A Dendroarchaeological Approach To Mississippian Culture Occupational History In Eastern Tennessee, U.S.A

Abstract

We investigated the potential for using long-archived wood samples extracted from archaeological contexts at four Mississippian Period (AD 900-1600) settlements in eastern Tennessee for tree-ring dating purposes. Sixteen wood samples recovered from prehistoric sites were analyzed to: (1) crossmatch samples from each site with the intent of determining the relative chronological order of sites, (2) establish a floating prehistoric tree-ring chronology for eastern Tennessee, (3) determine the applicability of dendrochronology in prehistoric archaeology in eastern Tennessee, and (4) establish a strategy for future research in the region. We succeeded in crossmatching only three of the 16 tree-ring sequences against each other, representing two sites relatively close to each other: Upper Hampton and Watts Bar Reservoir. The average interseries correlation of these three samples was 0.74 with an average mean sensitivity of 0.26, and they were used to create a 131-year-long floating chronology. The remaining samples contained too few rings (15 to 43) for conclusive crossmatching. Our results demonstrate that dendrochronological techniques may be applied to the practice of prehistoric archaeology in the Southeastern U.S., but highlight the challenges that face dendroarchaeologists: (1) poor wood preservation at prehistoric sites, (2) too few rings in many samples, (3) the lack of a reference chronology long enough for absolute dating, and (4) the lack of a standard on-site sampling protocol to ensure the fragile wood samples remain intact.

Tree-Ring Dating of the Reshui-1 Tomb in Dulan County, Qinghai Province, North-West China

“…It is well known that tree-ring data have the advantages of accurate dating, annual resolution, wide availability, and good replication [ 50 ]. Prehistoric sites and ancient tombs that contained wood specimens can be dated using regional reference tree ring chronologies, but it can be difficult at times due to the lack of well-preserved rings and collaborations with field archaeologists are often necessary to achieve accurate dating results [ 18 , 22 ]. The dry climate in the eastern Qaidam Basin provides the optimal condition for preservation of wood [ 26 , 46 , 54 ].…”

“…In the past decades, tree-rings analysis has been successfully employed to archaeological dating [ 7 – 13 ], including dating pre-historical relic sites [ 14 – 18 ], historical structures [ 19 – 26 ], tombs and burial sites [ 7 , 27 ], artifacts [ 28 – 33 ], and past events (e.g., shipwrecks) [ 34 ].…”

Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon Dating Paraffin-Conserved Charcoal at the Mississippian Center of Kincaid, Illinois, Usa

“…Paraffin wax in a molten state, and in solution with solvents, has been used to conserve a wide range of fragile materials for nearly a century in archaeology (Western 1969;Ramer 1979;Hatchfield and Koestler 1987;Schaefer and Mills 2017), and until fairly recently, paraffingasoline solution was widely used to preserve charred structural wood recovered from Precontact archaeological sites across the U.S. for dendrochronological analysis (Towner 2015). The use of gasoline and paraffin is discouraged today because of risks associated with the fumes and the flammability of the samples, but some dendrochronologists continue to recommend chemical stabilization with substances such as polyethylene glycol for some samples (for example Koerner et al 2009).…”

Dendrochronological Dating of Wood from the Fountain of Youth Park Archaeological Site (8SJ31), St. Augustine, Florida, U.S.A

“…In the Southeastern US, dendroarchaeology has been most successful at determining the years of construction for historic period structures rather than prehistoric structures because often the latter do not have well-preserved rings or the type of wood that is conducive to dating techniques (Grissino-Mayer and van de Gevel 2007). Recent advances, however, are providing evidence that prehistoric sites and structures can eventually be dated (Koerner et al 2009).…”