Re: Decalogue, Sabbath.

In message <87bqf6nxzc.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Gareth McCaughan <Gareth.McCaughan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Evidence, please, that C-14 dating plays a substantial role in
dendrochronology?

There are two ways: one, as I have described, is when a "new" tree fits the
sequence equal well in two or more places. The other is when a complete
sequence has no firm starting point. You find a piece of furniture with a
nice set of rings in the leg of a chair and from that you cleverly build up
a sequence going back several hundred (or even thousand) years, but you
cannot date the start point with any precision. Again, C-14 comes to the
rescue.

These "orphan" sequences are not as uncommon as you might think, because you
cannot reliably match a tree ring sequence from Anatolia, say, with a tree
ring sequence from Greece. Critics of dendrochronology point out that even
matching trees from opposite sides of the same mountain can be difficult.

Under those circumstances, it is hardly surprising that C-14 and
dendrochronology are in remarkable agreement.

Actually, no, it could be surprising even if you're right about
how C-14 dating is used. It depends on how good the matches are
(a) between sequences of sets of tree rings and (b) between
the dates they establish and C-14 dates.

The problems in matching are many. In a typical sequence you are matching
rings from the outer layers of one tree with the rings from the inner core
of the next, so even if the match is perfect the physical distance spanned
by those rings will be different. Frequently you have to match the rings
from one species of tree - oak, say - with the rings from another species -
pine, for example. Inevitably you have to match rings from a tree that grew
in one location with the rings from a tree that grew in an entirely
different location and the effects of what is called "micro climate" can
cause differences in some of the rings even in the same years.

Then there are the contentious claims that trees can either skip a ring or
grow multiple rings in the one year.

The ideal sequence would consist of complete logs from trees of the same
species that grew in the same location and which grew about 50-100 years
apart. You can imagine how often such an ideal is reached.

God bless,
Kendall K. Down

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