I used to think carbon dating was the only way to date old sites

A professor from University of Bristol changed my mind last semester. He showed me how tree ring dating matched up with volcanic ash layers in a dig we were studying. The precision was way better than I expected for stuff from 3000 BC. Now I appreciate how many different methods archaeologists use. Has anyone else had a moment where a specific technique suddenly clicked for you?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarb771mo ago

Tree ring dating really clicked for me when I saw how it could pin down the exact year a Viking settlement was abandoned just by looking at the wood. Suddenly all those history class dates felt way more solid.

iris_davis901mo ago

I mean, is it really that serious though? Like okay, you know the year some Vikings left a place, but does that actually change anything about how we understand their whole society or why they left? Tree rings can tell you when wood was cut, sure, but they don't tell you why someone abandoned a settlement. Seems like a lot of hype for something that's just one piece of a much bigger puzzle.