Southwestern Archaeological Tree-Ring Dating

国家科学基金会将为亚利桑那大学年轮研究实验室提供预期五年支持中的第一年。它允许实验室聘请一名全职树状年代学家来分析考古样本，并为研究生助理提供半职支持。年轮测年技术最早出现在亚利桑那州。因为树木的生长速度是由环境条件决定的，所以树上的年轮在形状和厚度上都不同。通过将现在的树木与远古时期的树木进行交叉匹配，然后使用这一“主记录”来确定从考古和其他情况下收集的小木材样本的年代，建立树木年轮年表是可能的。对于美国西南部的考古学家来说，这项技术是一种恩惠，因为它可以在一年内确定材料的年代。这远远超过了放射性碳测年的准确度。由于没有得到充分的支持，而且许多考古学家缺乏支付服务费用的资金，亚利桑那州的实验室本身无法跟上考古学对样品年代测定的要求。这个项目将有助于纠正这种情况。特别是，它将使青年科学家和那些与主线研究机构无关的人受益。

The NSF will provide the first of an expected five years of support to the University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. It allows the laboratory to hire a full-time dendrochronologist to analyze archaeological samples and provides half-time support for a graduate student assistant. The technique of tree-ring dating was pioneered at Arizona. Because the rate of tree growth is determined by environmental conditions, yearly growth rings in a tree vary in form and thickness. It is possible to build up a tree ring chronology by cross matching trees from the present to well back in the prehistoric past and then to use this "master record" to date small wood samples collected from archaeological and other situations. For archaeologists in the Southwestern United States, this technique has been a boon because it allows materials to be dated within one year. This far exceeds the accuracy of radiocarbon dating. Because it has not been adequately supported and because many archaeologists lack the funds to pay for its services, the Arizona laboratory has not been able on its own to keep pace with archaeological requests for sample dating. This project will help to remedy that situation. In particular, it will benefit young scientists and those not associated with main line research institutions.