An international research team, led by Professor Christopher Ramsey from Oxford's Department of Archaeology, has mapped out an accurate chronology of the kings of ancient Egypt using a radiocarbon analysis of short-lived plant remains from the region.
The research sheds light on one of the most important periods of Egyptian history documenting the various rulers of Egypt’s Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. Despite Egypt’s historical significance, in the past the dating of events has been a contentious undertaking with Egyptologists relying on various different chronologies.
The British led, international team, including researchers from France, Austria and Israel, radio carbon dated over two hundred plants as well as seeds, baskets, textiles, plant stems and fruit, from collections housed in museums all over the world that were directly related to a historic partition of rule by each Egyptian ruler; the results have helped plot a full chronology.
Professor Christopher Ramsey said: "For the first time, radiocarbon dating has become precise enough to constrain the history of ancient Egypt to very specific dates. I think scholars and scientists will be glad to hear that our small team of researchers has independently corroborated a century of scholarship in just three years.
"My colleague Joanne Rowland went to a lot of museums, explaining what we were doing and asking for their participation. The museums were all very helpful in providing the material we were interested in to ask for their help. We are very grateful to them for providing us with the material we were interested in – especially important since the export of samples from Egypt is currently prohibited. Fortunately, we only needed samples that were about the same size as a grain of wheat."
Image: Anita Quiles
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