Solar and volcanic activity as benchmarks in constructing the absolute chronology of Eurasia

A well-known problem in archaeological chronology is that radiocarbon chronology differs from historical chronology. Its second major drawback is extremely long confidence intervals for dates calculated with high probability. The Bronze Age historical chronology corresponds to dendrochronology and radiocarbon chronology, when using Bayesian analysis of AMS dates. Therefore, it is desirable to use typological analysis to relate the cultures in Northern Eurasia with the chronology of the regions where it is possible to use historical chronology and dendrochronology. However, long distances prevent reliable typological series. Moreover, this procedure gives too long probability intervals. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on cultures that formed through migrations caused by climate disasters of a global nature. In such cases, we are able to synchronize cultural transformations, even if they are distant from one another. Climate fluctuations caused by cyclical changes in the solar activity are very smooth. They could not provoke migrations, since humanity adapted to them. Local droughts could be the cause, but these events are difficult to use for the global chronology. However, fluctuations in the solar activity cause volcanic processes. The largest of them caused migrations in different regions of Eurasia, which provides reasoning for their synchronization. Such events clearly impact tree rings, which makes it possible to obtain an accurate date. The second source is the glacial chronology, although it is not accurate enough for all periods. Finally, the third group of data is historical chronologies. This approach allows to assume benchmarks for constructing the chronology of Eurasia in the 3rd–2nd millennia BC. This helps build a system with later and shorter intervals than radiocarbon analysis. This method applies to the period of the Sintashta culture and the early Alakul-Srubnaya stage particularly well, as independent data (glaciochronology, historical chronologies of Egypt, Mesopotamia and China, dendrochronologies of the Alps, Anatolia and the USA) yield consistent results.