Dendrochronology

The faculty, students, and staff of the Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory travel widely to collect cross-sections of trees, whose patterns they carefully measure and index in order to generate overlapping time series used to date ancient buildings and archaeological deposits.

More formally known as the Malcolm and Carolyn Wiener Laboratory for Aegean and Near Eastern Dendrochronology, the lab's research also informs studies of climate change in different parts of the world, going back thousands of years in some locations.

On the wall above the microscopes used to measure tree rings, we see a large chart detailing numerous samples of wood from sites such as Gordion and Mycenae, stretching from the present back to more than 2,500 B.C. A number of wood samples above the desk reveal the extreme lifespans of some trees and show just how much information they can provide in their dense interiors.

Visit the lab web site for more information about methods and projects, history and standards, publications and research results.

Thanks to Sturt Manning, Charlotte Pearson, Carol Griggs, and Pete Brewer (the latter two pictured) for their permission and assistance in creating this WWP entry.

(During the academic year the lab is a hive of activity, however most of the students and faculty normally present at those times travel during the Summer to participate in sample collection and related lab activities.)

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USA-Canada / USA-New York

Lat: 42° 26' 56.07" N
Long: 77° 30' 0.97" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Medium. Nearby, but not to the last decimal.

Nikon D70 with 10.5mm lens; PTGui Pro for Macintosh, Photoshop, CubicConverter.