Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vpsfw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T04:11:31.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Radiocarbon Calibration from An Irish Oak Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Mike G L Baillie*
Affiliation:
Palaeoecology Centre, School of Geosciences, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. Email: mbaillie@queens-belfast.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Between 1968 and 1984, a 7272-yr oak chronology was constructed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in order to provide a local calibration of the radiocarbon timescale. This single-minded exercise in chronology construction provided an exciting occupation for a group of researchers that can be likened to a race in which there was no guarantee of a finish. The existence of a parallel dendrochronological enterprise in Germany added both competition and the possibility of independent replication. The initial completion of both chronologies by 1984, and respective calibrations by 1986, left an important legacy of 2 absolutely dated tree-ring chronologies for multifarious research purposes.

Type
Calibration
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

REFERENCES

Baillie, MGL. 1982. Tree-Ring Dating and Archaeology. London: Croom Helm. 274 p.Google Scholar
Baillie, MGL. 1983. Belfast dendrochronology—the current situation. In: Ottaway, BS, editor. Archaeology, Dendrochronology and the Radiocarbon Calibration Curve. Occasional Paper No. 9, University of Edinburgh. p 1524.Google Scholar
Baillie, MGL. 1994. Dendrochronology raises questions about the nature of the AD 536 dust-veil event. The Holocene 4(2):212–7.Google Scholar
Baillie, MGL. 1995. A Slice Through Time: Dendrochronology and Precision Dating. London: Routledge. 176 p.Google Scholar
Baillie, MGL. 1996. Extreme environmental events and the linking of the tree-ring and ice-core records. In: Dean, JS, Meko, DM, Swetnam, TW, editors. Tree Rings, Environment and Humanity. Tucson, Arizona, USA: Radiocarbon. p 703–11.Google Scholar
Baillie, MGL. 2008. Proposed re-dating of the European ice core chronology by seven years prior to the 7th century AD. Geophysical Research Letters 35, L15813, doi:10.1029/2008GL034755.Google Scholar
Baillie, MGL, Brown, DM. 2002. Oak dendrochronology: some recent archaeological developments from an Irish perspective. Antiquity 76(292):497505.Google Scholar
Baillie, MGL, Munro, MAR. 1988. Irish tree rings, Santorini and volcanic dust veils. Nature 332(6162):344–6.Google Scholar
Baillie, MGL, Pilcher, JR. 1973. A simple cross-dating program for tree-ring research. Tree-Ring Bulletin 33:714.Google Scholar
Baillie, MGL, Pilcher, JR. 1987. The Belfast “Long Chronology” Project. British Archaeological Reports (International Series 333). p 203–14Google Scholar
Baillie, MGL, Pilcher, JR, Pearson, GW. 1983. Dendrochronology at Belfast as a background to high-precision calibration. Radiocarbon 25(2):171–8.Google Scholar
Becker, B. 1983. The long-term radiocarbon trend of the absolute German oak tree-ring chronology, 2800 to 800 BC. Radiocarbon 25(2):197203.Google Scholar
Becker, B, Schmidt, B. 1982. Verlangerung der Mitteleuropaischen Eichenjahrringchronologie in das Zweite Vorchristliche Jahrtausand (bis 1462 Chr.). Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 12:101–6.Google Scholar
Brown, DM, Baillie, MGL. 1992. Construction and dating of a 5000 year English bog oak tree-ring chronology. Lundqua Report 34:72–5.Google Scholar
Brown, DM, Munro, MAR, Baillie, MGL, Pilcher, JR. 1986. Dendrochronology—the absolute Irish standard. Radiocarbon 28(2A):279–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douglass, AE. 1919. Climatic Cycles and Tree Growth. Volume 1. Publication no. 289. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution. 127 p.Google Scholar
Eckstein, D, Bauch, J. 1969. Beitrag zu Rationalisierung eines dendrochronologischen Verfahrens und zur Analyse seiner Aussagesicherheit. Forstwissenschaftliches Centralblatt 88(1):230–50. In German.Google Scholar
