Key dating features for timber-framed dwellings in Surrey

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ The Vernacular Architecture Group 2013. MORE OpenChoice articles are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.The main component of the Surrey Dendrochronology Project is the accurate dating of 177 ‘dwellings’, nearly all by tree-ring analysis. The dates are used to establish date ranges for 52 ‘key features’, which cover many aspects of timber-framing from building type to details of carpentry. It is shown that changes of method and fashion were in many cases surprisingly rapid, almost abrupt in historical terms. Previous dating criteria for timber-framed dwellings in the county have been refined and new criteria introduced. Clusters of change from the 1440s and the 1540s are shown and some possible historical links suggested.The Heritage Lottery Fund, the Domestic Buildings Research Group (Surrey), the Surrey Archaeological Society and the historical societies of Charlwood, Farnham and Nutfield

The dendroclimatology of modern and neolithic scots pine (Pinus sylvestris l.) in the peatlands of northern Scotland

For the first time in northern Scotland, Modern tree-ring chronologies for Scots pine growing on peat are compared against those growing on mineral substrates. Mean tree-ring growth of pine on active bogs/mires is found to be limited to 0.5 to 1 mm yr-1, compared to ≥1.5 mm yr-1 on adjacent mineral sites. Almost instant change of radial growth rates in response to changes in water levels highlights the potential use of pine in reconstructions of lake levels and water tables in bog and mire. Dendroclimatological analysis identifies January and February temperatures to often be more important than summer temperature. Positive correlation of ring-width and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) indices also occur in January and February. Lower winter temperatures, due to increased altitude and distance from the moderating effects of the ocean, may be important in limiting tree growth near its northern margin. Moving correlation functions identify a widespread reduction in the response of pine growing on both substrates from the 1920s. Nine subfossil pine site chronologies located beyond the species current northern limit are cross-matched to form a chronology called WRATH-9. This chronology is tentatively crossdated against Irish pine chronologies to provide the first picture of Neolithic Scots pines 200 year expansion from c. 3200 BC and subsequent 250 year retreat across northern Scotland at annual resolution. The mean orientation of maximum radial growth at eleven modern pine sites is found to coincide well with the W/SW prevailing wind, suggesting Scots pine may provide a good proxy indicator of wind. Six coeval Neolithic sites indicate a broadly consistent northerly prevailing wind. This provides tentative evidence for a change of prevailing wind that may be related to a southward incursion of the polar front in the eastern N. Atlantic. The potential of this exciting subfield of dendroclimatological analysis is called dendroaeology and is highlighted for further research.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Depositional history of peatland pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) in NW Enontekiö, Finnish Lapland : implications for Middle Holocene drought and temperature fluctuations

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Boreas published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Boreas Collegium.High altitude and latitude findings of subfossil peatland pine trees were unearthed from the region of NW Finnish Lapland and dated by 14C and tree-ring methods. The depositional history of the trees illustrated two distinct peatland pine phases dated to Middle Holocene intervals 4900–4400 and 4100–3400 cal. a BC. It seems evident that both thermal and hydroclimatic fluctuations have played roles of varying importance in the establishment of this pine population and its demise. The presence of these pines, from a site ~60 km north of the coniferous timberline and conditions ~1 °C and 100 degree-days colder than those at the present-day timberline, concurs with previous studies demonstrating the association between the high-latitude summer-temperature cooling and circumpolar timberline retreat since the Middle Holocene due to Milankovitch forcing. On the other hand, the peatland pine recruitment was made possible by drier than present surface conditions during the previously reconstructed Middle Holocene drought anomaly (Hyvärinen-Alhonen event). Our data suggest this event was not continuous but reached its two-phase climax during the peatland pine phases, with an interruption of several centuries with moister surface conditions between 4400 and 4100 cal. a BC. The findings highlight the sensitivity of well-dated peatland tree assemblages in terms of recording past climatic evolution and events and the need for new collections from north and south Fennoscandia and the Baltic region, for more detailed analyses over extended time intervals and regions.Peer reviewe