Dendrochronology

I'm reading Jared Diamond's sequel to Guns, Germs, and Steel - Collapse. This may sound dull, but it's fascinating. Carbon dating is only accurate to 50 - 100 years. Using this method, archaeologists can determine the precise year of a site ... really cool.

noun

1 a system of dating using the characteristic patterns of annual growth rings of trees to assign dates to timber. 2  the study of these growth rings dendrochronological adj. dendrochronologist noun 

[Greek dendron tree + chronology] 

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