How calendrically and chronologically precise can historians and archaeologists be when they write about antiquity? This article begins with the problem of accurate dating of ancient sources for which no calendrical information is given. It ends with the intriguing suggestion that the science of dendrochronology can offer a potential avenue to help Egyptologists be more precise about the history they write about early periods of ancient Egypt.
Tree-ring dating has also popped up recently in discussions of ancient Rome. Above is a tree is dated to the year 212, an important year in the history of the Roman Empire:
Tree that began life in year of Constitutio Antoniana, giving universal Roman citizenship. Tree Ring Lab, UArizona #VICS3 pic.twitter.com/thQrROv2LA
— Joe Manning (@jgmanning) January 13, 2018
You can learn more about the Arizona Tree Ring Lab and the field of Dendrochronology here: http://ltrr.arizona.edu
-Sarit Kattan Gribetz