Radiocarbon dating Dynastic Egypt

A team led by Oxford University professor Christopher Ramsey has established a more accurate chronology of Dynastic Egypt than has ever been possible. The study was based on a radiocarbon analysis of plant remains from ancient Egypt. Surprisingly, the results largely confirm the previously established chronology from ancient sources.

Some proposed dates have been corrected by this study, though. Pharaoh Djoser in the Old Kingdom, one of the best known pharaohs of Third Dynasty who is thought to have commissioned the first of the pyramids, was found to have ruled between 2691 and 2625 BCE, about 50 to 100 years earlier than previously assumed. The study is highly significant, as dating has always been relative to the reign of pharaohs. Now that their times of rule has been established, dating of events in ancient history will become much more accurate, not only for Egypt, but also for cultures that were in contact with Egypt.

Read more about this study in Oxford University's press release.