NAR 19 Rememberings.Qxd
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RemembeRINGs The Development and Application of Local and Regional Tree-Ring Chronologies of Oak for the Purposes of Archaeological and Historical Research in the Netherlands Esther Jansma COLOFON NAR 19 is een ongewijzigde uitgave van het academisch proefschrift van E. Jansma. / This volume of the NAR presents the original version of the Ph.D. thesis of Ms E. Jansma. Uitgever / Publisher Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek, A. Haytsma Kerkstraat 1, 3811 CV Amersfoort / Postbus 1600, 3800 BP Amersfoort, the Netherlands Redactie / Editors nr. 19 Prof.Dr. W. Groenman-van Waateringe, Prof.Dr. H. Kars (eindred.), Prof.Dr. J. Strackee, Dr. A. Voorrips Pre-press & layout ROB, Amersfoort Omslagontwerp / Coverdesign Ingrid Jansen, Amersfoort; foto / photograph Ernst Voller, Berlin Druk / Printed by Casparie Heerhugowaard B.V. Besteladres / Distribution U kunt dit boek bestellen door fl. 25,-- plus fl. 7,50 verzendkosten over te maken op postbanknummer 4792702 ten name van de Joan Willems Stichting te Amersfoort onder vermelding van NAR 19. / You can order this volume from the Joan Willems Stichting, Kerkstraat 1, 3811 CV Amersfoort, the Netherlands, tel. +31 033 - 4634233, fax (31) 033 - 4653235, E-mail [email protected] Subscription fl. 25,--, postage and packing are not included. CIP-GEGEVENS KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK, DEN HAAG Jansma, Esther RemembeRINGs : the development and application of local and regional tree-ring chronologies of oak for the purposes of archaeological and historical research in the Netherlands / Esther Jansma. - Amersfoort : Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek. - Ill. - (Nederlandse archeologische rapporten, ISSN 0169-3859 ; nr. 19) Ook verschenen als proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1995 - Met lit. opg. ISBN 90-73104-26-2 Trefw.: archeologie ; Nederland / dendrochronologie. All rights reserved © 1995 E. Jansma & ROB, Amsterdam & Amersfoort ISBN 90-73104-26-2 ISSN 0169-3859 RemembeRINGs The Development and Application of Local and Regional Tree-Ring Chronologies of Oak for the Purposes of Archaeological and Historical Research in the Netherlands ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus Prof. Dr. P.W.M. de Meijer ten overstaan van een door het college van dekanen ingestelde commissie in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Aula der Universiteit op maandag 4 december 1995 te 12.00 uur door Esther Jansma geboren te Amsterdam Promotores: Prof. Dr. J. Strackee Prof. Dr. W. Groenman-van Waateringe Co-promotor: Dr. A. Voorrips CONTENTS PREFACE 11 1 INTRODUCTION 15 1.1 Dating in archaeology and historical research 15 1.2 A brief history of dendrochronology 17 1.3 Dendrochronology in the Netherlands 18 1.4 Research outline 19 THE STATISTICAL PROPERTIES OF ‘MEAN SENSITIVITY’ - A REAPPRAISAL 2 (Corrected version of Strackee, J. and E. Jansma, 1992. Dendrochronologia 10, 121-135) 23 Abstract 23 2.1 Introduction 23 2.2 Statistical aspects 25 2.2.1 General 25 2.2.2 The bivariate Gamma density function 26 2.2.3 The bivariate Lognormal density function 28 2.3 Experimental assessment 30 2.4 Discussion 30 DENDROCHRONOLOGICAL METHODS OF DETERMINING THE ORIGIN OF OAK 3 TIMBER: A CASE STUDY ON WOOD FROM ’S-HERTOGENBOSCH (Corrected version of Jansma, E., 1992. Helinium 32, 195-214) 33 Abstract 33 3.1 Introduction 33 3.2 Material 36 3.3 Statistical method 40 3.4 Results 42 3.5 Discussion 44 3.6 Conclusion 45 AN 1100 YEAR TREE-RING CHRONOLOGY OF OAK FOR THE DUTCH COASTAL REGION 4 (2258 - 1141 BC) (Jansma, E., 1995. In: J. S. Dean, D. M. Meko and T. W. Swetnam (eds.), Tree-Rings, Environment and Humanity - Proceedings of the International Tree-Ring Conference 1995, Univ. of Arizona (provisional title). Radiocarbon, Tucson (in print)) 47 Abstract 47 4.1 Introduction 47 4.2 Material 49 4.3 Methods 50 4.4 Results 51 4.5 Discussion 54 4.6 Conclusion 55 OAK TREE-RING CHRONOLOGIES FOR THE NETHERLANDS BETWEEN 325 BC 5 AND AD 563 (Jansma, E., 1994. Helinium 34 (in print)) 57 Abstract 57 5.1 Introduction 57 5.2 Terminology 58 5.3 Material 60 5.4 Methodology 60 5.4.1 Methods of dating 60 5.4.2 Chronology development 61 5.4.3 Estimating the chronology signal 62 5.5 Results 62 5.5.1 General 62 5.5.2 The local eastern chronology NLRom_E (AD 190-395) 65 5.5.3 Local western chronology NLRom_W1 (84 BC - AD 50) 65 5.5.4 Local western chronology NLRom_W2 (140 BC - AD 87) 65 5.5.5 The regional low altitude chronology NLRom_R (325 BC - AD 563) 65 5.6 Interpretation and discussion 66 5.7 Conclusion 67 MEDIEVAL TREE-RING CHRONOLOGIES OF OAK FROM DUTCH 6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SITES (AD 427 - 1752 ; AD 1023 - 1666 ; AD 1041 - 1346) 