one area demonstrated the preference of stockpiling their wood before use, the other did not. At both sites, however, it was revealed that the re-use and salvage of old wood was frequent. Another successful use of dendrochronology, which changes older opinions, in the Aegean area, is at the Church of the Holy Apostles, which lies in Thessaloniki. In this church exists a confusing monogram, ( which archaeologists have been unable to fully understand for some time ) suggesting a date of 1310 – 1314. Dendrochronological research carried out in 1990, by Kuniholm and Striker, however, gives a date of 1329.As well as being important as an analytical technique, dendrochronology is useful to archaeology in a different way also. In 1970 Furgeson was the first archaeologist to use dendrochronology to calibrate carbon – 14 dating. By plotting the true date, achieved by counting the tree rings, against the radiocarbon date, the result can be used to establish actual carbon – 14 and carbon – 12 ratios. These ratios can then be used to convert the radiocarbon results from different samples into calendar dates. When Furgeson conducted his research in 1970 he used dendrochronology of bristlecone pines to calibrate radiocarbon dating back 7484 years B.P. In 1991, Becker took these results further. He published an accurate dendrochronological calibration back 13,000 years B.P.Despite the obvious importance of dendrochronology to archaeology, like any technique it does have clear limitations. For dendrochronology to be successful, firstly it is important to have a long ring sequence. Samples with less than about 100 rings are of little use. Similarly it is important to have a large amount of samples. The more samples, the greater the accuracy of the analysis. For example it is impossible to tell from looking at the interior evidence of one sample whether the wood was specifically cut, or perhaps re-used from an earlier structure. I...
