeology of the two sites, the archaeological context of the objects and their morphological traits. The 14C dates obtained for the respective objects were above 35000 years BP, far in time from the normal Early Neolithic ages in this area. Thus, the archaeologists investigating this problem reached the conclusion that the prehistoric people living at Grădinile and Măgura used fossil wood as a raw material for the objects. The reviewed information has revealed that the astonishing 14C dates obtained for the supposed wooden objects embodies the saga of overlapping research errors, such as disregarding the unfavourable conditions for wood preservation in the given geological contexts, decontextualisation of the objects and their treatment in an antiquarian manner, unfortunate choosing of the investigation tools for the identification of the raw material. These errors derive from taking for granted the arguments proposed for the preservation of the Grădinile “wooden” objects by the archaeologist describing them some 30 years ago.

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