forgot to mention that hte Varves method also has it’s problems- I gave a long list of links that exposed the probklems with nearly al lthe dating methods- but hte one dating method they couldn’t refute was Match.com
I tried a computer dating system once but I got connected with a Commodore 64.
If you're expecting to be able to pin something down to say, nine o'clock on a Tuesday morning, you might run into problems.
The point is that a record, in fact several different types of records, including tree-rings, varves, ice-cores, and other methods, all point back systematically to a virtually unending time-span.
Those lake-bed sediments get compressed into sedimentary rock, which stacks up higher and higher until it isn't even at the bottom anymore! The Earth, in upheaval, moves things around, and what would have been inaccessible at the bottom of an ocean is now freely observable at the top of a mountain.
Of course, this jumbling tends to make the process somewhat akin to a jigsaw puzzle, but we like puzzles, don't we?
In any case, even a tattered and worn bit of gospel is a balm to the soul and a refreshment to the spirit.