69 Abstract 69 6.1 Introduction 69 6.2 Material 69 6.3 Methodology 69 6.3.1 Quality control 69 6.3.2 The detrending of tree-ring patterns 70 6.3.3 Methods of dating 70 6.3.4 The clustering of tree-ring index series 70 6.3.5 Assessment of the reliability of tree-ring chronologies 71 6.3.6 The environmental signal of the Dutch cluster chronologies 71 6.4 Results 73 6.4.1 General 73 6.4.2 The signal within the chronologies 73 6.4.3 Growth regions 75 6.4.4 Crossdating with existing master chronologies 76 6.5 Interpretation and discussion 77 6.5.1 Chronology NLHist_1 (AD 427 - 1752) 77 6.5.2 Chronology NLHist_2 (AD 1023 - 1666) 78 6.5.3 Chronology NLHist_3 (AD 1041 - 1346) 79 6.5.4 The use of the cluster chronologies for dating Dutch sites and objects 79 6.6 Conclusions 79 THE MEAN CORRELATION TECHNIQUE: THE ‘EFFECTIVE CHRONOLOGY 7 SIGNAL’ AS AN ESTIMATOR OF THE SIGNAL IN TREE-RING CHRONOLOGIES 81 Abstract 81 7.1 Introduction 81 7.2 The Mean Correlation Technique 82 7.3 The behaviour of ¯reff 84 7.4 Discussion 85 7.4.1 The domain of ¯reff and ¯rbt 85 7.4.2 Estimating the mean of correlation coefficients 85 7.4.3 The hyperbolical relationship between ¯rwt and ¯reff 86 7.5 Conclusion 87 8 SYNTHESIS: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 89 8.1 Introduction 89 8.2 Methodological aspects: the estimation of the signal in tree-ring chronologies 89 8.3 The application of chronologies from Dutch contexts 93 8.3.1 Prehistory 93 8.3.2 The Iron Age/Roman period 95 8.3.3 The Merovingian and Carolingian periods 96 8.3.4 The Late Middle Ages 97 SAMENVATTING 99 REFERENCES 107 APPENDIX A - Absolutely dated tree-ring series of oak from anthropogenic and natural sites in the Netherlands 115 APPENDIX B - Tree-ring chronologies of oak used for dating 139 APPENDIX C - Average growth-index values of some Dutch chronologies 143 NLPre_ZH (2258 - 1141 BC) NLRom_E (AD 190-395) NLRom_W1 (84 BC - AD 50) NLRom_W2 (140 BC - AD 87) NLRom_R (325 BC - AD 563) Perhaps old mayflies sit around complaining how life this minute isn’t a patch on the good old minutes of long ago. Whereas the trees, which are not famous for their quick reactions, may just have time to notice the way the sky keeps flickering before the dry rot and woodworms set in. Terry Pratchett PREFACE In this volume absolutely dated tree-ring chronologies are presented from oak series derived from Dutch anthropogenic and natural sites from the past. This study has been funded by the ‘Albert Egges van Giffen’ Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology (IPP, Univ. of Amsterdam (NL); 1985 - 1987), the archaeological section of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (ARCHON/NWO, Doss. No. 280-151-040; 1987-1991); the Dutch State Service for Archaeological Soil Research (ROB; 1991 - present); and the many archaeological and historical organizations that from 1985 onwards funded the dating of archaeological structures and historic buildings conducted by the former tree-ring laboratory of the IPP and the current Dutch Centre for Dendrochronology (RING Foundation, ROB). The verification of the datings on which this study is based was funded by the EC as part of the project ‘Temperature Change over Northern Eurasia during the last 2500 Years’ (Contract no. CV5V CT94 0500; 1994-1996; under supervision of the Climatic Research Unit, Univ. of East Anglia (GB)). The tree-ring data discussed in this thesis that date after 500 BC were incorporated in this project in January 1995; the remaining tree-ring series will be incorporated in 1996 as part of the continuation of this project, entitled ‘Analysis of Dendrochronological Variability and Associated Natural Climates in Eurasia - the last 10,000 years’ (1996-1998, forthcoming). Parts of this study have appeared previously in the journals Dendrochronologia (Chapter 2) and Helinium (Chapter 3; Chapter 5 (in print)); Chapter 4 is published in the proceedings of the 1994 International Tree-Ring Conference (Tucson, Univ. of Arizona (US)). Apart from my promoters Dr. J. Strackee and Dr. W. Groenman-van Waateringe and my co-promoter Dr. A. Voorrips, many people have contributed to the separate chapters in this volume: Dr. A. van Oosterom (Dept. of Medical Physics, Univ. of Nijmegen (NL)) was consulted during the analyses described in Chapter 2; A. van Drunen and E. Vink (Bouwhistorische Dienst ’s-Hertogenbosch (NL)) provided part of the historical facts mentioned in Chapter 3; H. van Haaster and Dr. J.P Pals (IPP) made valuable suggestions on the content of Chapter 3; the bog oak samples discussed in Chapter 4 were collected by V. van Amerongen (IPP), P. van Rijn (RING) and members of ARCHEON Archaeological Theme Park (Alphen a/d Rijn (NL)); V. van Amerongen also sampled part of the bog oaks discussed in Chapter 5; and P.P.Th.M.