Scientists managed to find out where wooden materials for old houses were brought to Denmark. In this respect informs University of Copenhagen.
Dendrochronology is one of the archeological science methods that allows you to reconstruct the growth conditions of a tree from its growth rings. The characteristics of each ring depend on the conditions in that year, and since each sequence of year conditions is unique, this makes it possible to accurately date when and where the tree from which the object was made lived. However, each region has its own chronological scale, and in the case of imported material brought in antiquity, this method will not work without knowing at least an approximate region of origin. Conversely, knowing the approximate time of origin makes it easy to find where the tree is growing.
Because of these difficulties, Alicia Van Ham-Meert and colleagues supplemented the standard dendrochronological method with analysis of strontium isotopes.
“In particular, we took wood samples from three old houses in the Danish cities of Aalborg and Horsens. A good example of this is Chapters 16-17 at Horsens, where dendrochronological analysis erroneously indicates that the wood is Danish. However, in terms of strontium isotopes, the material exactly matches the terrain in southern Sweden, suggesting that the wood was brought to Horsens from southern Sweden and was used to build the house. This is not surprising, as at that time Sweden was part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but it is important for us to be able to distinguish the places of origin of the objects we find, ”explain the scientists.
The authors suggest that Halland and Skåne played an important role in the timber trade between the Danish and Swedish parts of the Kingdom of Denmark.
However, for real Danish wood, dendrochronological analysis showed more reliable results than isotope analysis, suggesting that these methods should be combined.
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