Selected Problem Periods in the Prehistory of the Eastern Mediterranean: A Dendrochronological Solution

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Peter Kuniholm博士和他的合作者将继续为东地中海构建主树木年代学，并为考古遗址提供精确的日期。“树木年代学”，或称树木年轮测年，是科学家可用的最准确的测年技术。由于树木每年增加的年轮厚度受温度和降雨量的影响，这些每年都有变化，因此可以从活树开始，从已知的开始日期绘制厚度曲线，然后通过添加地质和考古背景的样本将该系列进一步向后延伸。人们可以从考古遗址中提取未知年代的木材，并将其与主曲线进行匹配，以确定年轮的绝对年龄。Kuniholm博士和他的同事们多年来一直致力于为希腊，土耳其和东地中海其他国家构建这样一个主年表。这导致了一个年表，涵盖了过去9,200年中的6,500年。年表中最长的部分长达1，633年，绝对可以追溯到公元3652年至1994年。剩下的部分已经通过放射性碳测年法确定了它们的年龄，但它们仍然“浮动”，因为它们与锚定在现在的年表的主要部分之间仍然存在差距。 Kuniholm博士和他的同事们现在将在仔细确定的考古遗址收集木材样本，这些样本将把漂浮物附着在主序列上。在三个野外季节的过程中，他将专注于53个史前遗址，那里有证据表明存在大量保存完好的样本。这些包括新石器时代、铜器时代和青铜时代。 该小组将访问现场收集合适的样本，会见考古学家谁策划这些材料和分析木材，从而收集在康奈尔大学的树木年轮实验室。该项目极其重要，因为由此产生的序列将允许对大量考古事件进行绝对定年。由于实验室涉及许多本科生，它将继续发挥重要作用，科学教育。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Peter Kuniholm and his collaborators will continue to construct a master dendrochronology for the Eastern Mediterranean and to provide precise dates for sites of archaeological interest. `Dendrochronology`, or tree ring dating, is the most accurate dating technique available to scientists. Because the thickness of wood rings which trees add annually is affected by temperature and rainfall, these vary from year to year and it is possible to start with living trees, plot a thickness curve back from a known starting date and then extend the series further backwards in time with the addition of samples from geological and archaeological contexts. One can take wood of unknown age from archaeological sites and match it against the master curve to determine the absolute age of the rings. Dr. Kuniholm and his colleagues have single-handedly worked for many years to construct such a master chronology for Greece, Turkey and other countries in the Eastern Mediterranean. This has resulted in a chronology which covers some 6,500 of the last 9,200 years. The longest part of the chronology is 1,633 years long and absolutely dated from A.D. 3652-1994. The remaining portions have had their age anchored by radiocarbon dating, but they still `float` because gaps remain between them and the major part of the chronology which is anchored in the present. Dr. Kuniholm and colleagues will now work at carefully determined archaeological sites to collect wood samples which will attach the floaters to the master sequence. Over the course of three field seasons he will focus on 53 prehistoric sites where evidence suggests an unusually large number of well-preserved samples exist. These include the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze age periods. The team will visit sites to collect suitable samples, meet with archaeologists who curate such materials and analyze wood thus collected at Cornell University's tree ring laboratory. The project is extremely important because the resulting sequence will permit the absolute dating of large numbers of archaeological occurrences. Because the laboratory involves many undergraduate students it will continue to play an important role is science education.