Multicentennial oak chronologies from Northern Belarus

Abstract

In this study, we present new medieval oak tree-ring chronologies developed on the base of subfossil wood collected from the Luchosa and Chernitsa riverine sediments, as well as samples from archaeological excavations and buildings in Vitsebsk and Polotsk (Northern Belarus). Two absolutely dated tree-ring chronologies for 586–1351AD and 1410–1647AD were built. Dates have been confirmed via comparison with subfossil, archaeology, and historical oaks chronologies from the neighboring regions. It was shown that medieval Baltic tree-ring chronologies include wood from the Zapadnaya Dvina basin. Newly built chronologies can be used for dating and provenancing of oak wood originating from European archaeological sites, historical buildings, and natural archives.