RADIOCARBON DATING

Radiocarbon dating is a critical method for determining the absolute dates of human activity in the past. Radiocarbon dating has allowed for me to construct a new, accurate, chronology for the Bronze Age of Transylvania. Through a collaboration with the University of Arizona AMS lab, I have training in prepping and analyzing samples carbonate from calcined bone. This recently developed method provides new insights into the timing of cremation practices in the past.

BAYESIAN ANALYSES

Radiocarbon dates can be used for more than just determining when something in the past happened. By using “dates as data,” it is possible to use dates to help reconstruct ancient demography, the tempo of ritual practices, and the nature of social transformations. Bayesian analytical techniques use prior information, such as stratigraphic relationships or association of certain artifacts, to develop probabilistic models for the timing, tempo, and frequency of activities in the past.

Examples:

Quinn, C.P. and M.-M. Ciută. (2025). Chronological modeling demonstrates short use of a Middle Bronze Age cemetery in Transylvania. Radiocarbon.

Ciugudean, H., C.P. Quinn, and C. Uhnér. (2022). Considerații Privind Evoluția Culturii Coțofeni ȋn Lumina Noilor Date Radiocarbon. Apulum 59: 23-53.

Ciută, M-M., C.P. Quinn, and R.V. Totoianu. (2021). Radiocarbon data of Funerary Discoveries from Middle Bronze Age in the Mureș Valley: The Wietenberg Cemetery from Limba-Oarda de Jos (Alba County, Romania). Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology 8(2): 75-83.

Quinn, C.P., H. Ciugudean, G. Bălan, G. Hodgins. (2020). Rethinking Time, Culture, and Socioeconomic Organisation in Bronze Age Transylvania. Antiquity 94(373): 44-61.

Bălan, G., C.P. Quinn, and G. Hodgins. (2018). The Cultural and Chronological Context of the Bronze Age Cemetery from Sebeș-Între Răstoace. In Bronze Age Connectivity in the Carpathian Basin. R. Németh, B. Rezi, and S. Berecki (eds). pp. 183-252. Bibliotheca Mvsei Marisiensis: Tîrgu Mureș.

Bălan, G., C.P. Quinn, and G. Hodgins. (2017). Contextul cultural și cronologic al necropolei de la Sebeș – Între răstoace. In Necropola din epoca bronzului de la Sebeș. C. Fântâneanu, G. Bălan, S. Popa, and D. Tentiș (eds). pp. 167-190. Editura Istros a Muzeului Brăilei “Carol I”: Brăila.

Bălan, G., C.P. Quinn, and G. Hodgins. (2016). The Wietenberg Culture: Periodization and Chronology. Dacia N.S. 60:69-80.

Ciugudean, H. and C.P. Quinn. (2015). The End of the Wietenberg Culture in the Light of New 14C dates and its Chronological Relation Towards the Noua Culture. In Bronze Age Chronology in the Carpathian Basin. R. Németh, B. Rezi, and S. Berecki (eds). pp. 147-178. Bibliotheca Mvsei Marisiensis: Tîrgu Mureș.

Quinn, C.P. (2015). Returning and Reuse: Diachronic Perspectives on Multi-Component Cemeteries and Mortuary Politics at Middle Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Tara, Ireland. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 37: 1-18.

Balăn, G. and C.P. Quinn. (2014). Radiocarbon Dates of the Middle Bronze Age Settlement at Micești-Cigaș (Alba County, Romania). Annales Universitatis Apulensis. Series Historica 18(II): 119-126.

Quinn, C.P. and I. Kuijt. (2013). The Tempo of Life and Death During the Early Bronze Age at the Mound of the Hostages, Tara. In: Tara: From the Past to the Future. M. O’Sullivan (ed.). pp. 154-164. Wordwell and UCD School of Archaeology: Bray, Co. Wicklow.