Is there a single test that can be done to prove or disprove CoD?
Unfortunately there is no deus ex machina. The problems of ancient chronology we have highlighted are so vast and complicated that there is no easy way to prove or disprove CoD – i.e. to the satisfaction of all concerned. Only a combination of tests, including more rigorous studies of comparative typology and stratigraphy, hand-in-hand with scientific dating methods, will ultimately provide the answer. Having said that, and as most archaeologists accept the primacy of radiocarbon dating, an extensive series of fresh C14 results should by itself go a long way to resolving whether we are right in lowering the end of the Bronze Age by as much as 250 years. But, to achieve this kind of chronological ‘fine tuning’ – though revolutionary in archaeological terms – far more than the usual handful of determinations would be needed. An adequate test of CoD should involve a new suite of well-chosen samples, short-lived and from secure contexts, each divided into three parts and sent to as many la
