Floating Larch Tree-Ring Chronologies from Archaeological Timbers in the Russian Altai Between about 800 BC and AD 800

Panyushkina, Irina P.; Bikov, Nikolay; Bogdanov, E. A.

doi:10.1017/s0033822200042582

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…To our surprise, no cellulose was extracted from any samples, possibly because of their advanced state of decomposition. A similar result was realized during bleaching of archaeological larch wood from low-elevation grassland in the Altai Mountains (Panyushkina et al 2007). We therefore suggest avoiding this method for pretreatment of tree rings from Bronze Age timbers collected in low-elevation, dry landscapes of Eurasia.…”

Section: Measurementssupporting

confidence: 75%

“…These results demonstrate that replicating 14 C measurements from crossdated tree rings made in a single AMS laboratory employing a single wood pretreatment method significantly reduces the error of true ages and eliminates randomly occurring small errors as was found in other related studies (Scott et al 2007;Panyushkina et al 2007). …”

Section: Radiocarbon Dates Of Lisakovsky Timberssupporting

confidence: 71%

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Calendar Age of Lisakovsky Timbers Attributed to Andronovo Community of Bronze Age in Eurasia

et al. 2008

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ABSTRACT. We measured radiocarbon ages of 22 decadal replications and 1 bulk group from 5 tree-ring specimens using acid-base-acid pretreatment and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The study has the goal of refining the precision and resolution of a segment of the conventional Bronze Age chronology in the Eurasian steppe attributed to the multicultural community known as Andronovo. The archaeological timbers were gathered from 3 cemeteries at the Lisakovsky cluster of sites in Kazakhstan, where there is a prominent Andronovo occurrence that appears to show evidence of overlapping Alakul and Fedorovo cultures in the southern margin of the Eurasian steppe. The new set of Andronovo calendar dates derived from 14 C wiggles and a composite floating tree-ring chronology places the cultural overlap from 1780 to 1660 cal BC. Results indicate older ages of artifacts from the Lisakovsky site than were previously determined by the typological chronology, shifting them from the Late Bronze Age to also include the transition between the Middle and Late Bronze Age. The chronological order of the Lisakovsky cemeteries provides strong evidence of contemporaneity of the Alakul and Fedorovo cultures in the Tobol River Valley for a portion of the 120-yr period of occupation. We discuss an application of the dated Alakul-Fedorovo overlap to the relationship and origin of different groups of the Andronovo community in the Ural region. Our results demonstrate the substantial power that tree rings from Bronze Age timbers provide for developing a precise and highly resolved calendar chronology of prehistoric human occupation in the Eurasian steppe during the 2nd millennium BC.

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Section: Measurementssupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Radiocarbon Dates Of Lisakovsky Timberssupporting

confidence: 71%

Calendar Age of Lisakovsky Timbers Attributed to Andronovo Community of Bronze Age in Eurasia

et al. 2008

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“…As such, they represent an invaluable resource for studies of past human and environmental interactions and for the resolution of complex chronological issues. However, for certain key geographic regions and time periods, the only tree-ring records preserved are not calendar dated to the exact year but rather, "float" in time (6)(7)(8)(9)(10), dated with less precision and accuracy by radiocarbon wiggle-match dating (11). While this approach can produce excellent results for certain time periods, limitations of the method include multiyear error ranges and the fact that calibrated date ranges may shift forward or backward in time depending on which iteration of the international radiocarbon calibration curve (12) is used for calibration.…”

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confidence: 99%

Securing timelines in the ancient Mediterranean using multiproxy annual tree-ring data

