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Radiocarbon chronology for Seibal, Guatemala

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An Erratum to this article was published on 03 January 1975

Abstract

THE significance of the study paper reported here is the fact that the origins of Maya civilisation are pushed much further back into the past. Radiocarbon dating of the earliest and latest states of the Mayan ‘city’ centre of Seibal indicate an origin as early as 900 BC, declining by about 1000 AD. This discovery narrows the interval between the beginning of lowland Maya occupation and the Olmec centres on the Gulf of Mexico, allowing for the coexistence of quite different cultures in relatively close geographical proximity.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Anthropology and Geography, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, 90024

    RAINER BERGER & SUZANNE DE ATLEY

  2. Fachbereich Biologie, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Univesitat, Frankfurt am Main, DDR

    REINER PROTSCH

  3. Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138

    GORDON R. WILLEY

Authors
  1. RAINER BERGER
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  2. SUZANNE DE ATLEY
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  3. REINER PROTSCH
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  4. GORDON R. WILLEY
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BERGER, R., DE ATLEY, S., PROTSCH, R. et al. Radiocarbon chronology for Seibal, Guatemala. Nature 252, 472–473 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/252472a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/252472a0

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