TY  - BOOK
AU  - James,Peter
AU  - Thorpe,I.J.
TI  - Centuries of darkness: a challenge to the conventional chronology of Old World archaeology 
AV  - CC165 
PY  - 1993///
CY  - New Brunswick, New Jersey
PB  - Rutgers University Press
KW  - Archaeology
KW  - History, Ancient
KW  - Chronology
N1  - Originally published: London : J. Cape, 1991; 1 (pages 395.-426) and index; Foreword; Colin Renfrew --; Preface --; The evolution of Old World chronology --; To the pillars of Heracles --; Beware the Greeks bearing gifts --; The Dark Age mysteries of Greece --; The foundations of geometric chronology --; Redating the Hittite Empire --; Cyprus, ceramics and controversy --; Biblical archaeology without Egypt --; The empty years of Nubian history --; Egypt : the centre of the problem --; Riddles of Mesopotamian archaeology --; The exaggeration of antiquity --; The end of the Dark Ages? --; Appendix 1 : Dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating --; Appendix 2 : Greek and Roman theories on ancient chronology --; Appendix 3 : The Venus Tablets of Ammizaduga and the dating of the 1st Dynasty of Babylon --; Appendix 4 : Synchronisms between Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Hittites during the Late Bronze Age --; Notes and references --; Bibliography; 2
N2  - The Old World has confronted archaeologists with many riddles, perhaps the most tantalizing of which is the Dark Age, an economic and cultural recession so devastating that it is supposed to have lasted for 400 years, from 1200 to 800 BC. In Centuries of Darkness, a group of archaeologists presents a controversial challenge to this claim. The dates for the Near East and Mediterranean are derived from the highly regarded chronology of ancient Egypt. Peter James and his team ask whether those dates might have been miscalculated. In this intricate piece of scholarly detective work, the authors propose a pioneering theory. Deciphering the clues from papyri and pottery, they search layer by layer through the excavated treasures of a vast area from Spain to France and from Denmark to the Sudan, until they reach Egypt - where they unearth 250 years of "ghost history". Their discoveries lead to a questioning of the so-called Dark Age and the purposes which belief in it has served. As a result, our notions about the Trojan War, the foundation of Rome, the origins of the Greek alphabet, and the Golden Age of Solomon all have to be reexamined, revolutionizing our view of the ancient world. - Publisher
ER  -