Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-2n9c9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-14T20:51:55.462Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dendrochronological Dating in Egypt: Work Accomplished and Future Prospects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Peter Ian Kuniholm,
Maryanne Newton,
Hend Sherbiny and
Hussein Bassir
Peter Ian Kuniholm*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, 1215 E. Lowell Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Maryanne Newton
Affiliation:
Middleburg, VA 20018, USA
Hend Sherbiny
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, 1215 E. Lowell Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Hussein Bassir
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, 1215 E. Lowell Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
*
∗ Corresponding author: pik@ltrr.arizona.edu.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

We assess the state of and potential for expansion of dendroarchaeological research in Egypt. We also report previously unpublished findings, which we hope will assist with the new effort in constructing tree-ring chronologies in Egypt. In doing so, we explain briefly some of the problems and potential of the future enterprise.

Keywords

dendroarchaeologyEgyptEgyptologychronologywoodtree ringscedarjunipercrossdating

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , 2014, pp. S93 - S102
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Arnold, Di., 1991. Building in Egypt: Pharaonic Stone Masonry. Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, Do., 2001. Holzdächer spätzeitlicher ägyptischer Tempel. In Archaische griechische Tempel und Altägypten: Internationales Kolloquium am 28. November 1997 am Institut für Ägyptologie der Universität Wien, edited by Bietak, M.; pp. 107–115. Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna.Google Scholar
Bannister, B., 1962. The interpretation of tree-ring dates. American Antiquity 27(4):508–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bannister, B., 1963. Dendrochronology. In Science in Archaeology. Fifty-Five International Authorities Present the Definitive Sourcebook of Method and Technique, edited by Brothwell, D. and Higgs, E.; pp. 162–176. Basic Books, New York.Google Scholar
Bannister, B., 1970. Dendrochronology in the Near East. Current research and future potentialities. Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Moscow, 1964 5:336–340. Reprinted. Tree-Ring Bulletin 1997, Special Issue.Google Scholar
Bannister, B., and Robinson, W. J., 1975. Tree-ring dating in archaeology. World Archaeology 7(2):210–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bannister, B., and Robinson, W. J., 1992. Archaeology and dendrochronology. In Emil W. Haury's Prehistory of the American Southwest, edited by Reid, J. J., and Doyel, D. E.; pp. 49–54. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Bannister, B., Hastings, R. E. Jr., and Banister, J., 1998. Remembering A. E. Douglass. Journal of the Southwest 40(3):307–318.Google Scholar
Bassir, H., 2012. Egypt. Pharaohs, kings and presidents. In The Histories of Nations. How Their Identities Were Forged, edited by Furtado, P.; pp. 19–25. Thames & Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Bassir, H., 2013. The Grand Egyptian Museum. A home for interconnections. Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 5(4):6–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baum, N., 1988. Arbres et Arbustes de l'Egypt Ancienne. La Liste de la Tombe Thébaine d'Inéni (no 81). Peeters, Leuven.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., 2013. Using radiocarbon evidence in Egyptian chronological research. In Radiocarbon and the Chronologies of Ancient Egypt, edited by Shortland, A. J., and Bronk Ramsey, C.; pp. 29–39. Oxbow, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, J. P., 1969. The Lebanon and Phoenicia. Ancient Texts Illustrating Their Physical Geography and Native Industries. I. The Physical Setting and the Forest. American University of Beirut, Beirut.Google Scholar
Brunton, G., and Caton-Thompson, G., 1928. The Badarian Civilisation and Predynastic Remains near Badari. British School of Archaeology in Egypt, London.Google Scholar
Çevre ve Orman Bakanlığı [Ministry of the Environment and Forests], 1999–2003. OsmanlıOrmancılığıile İlgili Belgeler [Ottoman Forestry Documents]. Çevre ve Orman Bakanlığı, Ankara.Google Scholar
Cichocki, O., 2003. Dendrochronological investigations on cedar objects of ancient Egypt. In The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C. II. Proceedings of the SCIEM 2000 - Euro-Conference, Haindorf, 2nd of May–7th of May 2001, edited by Bietak, M.; pp. 43–46. Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna.Google Scholar
