Posted on 06/01/2020 9:42:05 AM PDT by rdl6989
A tree ring study of the ancient timbers used to build the bell tower of St Giles’ Cathedral has unlocked new details about the kirk as it approaches its 900th anniversary.
The research has been able to pinpoint when the trees were felled for the ambitious construction project with it now known the oak was cut over two spells from a native forest in Moray.
As a result, it is now believed the St Giles’ bell tower was finished between 1460 and 1467 with the study being able to refine the date for the first time.
The research has also revealed that the timber was sourced from one of the last remaining reserves of old growth oak timber in Scotland, the Royal Forest of Darnaway, in Morayshire, and that many of these trees would have been over 300 years old when felled.
(Excerpt) Read more at edinburghnews.scotsman.com ...
Ping.
Interesting stuff!
The science of studying tree rings, and the accurately placing the tree rings
in historical sequence is called dendrochronology.
Part of what’s interesing to me is (1) they know how old the wood was when felled (that’s the easy part, count the rings) (2) they know when it was felled (Line up the rings with growth pattern records to lock down the time it grew) and, to me the new part, (3) where it was felled. How do they know which forest it came from? Interesting.
Thanks rdl6989. I'm not sure when this "when the tree was cut" fallacy crept into stories like this, but literally the only way to RC date when the tree was cut is if the timber still has its bark on it. Showing that there's a gap of years in age for different structural elements doesn't mean they were cut that many years apart. :^) Thanks again.
but literally the only way to RC date when the tree was cut is if the timber still has its bark on it.
I didn’t know that. I learn something new everyday.
:^) Having the bark there shows that it didn’t continue to grow for years after the available rings were grown.
It requires a chronograph study of forests in the vicinity, generally done with a microscope.
Dendrochronology also includes a study of surrounding forests and climate, and doing a comparison.
If the source forest was hundreds of miles away, you generally depend on someone else's ring study.
By climate study,I means that it includes temperature, humidity, rainfall, and knowledge of terrain and topography,
as well as the location of where the rings were found.
Basically, it is a scientific system of comparative study and analysis of known factors within a geographic area.
It is a field of study within archeology and anthropology.
I thought that tree ring size was determined by growing conditions and there are variations from year to year. So if you have a piece of wood known to be harvested say in 1600 that was 50 years old, then if you can match up the growth rings with another wood specimen cut down in an unknown time between 1550 and 1600 you could pinpoint the date.
Thanks. You sure know your arboreal anthropology!
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