Dendrochronology 2/2

Let us now continue on the importance of tree species to be able to utilize dendrochronology at its optimum use. The history of dendrochronology is rich and the last part of this article will focus on the study in the medieval history as well as the present studies and innovation as regards the said technique. Truly indeed, the said process is very useful in all ways that anyone can capitalize on this kind of technique of identifying the age of the wood.

growth ring

Importance of Tree Species: Not all trees can be utilized or measured without added analytical procedures; this is because of the fact that not all trees have cambiums that manifests yearly. In tropical regions, for example, yearly growth rings are not regularly formed, or growth years are not related to years, or there are particularly no rings at all.

Evergreen cambiums are irregular and do not accumulate on a yearly bases. On the other hand, trees in Arctic, sub-arctic and alpine regions react differently depending on the age of the tree. Older trees have minimal water efficiency which in turn may result in a minimal response to temperature changes. A recent attempt to utilize analysis of tree rings on olive trees justified that too much variation of the cambium manifests in olives to make dendrochronology viable.

Emergence of Dendrochronology: Tree dating has been regarded as one of the  earliest dating processed used in archeology, and it was invented by archeologist Clark Wissler and astronomer Andrew Ellicott Douglas in the early decades of the 20th century. Douglass paid close attention in the history of climatic variations manifested in tree rings. Basically, it was Wissler who suggested using the method to specify when adobe pueblos of the American southwest were constructed.

The Beam Journey: Archeologist Neil M. Judd is recognized with convincing the National Geographic Society to put up the first Beam Expedition, in which log sections from occupied pueblos, prehistoric ruins, and mission churches from the American Southwest were recorded and gathered together with those living from the ponderosa pine trees. The width of the tree rings was matched and cross-dated, and by the early 1900s, chronologies were dated back to nearly five hundred years.

A Closer look at the History in Building a Sequence. Over several hundred years or so, sequences on tree rings have been constructed for several species all over the globe with the longest to-date consisting of more than twelve thousand (12,000) years in Central Europe completed on oak trees conducted by Hohenheim Laboratory and a nine thousand year long bristlecone pine wood sequence in California. But accumulating a chronology of climate change in a region at the present time is not regarded privately on tree ring widths.

B&W growth ring

Components like elemental composition called dendrochemistry, wood density, stable isotopes captured within its cells and the anatomical wood features have been utilized in relation with traditional tree ring width analysis to study air pollution effects, changes in soil acidity, and uptake of ozone through time.

A present dendrochronological study of wooden building rafters and artifacts within the Medieval town of Lubeck, Germany is an example of an array of ways the method can be utilized. The medieval history of Lubeck includes several important events that are relative to the study of forests and rings as well as laws passed in the 12th and 13th centuries coming up with sustainability guidelines which resulted from the black death (two big fired in 1251 and 1276 and a population decline between 1340 and 1430).

Construction emerges at Lubeck and are marked by the detailed use of younger trees, which alarmed demand outpacing the capability of the forests to replenish; busts like after the Black Death decreased the population, are linked by a long period of less to no construction at all, together with the use of adult and very old trees.

In some of the lucrative houses, the wood rafters utilized during construction were cut down at different periods, some ranging from more than a year; while other houses were cut down at the similar time.