Publication details
Radiocarbon, Paradigms and the Early Medieval Plateau: Rethinking Great Moravian Chronology
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| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The chronology of early medieval Central Europe has traditionally relied on relative dating based on artefact typology, stratigraphy and cross-regional cultural sequences. In recent years, however, an increasing number of radiocarbon dates have been published for early medieval contexts in the Middle Danube region. While these datasets offer new opportunities for refining chronological models, they also reveal a significant methodological challenge. Calibrated non-modelled radiocarbon results frequently shift contexts previously archaeologically attributed to the developed 9th century to the late 8th century thereby contributing to a systematic “ageing” effect in radiocarbon chronologies. One of the probable reasons this happens could be due to the early medieval calibration plateau. As a result, such data may inadvertently revive earlier chronological paradigms suggesting that the emergence of elite material culture and complex socio-political structures approaching state-level organisation in Moravia occurred already in the late 8th century.This presentation examines this issue through two case studies from western Slovakia: the hillfort agglomeration of Bojná and the pre-Romanesque rotunda of St. George at Nitrianska Blatnica. The reassessment of these datasets demonstrates that in many archaeological situations where independent chronological benchmarks (such as dendrochronology) are absent, radiocarbon results must always be interpreted within a broader archaeological and historical framework. Only the critical integration of relative chronology, scientific dating, contextual analysis, and proper modelling methods can lead to a more reliable reconstruction of Great Moravian chronology. |
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