Dendrochronology, dwellings

Abstract

Nearly a century after Douglass (1929) demonstrated that tree rings could be used to date ancient dwellings, the interpretation of archaeological tree-ring dates has become more sophisticated with respect to understanding prehistoric wood-use behavior and the discrepancies that sometimes occur between historic documentation, oral history, and tree-ring data. Arguably even more impressive, however, is the fact that tree-ring dating is now routinely applied in areas like eastern and southern North America, in which scholars once believed tree-ring dating would not be successful. The expansion of tree-ring dating to South America and the tropics has the potential to be revolutionary, if sites with well-preserved wood can be found in quantity.