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Bridging the Gaps in Tree-Ring Records: Creating a High-Resolution Dendrochronological Network for Southeastern Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Tomasz Ważny*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, 1215 E. Lowell Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA Institute for the Study, Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, Nicolaus Copernicus University, ul. Sienkiewicza 30/32, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Brita Lorentzen
Affiliation:
Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory, Cornell University, B-48 Goldwin Smith Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Nesibe Köse
Affiliation:
Faculty of Forestry, Istanbul University, 34473 Bahçeköy, Istanbul, Turkey
Ünal Akkemik
Affiliation:
Faculty of Forestry, Istanbul University, 34473 Bahçeköy, Istanbul, Turkey
Yurij Boltryk
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Pr. Geroyiw Stalingrada 12, 04210 Kiev, Ukraine
Tuncay Güner
Affiliation:
Faculty of Forestry, Istanbul University, 34473 Bahçeköy, Istanbul, Turkey
Josef Kyncl
Affiliation:
DendroLab Brno, Eliasova 37, CZ-61600, Brno, Czech Republic
Tomaš Kyncl
Affiliation:
DendroLab Brno, Eliasova 37, CZ-61600, Brno, Czech Republic
Constantin Nechita
Affiliation:
Forest Research and Management Institute, Campulung Moldovenesc, Calea Bucovinei 73bis, RO 725100, Romania
Severin Sagaydak
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Pr. Geroyiw Stalingrada 12, 04210 Kiev, Ukraine
Jeni Kamenova Vasileva
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Sofia University, Tsar Osvoboditel 15, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
*
Corresponding author: twazny@email.arizona.edu.
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Abstract

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Dendrochronological research in North-Central Europe and the East Mediterranean has produced networks of long regional oak (Quercus sp.) reference chronologies that have been instrumental in dating, provenancing, and paleoclimate research applications. However, until now these two important tree-ring networks have not been successfully linked. Oak forests and historical/archaeological sites in southeastern Europe provide the key for linking the North-Central European and East Mediterranean tree-ring networks, but previous dendrochronological research in this region has been largely absent. This article presents the initial results of a project, in which we have built oak tree-ring chronologies from forest sites and historical/archaeological sites along a north-south transect between Poland and northwestern Turkey, with the aim of linking the North-Central European and East Mediterranean tree-ring networks and creating a new pan-European oak data set for dendrochronological dating and paleoclimatic reconstruction. Correlation among tree-ring chronologies and the spatial distribution of their teleconnections are evaluated. The southeastern European chronologies provide a solid bridge between both major European dendrochronological networks. The results indicate that a dense network of chronologies is the key for bridging spatial and temporal gaps in tree-ring records. Dendrochronological sampling should be intensively continued in southeastern Europe because resources for building long oak chronologies in the region are rapidly disappearing.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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