Cichocki, O., Bichler, M., Firneis, G., Kutschera, W., Müller, W., and Stadler, P., 2004. Synchronization of civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium BC. Natural science dating. In Tools for Constructing Chronologies. Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries, edited by Buck, C. E., and Millard, A.; pp. 83–109. Springer, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowie, J., 2013. Climate Change. Biological and Human Aspects, 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Davies, W. V., 1995. Ancient Egyptian timber imports. An analysis of wooden coffins in the British Museum. In Egypt, the Aegean and the Levant. Interconnections in the Second Millennium BC, edited by Davies, W. V., and Schofield, L.; pp. 146–156. British Museum, London.Google Scholar
Dean, J., 1978. Tree-ring dating in archaeology. In University of Utah Anthropological Papers: Misc. Paper 24, edited by Jennings, J.; pp. 129–163. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Dean, J., 1996. Dendrochronology and the study of human behavior. In Tree Rings, Environment and Humanity. Proceedings of the International Conference, Tucson, Arizona 17–21 May 1994, edited by Dean, J. S., Meko, D., and Swetnam, T. W.; pp. 461–469. Radiocarbon, Tucson.Google Scholar
Deglin, F., 2012. Wood exploitation in ancient Egypt: Where, who and how? In Current Research in Egyptology 2011. Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Symposium Which Took Place at Durham University, United Kingdom, March 2011, edited by Abd El Gawad, H., Andrews, N., Correas-Amador, M., Tamorri, V., and Taylor, J.; pp. 85–96. Oxbow, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douglass, A. E., 1929. The secret of the Southwest solved by talkative tree rings. National Geographic Magazine 56(6):736–770.Google Scholar
Dunwiddie, P. 1979. Dendrochronological studies of indigenous New Zealand trees. New Zealand Journal of Botany 17:251–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El Gabry, D., 2014. Chairs, Stools, and Footstools in the New Kingdom. Production, Typology, and Social Analysis. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engelbach, R., 1931. Ancient Egyptian woods. Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte 31:144.Google Scholar
Gale, R., Gasson, P., and Hepper, N., 2009. Wood. In Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, edited by Nicholson, P. T., and Shaw, I.; pp. 334–352. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gilbert, A. S., 1995. The flora and fauna of the ancient Near East. In Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. I, edited by Sasson, J. M.; pp. 153–174. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Greiss, E. A. M., 1957. Anatomical Identification of Some Ancient Egyptian Plant Materials. C. Tsoumas, Cairo.Google Scholar
Haldane, C. W., 1984. The Dashur Boats. Unpublished M.A. thesis. Texas A & M University, College Station, TX.Google Scholar
Hannig, R., 2006. Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch (2800–950 v. Chr.). Die Sprache der Pharaonen. Phillip von Zabern, Mainz.Google Scholar
Harvey, J., 2001. Wooden Statues of the Old Kingdom. A Typological Study. Brill, Leiden.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haury, E. W., 1935. Tree rings. The archaeologist's time-piece. American Antiquity 1(2):98–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haury, E. W., 1962. HH-39: Recollections of a dramatic moment in Southwestern archaeology. Tree-Ring Bulletin 24(3–4):11–14.Google Scholar
Haury, E. W., 1994. HH-39: Recollections of a dramatic moment in Southwestern archaeology. In Emil W. Haury's Prehistory of the American Southwest, edited by Reid, J. J., and Doyel, D. E.; pp. 55–60. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Hepper, F. N., 1990. Pharaoh's Flowers. The Botanical Treasures of Tutankhamun. KWS Publishers, London.Google Scholar
Hepper, F. N., 1996. Timber trees of western Asia. In The Furniture of Western Asia, Ancient and Traditional. Conference at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, June 28 to 30, 1993, edited by Herrmann, G.; pp. 1–12. Phillip von Zabern, Mainz.Google Scholar
Hornung, E., Krauss, R., and Warburton, D. A., editors, 2006. Ancient Egyptian Chronology. Brill, Leiden.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, M. K., Kuniholm, P. I., Eischeid, J., Garfin, G., Griggs, C. B., and Latini, C., 2001. Aegean tree-ring signatures explained. Tree-Ring Research 57(1):67–73.Google Scholar
Judd, N. M., 1962. Andrew Ellicott Douglass 1867–1962. American Antiquity 28(1):87–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Killen, G., 1994a. Ancient Egyptian Furniture. II. Boxes, Chests and Footstools. Aris & Phillips, Warminster.Google Scholar
Killen, G., 1994b. Egyptian Woodworking and Furniture. Shire, Princes Risborough, UK.Google Scholar
Killen, G., 1996. Le travail du bois et ses techniques dans l'Égypte ancienne. Translated by A. Berthoin-Mathieu. Égypte, Afrique & Orient 3:2–7.Google Scholar
