DENDROCHRONOLOGY

The method aims at dating wood, by comparing the tree-rings’ width sequences of archaeological wood with well-dated references.

WHAT IS IT FOR

dating

morphology

technology

origin

composition

alteration

APPLICABLE MATERIALS

Wood

Wood
Timber (structural wooden elements like beams, posts, etc.), and occasionally joinery pieces such as doors, shutters, ceiling/fl oor planks, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Comparison on the site-to-be-dated dendrochronological sequence (in purple) with the dated references (in green)

The method aims at dating wood, by comparing the tree-rings’ width sequences of archaeological wood with well-dated references. Produces a graph, named dendrochronological sequence which displays the width of the tree ring as a function of time (in terms of succession materials to be dated).

Metrics

  • accuracy

  • time

  • cost

Sampling

in situ

invasive

destructive

TIPS

Advantages

  • very accurate
  • less expensive method
  • rather fast

Limitations

  • requires already existing references to compare with for the region and the species

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Every year, a living tree forms a peripheral ring, the width of which depends on the climatic conditions. Thus a tree records the annual variations of the past climate. Since the latter does not follow any repetitive cycle over several thousands of years, a tree ring width sequence is unique and characteristic of a given period (Stokes and Smiley, 1968; Baillie, 1995). Dendrochronology consists of measuring – with an optical microscope or a high resolution scanner - the succession of these variations from the heart to the bark of an individual archaeological wood sample. A reference is established for a specific wooden species and for a specific region, since each species reacts differently to climatic conditions.In Europe, currently, the maximum span for fully anchored chronology is a little over 11,000 years before present (BP).

References