C04_06

Establishing prehistoric tree-ring chronologies for the southern Balkans: first results from lakeshore settlements of the 6th to 1st millennium BC

Maczkowski A^1,2, Bolliger M^1,2,3, Francuz  J¹, Reich  J^1,3, Hostettler M^1,2,5, Szidat  S^4,2, Hafner A^1,2,6

¹Institute of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, ²Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, ³Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, ⁴Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, ⁵Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden, ⁶MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University, New Haven, USA

During several archaeological campaigns on wetland prehistoric sites in North Macedonia, Greece and Albania almost 2000 subfossil wood samples have been collected. The fieldwork campaigns were conducted within the framework of the ERC Synergy Project EXPLO. The wood has been sampled from building and structural remains on lakeside and underwater archaeological sites and is thus unambiguously linked to the human occupation of these sites. Through dendrochronological measurement of wood from various tree species, multicentennial floating tree-ring (TR) chronologies have been constructed. Radiocarbon dating was used to position the floating chronologies on the calendar age frame, but also to confirm dendrochronological findings. The new TR chronologies open the possibility for refining the cultural chronology in the region, during various periods in the 6th through 1st millennia BC. Possible off-sets between species on non-annual radiocarbon will also be discussed. Additionally, newly discovered Miyake events enable the absolute dating of floating prehistoric chronologies much sooner than it seemed possible only a decade ago.