DENDROCHRONOLOGICAL DATING OF THE CHIEF JOHN ROSS HOUSE,ROSSVILLE, GEORGIA

Abstract

The Chief John Ross House is a two-story oak (Quercus spp.) and eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) log structure located in downtown Rossville, Georgia. The log structure was reportedly built in 1797 by John McDonald, grandfather of Chief John Ross, for his Cherokee bride. This construction date first emerged in the 1950s, when efforts were underway to save the structure. Historical documents, however, indicate that the structure did not exist until 1816. Ross lived at the structure until 1828, when he was elected the last principal chief of the Cherokee before the tribe’s forced removal during the Trail of Tears. Using dendroarchaeological techniques, 28 archaeological (increment) cores were removed from the oak portion of the structure in 2007 to verify the construction date. Cores were processed and dated using the white oak (Quercus alba L.) Piney Creek Pocket Wilderness, Tennessee chronology. Of the 28 cores, 22 (from 19 trees) yielded cutting dates clustered around the winter of 1816–17, indicating the structure likely was not built by McDonald. This construction date does, however, make it possible for Chief John Ross himself to have been the builder. This correction to history should increase public attention and preservation efforts at the structure.     

THE BYZANTINE CHURCH OF THE NUTRITION IN NAZARETH REDISCOVERED

Abstract

Although Nazareth has usually been seen by scholars as a relatively minor Byzantine pilgrimage centre, it contained perhaps the most important ‘lost’ Byzantine church in the Holy Land, the Church of the Nutrition – according to De Locis Sanctis built over the house where it was believed that Jesus Christ had been a child. This article, part of a series of final interim reports of the PEF-funded ‘Nazareth Archaeological Project’, presents evidence that this church has been discovered at the present Sisters of Nazareth convent in central Nazareth. The scale of the church and its surrounding structures suggests that Nazareth was a much larger, and more important, centre for Byzantine-period pilgrimage than previously supposed. The church was used in the Crusader period, after a phase of desertion, prior to destruction by fire, probably in the 13th century.     

THE ASSESSMENT OF RADIONUCLIDE DISTRIBUTION IN SILEX BY AUTORADIOGRAPHY IN THE CONTEXT OF DOSE RATE DETERMINATION FOR THERMOLUMINESCENCE DATING

A combination of two autoradiography methods was applied to investigate the radionuclide distribution patterns in a range of different silices. We obtained greyscale images (β‐radiation) and α‐track patterns for qualitative assessment, and used a statistical approach to quantify the degree of uniformity of the radiation fields. It was found that almost all samples are poor in potassium, thorium and uranium, and that locally high concentrations are present only in dark‐coloured veins and inclusions. Statistical analyses reveal evidence of radionuclide clustering in more than half of the 21 specimens. Concerning thermoluminescence dating of burnt lithics, such gradients should be taken into account to improve precision and accuracy in cases where the external radiation is not strongly dominating for the sample under consideration.     

THE ASSESSMENT OF ERROR LIMITS IN THERMOLUMINESCENT DATING

This paper discusses known sources of error, both random and systematic; suggests quantitative limits; and proposes a consistent method for compounding them to yield an overall error in age, both for individual sherds and for the weighted average of a number of sherds from the same context. It is proposed that two error limits should be quoted for the date of a context: first, the standard error of the mean value as calculated from the experimentally observed root-mean-square deviation of the individual samples, and secondly, the expected overall error from the sources discussed in the paper. The former can be considered as a lower limit and relevant when comparing contexts on the same or similar sites whereas the latter is more realistic when comparing TL dates with radiocarbon or archaeologic chronology.     

THERMOLUMINESCENT DATING OF COLOMBIAN POTTERY IN THE YOTOCO STYLE

Two contexts from the Colombian sites, Yotoco Ferry and Moralba, had been linked by archaeological similarities in pottery style, and dated by association with ware from other sites at circaa.d. 1000. However, radiocarbon dating of those contexts set Moralba at circa 800 b.c. , some 2000 yr older than Yotoco Ferry. Thermoluminescent dating of pottery from Yotoco Ferry dated it at circaa.d. 900, and pottery from Moralba was dated at circaa.d. 870. In addition a metal-smelting pottery crucible, thought to be prehispanic, was studied by thermoluminescence and dated, on the contrary, at less than 120 yr old.     

俄罗斯东正教堂巡礼

夕阳余晖,炊烟袅袅,飞鸟归巢,一条静静的小河上,农民们正坐着渡船驶向彼岸,对岸的树林里露出了教堂的一角,低沉而洪亮的钟声正从那向四周荡漾……这是19世纪俄罗斯画家列维坦描绘的田园风光,其中有着奇特球形圆顶的东正教堂已经成为俄罗斯的一道别致景观。     

THE EFFECT OF HF ACID ETCHING ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF QUARTZ INCLUSIONS FOR THERMOLUMINESCENCE DATING

The assumption of isotropic etching in hydrofluoric acid of quartz grains prepared for thermoluminescence dating has been tested by optical and scanning electron microscopy. We have found that the rate of etch is very irregular over the surface of many grains and that some grains are attacked much more severely than others. The uncertainty introduced into TL dating by this effect is discussed.     

STATISTICAL ASPECTS OF POTTERY QUANTIFICATION FOR THE DATING OF SOME ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS*

This paper describes some statistical analyses of a particular archaeological material (pottery) originating at some sites in the city of Tours. An important part of the archaeological study of pottery is the comparison of ceramic assemblages to establish the absolute dates of contexts. In this paper, a statistical model is built to assess this comparison. The statistical procedure uses classical tools (correspondence analysis, linear regression and resampling methods) in an iterative scheme. Archaeologists may find in the paper a useful set of known statistical methods, while statisticians can learn a method of ‘arranging’ well‐known techniques. No method is new, but their combination is characteristic of this application.     

RELIABILITY AND REPEATABILITY IN DENDROCHRONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS: TESTS USING THE FLETCHER ARCHIVE OF PANEL-PAINTING DATA

Research into the dates of timber used for art-historical objects has provided a large data set on which to test standard dendrochronological techniques. Some 177 sets of tree-ring measurements, originally analysed by the late Dr J. M. Fletcher at Oxford University, have been re-examined independently in the tree-ring laboratories at the University of Sheffield and the Museum of London Archaeology Service. The results show a high level of agreement between the laboratories. In contrast, many of the dates produced by Dr Fletcher for the paintings are not confirmed. The two different approaches described here also resulted in remarkably similar internal groupings of the dated material. These groupings probably reflect the provenance of the timbers and suggest that two different areas of the eastern Baltic supplied the bulk of the material with smaller quantities of panels originating in Britain and central Europe.     

THE DATING OF RELIEF-PATTERNED FLUE-TILES

The use of relief-patterned flue-tiles in Roman Britain falls into three main periods: c. 75–90, c. 120–25, and c. 155–75. The assignment of particular dies to each of these periods is examined. The nature of the industry and the specialised functions of particular types of tiles are discussed within the chronological framework. An appendix deals with the sequence of tiletypes used at Fishbourne and a chronological difficulty involving Fishbourne and the Chichester thermae.     

DATING THE BRONZE AGE IN SPAIN

Summary. How can archaeologists combine and use C14 determinations when they have irregular recalibrated dates? This question is solved by an example with six determinations from the Bronze Age settlement of El Castillo in the mountains of eastern Spain. For the first time we can date precisely the end of the Eneolithic to 2150–2110 BC, and the start of a Bronze Age expansion stage by 1960 BC. Each has a distinctive material culture; that of the Bronze Age stage is linked closely to the climax of the Motillas in La Mancha, and more distantly to El Argar in SE Spain.     

THE SUBTRACTION TECHNIQUE OF THERMOLUMINESCENT DATING

Combination of the routine approaches of thermoluminescence dating, the fine-grain and inclusion methods, allows an age to be determined that is independent of knowledge of the environmental dose-rate. This socalled subtraction technique is exampled by several terracottas of museum origin and some pottery collected from archaeological contexts without associated burial media. Age determination is estimated to have an accuracy of around ± 12%, in favourable conditions.     

EVIDENCE FOR CHURCH ORIENTATION BY MAGNETIC COMPASS IN TWELFTH-CENTURY DENMARK

The orientations of some 570 Romanesque churches (one-third of the total) from four regions in Denmark show significant differences in the claimed east-west orientation, being typically rotated 5-15° clockwise from true east-west. Magnetic declination was predominantly easterly between AD 1000 and 1600; the church deviations probably originate from sometimes using a magnetic compass, other simple and plausible causes for this ‘skewness’, for example orientation by the sun at specific periods of the year or astronomical alignment, being hard to design. Hence, some 25% of the churches were probably oriented by means of a magnetic compass. As a tool for dating, the orientations have not yet been successful due to statistical scatter. Church building in Denmark boomed in the twelfth century. The early history of the compass is somewhat uncertain. The first European reference known is from about 1190-1200, while the oldest Norse source is from about 1225 (Landnámabók), saying that the lodestone was not known before. Danish churches thus bring new information about the early use of the magnetic compass in Europe.     

OBSIDIAN HYDRATION DATING: AN IMPROVED OPTICAL TECHNIQUE FOR MEASURING THE WIDTH OF THE HYDRATION RIM

A simple optical method is described that will enhance the color contrast between the outer birefringent hydration rind and the inner unhydrated core on obsidian thin sections used for hydration dating. The technique utilizes a gypsum nccessory plate. The gypsum plate rotates all incoming light by 550nm causing the black isotropic core of the nhsidian to become transparent first-order pink and interacting with the transmitted light from the birefringent rind, by either addition or subtraction. to produce a second-order blue or a first-order yellow color.