Towards A Better Chronology of Basque Heritage Using Time-Series from Renovation Waste

Abstract

Dendroarchaeology in the Basque country is directed at improving our understanding of the cultural heritage preserved in, or originating from, northwestern Spain. To this end the emphasis is on the compilation of absolutely-dated tree-ring chronologies that can serve as a reference for accurately dating ancient structures such as buildings and shipwrecks. The current study focuses on 41 samples from radially-split oak planks that were mostly stored for reuse in a carpentry workshop in this region. The general consensus among historians is that these planks, and hence the buildings they are part of, date from the 15th and 16th Centuries. Our results show that the trees from which the planks were derived were cut down in the 15th to 19th Centuries, thus refuting this narrow time frame. The similarity of the planks' growth patterns to the annual variations of Basque chronology ARAB4 (AD 1277-1819), which we reworked slightly and renamed ARAB8, confirms that this chronology is well-suited for establishing the age of timbers preserved in the cultural heritage in this region. The inclusion of the new series into ARAB8 significantly improves the replication of this master chronology from ca. AD 1300 onwards and extends it forward to AD 1849. © 2017 by The Tree-Ring Society.