The Potentials and Challenges of Dendroarchaeology in Aotearoa New Zealand
The settlement of Aotearoa New Zealand by humans occurred only ~800 years ago with Polynesian arrival. While such a short time scale might appear unproblematic, accurately dating Māori wooden cultural heritage such as preserved palisades and waka (canoes) using western scientific methods (radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology) can be difficult. This is largely due to radiocarbon calibration uncertainties in the last 800 years, and tree species and growth ring characteristics limiting application of classic dendrochronological dating. The lack of temporal precision in dating wooden cultural heritage impacts our ability to contextualise them, hindering understanding of connections to other taonga (treasures), people and past societal and environmental change.
In this talk, Gretel Boswijk outlines some of the potentials and challenges of dendroarchaeology in NZ and present a new research project that combines ring width dendrochronology, tree-ring based 14C calibration and stable isotope (SI) research, with the intention of delivering advanced, accurate and precise calendar-dating of archaeological sites and wooden taonga (treasures) in NZ.
The lecture in English will take place at 6:00 PM c.t. in the Gartensaal of the Wiegandhaus (entrance at Peter-Lenné-Str. 28). If you are interested, we kindly ask you to register in advance via email: veranstaltung.zentrale@dainst.de.
The lecture will also be streamed via Zoom. Please use the following link: