Southwestern Archaeological Tree-Ring Dating

美国国家科学基金会将继续长期支持亚利桑那大学的树木年轮研究实验室。这笔拨款允许实验室聘请全职的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。因为树木的生长速度是由环境条件决定的，树木的年轮在形式和厚度上都是不同的。通过交叉匹配从现在到史前时期的树木，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，可以建立一个树木年轮年表。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定年法的准确性。由于没有得到足够的支持，而且许多考古学家缺乏支付其服务费用的资金，亚利桑那实验室无法独自满足考古学家对样品年代测定的要求。这笔赠款将有助于纠正这种情况。特别是，它将使年轻科学家和那些与更富有的主要研究机构没有联系的科学家受益。

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.