Assessing the potential to calendar date Māori waka (canoes) using dendrochronology

New frontiers in tree-ring research

“…For example, Witt et al (2017) used a combination of wood element levels (as detected by x-ray fluorescence, or ‘XRF’) and stable isotope data to find tree-ring boundaries in an Australian Acacia species. As expansion of ‘nontraditional species’ continues, new insights are continually being added to fields such as archaeology (Boswijk and Johns, 2018), ecology (Argent et al, 2004; Grau et al, 2003; O’Donnell et al, 2010; Rozendaal and Zuidema, 2011; Schweingruber et al, 2013), and climatology (Amoroso et al, 2017; Trouet et al, 2017). It is also increasingly recognized that climate-sensitive conifers and select angiosperms can only inform on certain aspects of climate, forest dynamics, and ecology (Duchesne et al, 2017; Klesse et al, 2018).…”

“…As a result, samples with less than 50 rings are often disregarded for further study because they are unsuitable for conventional approaches. This problem has been described by a number of studies and steps have been taken to utilize more short-lived materials (Billamboz, 1992; Boswijk and Johns, 2018; Čufar et al, 2010; Deforce and Haneca, 2015; Mazurkevich et al, 2010).…”

Developing tree ring chronologies from New Zealand matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia (D.Don) Laub.) for archaeological dating: Stable isotope dendrochronology

“…The selection of cores for isotopic analysis specifically targeted relatively fast-grown invariant ring series. Aside from offering a practical advantage for isotopic analysis of these small diameter cores, such series are of the kind most often recovered from cultural constructions such as the palisade posts of pā (fortified settlements) and waka (canoes) (Boswijk and Johns, 2018;Hogg et al, 2017). Whilst younger juvenile growth is challenging to date dendrochronologically due to ring complacency, their greater ring width means that they generally displayed fewer wedging rings and provided sufficient wood for isotopic analysis.…”

Visitation Rate Analysis of Geoheritage Features from Earth Science Education Perspective Using Automated Landform Classification and Crowdsourcing: A Geoeducation Capacity Map of the Auckland Volcanic Field, New Zealand

“…The region had a rich, friable, volcanic soil well suited to kumara growing. From about 1300, Māori used the cones as their living environment; there is evidence of systematic gardening and usage of storage pits and canoes around the volcanic field (Muriwai Beach, west Auckland) that are of high cultural value today [107][108][109][110]. By about 1700, the population of some thousand made the region the most densely settled area of New Zealand in Māori times; it remains so today [111].…”