In contrast to some of the other archaeometric techniques where the laboratory scientists interact very little with the archaeologists, dendrochronology from its very beginning has been typified by close collaboration between laboratory and field workers. In practice the dendrochronologist has visited the site, discussed its problems and interpretation with the excavator, and only then has taken the sample. An ideal sample will be of value to both parties, that is, datable and from a significant archaeological context. Instances where dendrochronology has been applied with noteworthy results to the interpretation of archaeological sites and archaeological or art-historical artefacts include the following, selected from two of the three principal regions where tree-ring dating has been done extensively.
Europe
New work of relevance to Byzantinists as models of what might be achieved in the Byzantine world includes studies of the medieval and prehistoric Netherlands (Jansma 1995), the early medieval and Viking setdements at Haithabu (Eckstein 1969,1972; Eckstein and others 1983). It also includes the analysis of a long series of medieval buildings in the Rhineland (Hollstein 1980), a thorough study of private houses in the Mosel Region (Schmidt and others 1990), and the identification of the imported Polish oak which served as supports for Netherlandish panel paintings (Baillie and others 1985; Eckstein and others 1986) as well as for wainscoting in English country houses.
Aegean and the Near East
Dendrochronological analysis of approximately two hundred medieval buildings in Greece and Turkey has been carried out since 1973 (Kuniholm and Striker 1987; Kuniholm 1994). One striking example of how the method can require a change to old ways of thinking is the Church of the Holy Apostles in Thessalonike where a puzzling, long-misunderstood monogram {Niphon Ktitor) which suggested a date of 1310-14 is contradicted by the dendrochronological date of 1329 which happens to be the year when Niphon returned from exile (Kuniholm and Striker 1990).
‘Dendroprovenancing’ as mentioned earlier for exported Polish oak in northern Europe is possible in the Aegean as well, with Alpine fir and spruce found in a Renaissance palace in Dubrovnik on the Dalmatian Coast, Black Sea oak found in medieval monuments in Istanbul and Thessalonike, and Alpine fir and spruce found in the destroyed Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum (Kuniholm 2002; Kuniholm and others 2007).
World History