Hammer, CU, Clausen, HB, Friedrich, WL, Tauber, H. 1987. The Minoan eruption of Santorini in Greece dated to 1645 BC? Nature 328(6130):517–9.Google Scholar
Hollstein, E. 1965. Jahrringchronologische von Eichenholzern ohne Waldkande. Bonner Jahrbuch 165:1227. In German.Google Scholar
Hollstein, E. 1973. Jahrringkurven der Hallstattzeit. Trierer Zeitschrift 36:3755. In German.Google Scholar
Hollstein, E. 1980. MittelEuropaische Eichenchronologie. Mainz am Rhein: Phillip Von Zabern. In German.Google Scholar
Huber, B, Giertz, V. 1969. Our 1000 year oak chronology. Conference Report of the Austrian Academy of Sciences 178:3242.Google Scholar
LaMarche, VC Jr, Hirschboeck, KK. 1984. Frost rings in trees as records of major volcanic eruptions. Nature 307(5947):121–6.Google Scholar
Larsen, LB, Vinther, BM, Briffa, KR, Melvin, TM, Clausen, HB, Jones, PD, Siggaard-Andersen, M-L, Hammer, CU, Eronen, M, Grudd, H, Gunnarson, BE, Hantemirov, RM, Naurbaev, MM, Nicolussi, K. 2008. New ice core evidence for a volcanic cause of the A.D. 536 dust veil. Geophysical Research Letters 35, L04708, doi: 10.1029/2007GL032450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leuschner, HH, Delorme, A. 1984. Verlangerung der Gottingen Eichenjahrringchronologien fur Nord- und Suddeutschland bis zum Jahr 4008 v. Chr. Forstarchiv 55:14. In German.Google Scholar
McCormac, FG, Baillie, MGL, Pilcher, JR, Kalin, RM. 1995. Location-dependent differences in the 14C content of wood. Radiocarbon 37(2):395407.Google Scholar
McCormac, FG, Hogg, AG, Higham, TFG, Lynch-Stieglitz, J, Broecker, WS, Baillie, MGL, Palmer, J, Xiong, L, Pilcher, JR, Brown, D, Hoper, ST. 1998. Temporal variation in the interhemispheric 14C offset. Geophysical Research Letters 25(9):1321–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munro, MAR. 1984. An improved algorithm for crossdating tree-ring series. Tree-Ring Bulletin 44:1727.Google Scholar
Pearson, GW. 1980. High precision radiocarbon dating by liquid scintillation counting applied to radiocarbon time-scale measurements. Radiocarbon 22(2):337–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, GW, Stuiver, M. 1986. High-precision calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, 500–2500 BC. Radiocarbon 28(2B):839–62.Google Scholar
Pearson, GW, Pilcher, JR, Baillie, MGL, Corbett, DM, Qua, F. 1986. High-precision 14C measurement of Irish oaks to show the natural 14C variations from AD 1840 to 5210 BC. Radiocarbon 28(2B):911–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pilcher, JR, Baillie, MGL, Schmidt, B, Becker, B. 1984. A 7,272–year tree-ring chronology for western Europe. Nature 312(5990):150–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, WR, Cameron, CM. 1991. A Directory of Tree-Ring Dated Prehistoric Sites in the American Southwest. Tucson, Arizona, USA: University of Arizona, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.Google Scholar
Smith, AG, Baillie, MGL, Hillam, J, Pilcher, JR, Pearson, GW. 1972. Dendrochronological work in progress in Belfast: the prospect for an Irish post-glacial tree-ring sequence. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Radiocarbon Dating. Lower Hutt, New Zealand. A9295.Google Scholar
Stokes, MA, Smiley, TL. 1968. An Introduction to Tree-Ring Dating. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 73 p.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Becker, B. 1986. High-precision decadal calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, AD 1950–2500 BC. Radiocarbon 28(2B):863–91.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Pearson, GW. 1986. High-precision calibration of the radiocarbon time scale AD 1950–500 BC. Radiocarbon 28(2B):805–38.Google Scholar
Suess, HE. 1970. Bristlecone pine calibration of the radiocarbon time-scale from 5200 BC to the present. In: Olsson, IU, editor. Radiocarbon Variations and Absolute Chronology. New York: John Wiley and Sons. p 303–9.Google Scholar