New Methods for Sampling Uncharred Archaeological Wood: Minimizing Impacts While Increasing Date Return

In this article, we introduce new methods for taking core samples from wooden beams for dendrochronological analysis and crossdating from uncharred archaeological wood in arid environments. Although many advancements in the analysis of tree-ring samples have occurred over the century since A.E. Douglass first developed dendrochronology, few advancements in the methods of core sample collection have occurred since those he established. With the methods outlined in this article, we hope to provide researchers new, more effective, and efficient ways to sample archaeological wood on-site, methods that are also aimed at reducing the impact of core sampling on archaeological materials and cultural resources, while also reducing the visual impacts to irreplaceable cultural resources. We developed these methods over years of trial and error, and we encourage others to use this how-to-guide and expand on its applications. Although the techniques and tools we describe were developed in the US Southwest, they are readily applicable to arid and semi-arid regions elsewhere in the world.