Updating the Czech Millennia-Long Oak Tree-Ring Width Chronology

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years, a millennia-long oak tree-ring width chronology, consisting of 3194 samples from 387 locations, was developed in the Czech Republic. Despite the collection of such a huge dataset, the replication in the 19th Century was very low and the natural oak distribution in the Czech Republic was insufficiently covered by recent samples, especially in Western Bohemia. This study aimed to remove these weaknesses, which have limited the paleoclimatic potential of this dataset, and to determine the number of sapwood rings, which is crucial for dendrochronological dating. Therefore, new recent samples were randomly collected at numerous sawmills along the Czech-German border. The historical material was usually sampled using a Pressler borer from church belfry constructions traditionally made from oak. In total, 252 recent and 90 historical tree-ring width series were incorporated into the chronology. The newly built chronology cumulatively consists of 3536 series, which covers the continuous period of A.D. 352–2014. The resulting tree-ring width record shows robust signal strength and homogeneous coverage of the territory. We show that the number of sapwood rings is constant over time. Therefore, we recommend using an estimate of 5–24 sapwood rings for a more precise dating of historical wood findings in the Czech Republic.