Southwestern Archaeological Tree-Ring Dating

美国国家科学基金会将继续对亚利桑那大学树木年轮研究实验室提供长期支持。这笔赠款使实验室能够聘请一名全职树木年代学家来分析考古样本，并为学生助理提供支持。 树木年轮测年技术是由亚利桑那大学首创的。 由于树木的生长速度是由环境条件决定的，因此树木的年轮的形状和厚度各不相同。通过将现在的树木与史前时期的树木进行交叉匹配，可以建立树木年轮年表，然后使用这个“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。对于美国西南部的考古学家来说，这项技术是一个福音，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性。 由于没有得到充分的支持，而且许多考古学家缺乏资金来支付其服务费用，亚利桑那州实验室无法独自满足考古学对样本年代测定的要求。这笔赠款将有助于纠正这种情况。 特别是，它将有利于年轻科学家和那些与更富有的主线研究机构无关的科学家。

The National Science Foundation will continue its long term support of the University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. This grant allows the laboratory to hire a full-time dendrochronologist to analyze archaeological samples and also provides support for student assistants. The technique of tree-ring dating was pioneered at the University of Arizona. Because the rate of treegrowth 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 grant will help to remedy that situation. In particular, it will benefit young scientists and those not associated with more wealthy main line research institutions.