Anchoring Anatolian tree-rings and Mesopotamian chronology with single-year radiocarbon patterns and ice-core evidence

The historical chronology of Mesopotamia offers a key chronological bridge to connect the Near East and eastern Mediterranean during the second millennium BCE. It is unusually rich in written records, including king lists, administrative documents, royal inscriptions, and astronomical observations. The latter offer a number of alternate possible absolute anchor points, resulting in competing high, middle, low, and ultra-low temporal frameworks. Establishing which of these is correct has consequences far beyond Mesopotamia. Tree-ring sequences from preserved timbers at archaeological sites in Anatolia, linked directly to Mesopotamia via the Old Assyrian trade network, could provide the answer. However, attempts have been limited by the lack of calendar secured dendrochronological dating for these timbers. Here we develop transferable methodologies in single-year radiocarbon analysis, utilizing patterns of 14 C preserved in single tree rings from Anatolian timbers to anchor their combined chronology 2072 BCE–744 BCE. This provides a calendrically-secured reference chronology for wood samples from Anatolian sites during this period as well as an annually resolved paleoclimatic record. Tree-ring dates are combined with archaeological and high-resolution ice-core evidence to evaluate the competing chronological frameworks for Mesopotamia between 2000 and 1500 BCE. Remaining dating uncertainties are constrained in strong support of the middle–low chronology.