Pearson

Salzer

Wacker

et al. 2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Calendar-dated tree-ring sequences offer an unparalleled resource for high-resolution paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Where such records exist for a few limited geographic regions over the last 8,000 to 12,000 years, they have proved invaluable for creating precise and accurate timelines for past human and environmental interactions. To expand such records across new geographic territory or extend data for certain regions further backward in time, new applications must be developed to secure “floating” (not yet absolutely dated) tree-ring sequences, which cannot be assigned single-calendar year dates by standard dendrochronological techniques. This study develops two approaches to this problem for a critical floating tree-ring chronology from the East Mediterranean Bronze–Iron Age. The chronology is more closely fixed in time using annually resolved patterns of 14C, modulated by cosmic radiation, between 1700 and 1480 BC. This placement is then tested using an anticorrelation between calendar-dated tree-ring growth responses to climatically effective volcanism in North American bristlecone pine and the Mediterranean trees. Examination of the newly dated Mediterranean tree-ring sequence between 1630 and 1500 BC using X-ray fluorescence revealed an unusual calcium anomaly around 1560 BC. While requiring further replication and analysis, this anomaly merits exploration as a potential marker for the eruption of Thera.

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“…The radiocarbon and dendrochronology cross-dating of well-preserved larch (Larix sibirica) wood logs from the permafrost-sealed Scythian mounds demonstrates persistence of the Paryzyk culture in Gorno Altai during the period of 720-240 year BC. The following stage of the early historical forestry with intensified wood cutting during the Hun-Sarmatian and early Turkic period (AD 470-830) indicates a major anthropogenic feedback to the Altai landscapes (Panushkina et al 2007). Except for fuel, larch wood use for house construction is best-evidenced by polygonal log structures found dissembled at the Ak-Alacha I burial complex (kurgan 1) (Myl'nikov 1999;Polosmak 2001) and reminding the historical Altai household dwellings (ails) used for food preparation and as a family summer shelter (Fig.…”

Section: The Iron Age Feedback To the Altai Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental context and adaptations of prehistoric and early historical occupation in the Southern Altai (SW Siberia–East Kazakhstan)

Chlachula

2018

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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The Altai Mountains are well-known for their unique archaeological records, with rich, chronologically sequenced Palaeolithic, Neolithic and the Bronze Age (late fourth-early first millennium BC) sites and, in particular, the Iron Age Scytho-Siberian and early historical monuments represented by burial sites, ritual structures, and rock-art. The Altai prehistoric archaeological localities are distributed across a broad range of topographic and ecological settings, encompassing altitudinal zones from 800 m asl in the lower reaches of glacial river valleys up to 2500/3000 m asl on the high mountain plateaus. The partial spatial overlap of these (often multi-component) geoarchaeological loci over time suggests that similar adaptive strategies were employed by countless generations of hunter and later nomadic communities-their actions constrained by the locally specific forms of (palaeo-)relief and the associated ecosystems. The dynamics of the initial occupation of the boreal and alpine Altai landscapes and subsequent processes of (re-)colonisation during the Final Pleistocene-Holocene transition are directly linked to transformations in the regional hydrological systems after the LGM. The principal settings for early pastoral settlements were the xerothermic grasslands that formed on the flat glacio-lacustrine terraces which rise above the modern fluvial floodplains-the remains of ice-dammed wastage lake basins drained at the end of the Pleistocene (15,000-13,000 year BP). Marked climatic changes, evidenced by regional variations in temperature and humidity across the territory, are well attested in the geological, biotic and archaeological records. The initial Sub-Boreal aridification correlated with the beginnings of the Altai Bronze Age traditions continued until the early Iron Age-causing an expansion of parkland-steppe in the main valleys and a forest retreat in the foothills. Mountain steppes constituted the most essential food-procurement habitat for the Holocene prehistoric and historical settlements of Southern Altai. The current degradation of insular alpine permafrost poses an imminent threat to preservation of the region's most precious archaeological monuments-the frozen burial mounds of the Pazyryk culture (sixth-third century BC) belonging to the UNESCO World cultural heritage.

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Floating Larch Tree-Ring Chronologies from Archaeological Timbers in the Russian Altai Between about 800 BC and AD 800

Cited by 18 publications

References 4 publications

Calendar Age of Lisakovsky Timbers Attributed to Andronovo Community of Bronze Age in Eurasia

Calendar Age of Lisakovsky Timbers Attributed to Andronovo Community of Bronze Age in Eurasia

Securing timelines in the ancient Mediterranean using multiproxy annual tree-ring data

Environmental context and adaptations of prehistoric and early historical occupation in the Southern Altai (SW Siberia–East Kazakhstan)

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