Killen, G., 2001. Woodworking. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. III, edited by Redford, D. B.; pp. 516–519. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Killen, G., 2009. Wood. In Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, edited Nicholson, P. T., and Shaw, I.; pp. 353–367. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Kitchen, K. A., 2013. Establishing chronology in Pharaonic Egypt and the ancient Near East. Interlocking textual sources relating to c. 1600–664 BC. In Radiocarbon and the Chronologies of Ancient Egypt, edited by Shortland, A. J., and Bronk Ramsey, C.; pp. 1–18. Oxbow, Oxford.Google Scholar
Kromer, B., Manning, S. W., Kuniholm, P. I., Newton, M. W., Spurk, M., and Levin, I., 2001. Regional 14CO2 gradients in the troposphere: Magnitude, mechanisms and consequences. Science 294(5551):2529–2532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuniholm, P. I., 1977. Dendrochronology at Gordion and on the Anatolian Plateau. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., 1996. The prehistoric Aegean. Dendrochronological progress as of 1995. Acta Archaeologica 67:327–335.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., 1997. Wood. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, edited by Meyers, E. M.; pp. 347–349. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., 2000. Dendrochronologically dated Ottoman monuments. In Breaking New Ground for an Archaeology of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Baram, U. and Carroll, L.; pp. 93–136. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., 2001. Aegean Dendrochronology Project. 1999–2000 results. In Proceedings of the XXIInd Symposium on Excavation, Research and Archaeometry (Izmir, May 2000); pp. 79–84. Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, Ankara.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., 2002. Dendrochronological investigations at Herculaneum and Pompeii. In The Natural History of Pompeii, edited by Jashemski, W. F., and Meyer, F. G.; pp. 235–239. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., and Newton, M. W., 1990. A 677 year long tree-ring chronology for the Middle Bronze Age. In Anatolia and the Ancient Near East. Studies in Honor of Tahsin Özgüç, edited by Emre, K., Mellink, M., Hrouda, B., and Özgüç, N.; pp. 279–293. Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevı, Ankara.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., and Newton, M. W., 2011. Dendrochronology at Gordion. In The New Chronology of Early Iron Age Gordion, edited by Rose, C. B., and Darbyshire, G.; pp. 79–122. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., and Striker, C. L., 1987. Dendrochronological investigations in the Aegean and neighboring regions, 1983–1986. Journal of Field Archaeology 14(4):385–398.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., Kromer, B., Manning, S. W., Newton, M., Latini, C. E., and Bruce, M. J., 1996. Anatolian tree rings and the absolute chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean, 2220–718 BC. Nature 381(6585):780–783.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., Newton, M. W., Griggs, C. B., and Sullivan, P. J., 2005. Dendrochronological dating in Anatolia. The Second Millennium B.C. significance for early metallurgy. In Anatolia III, Der Anschnitt, Beiheft 18, edited by Yalçın, Ü.; pp. 41–17. Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, Bochum.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., Griggs, C. B., Newton, M. W., 2007. Evidence for early timber trade in the Mediterranean. In Byzantina Mediterranea. Festschrift für Johannes Koder zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Belke, K., Kisslinger, E., Külzer, A., and Stassinopoulou, M. A.; pp. 365–385. Böhlau, Vienna.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I., Pearson, C. L., Ważny, T. J., and Griggs, C. B., in press. A 2367-year oak tree-ring chronology from 98 sites for the Aegean, East Mediterranean, and Black Seas. The Marmaray contribution. In Istanbul and Water. Ancient Near Eastern Studies Supplement 47, edited by Magdalino, P., and Ergin, N. Peeters, Leuven.Google Scholar
Lorentzen, B., 2013. Variability in Levantine Tree-Ring Records and Its Applications in Dendrochronological Dating, Provenancing, and Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction in the Southern Levant. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Cornell University, Ithaca.Google Scholar
Lorentzen, B., Kuniholm, P. I., and Wazny, T., in press. Chapter 23. Dendrochronological Dating and Provenancing of the Late Ottoman Buildings. In Excavations at the Kishle Site, Yafo, edited by Arbel, Y. The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Lorentzen, B., Kuniholm, P. I., Wazny, T., Bernabei, M., Griggs, C. B., and Bontadi, J., 2011. Identifying imported European and North Mediterranean timber use and non-use in the southern Levant through dendro-provenancing. Poster presented at Eurodendro 2011, Engelberg, Switzerland, September 19–23, 2011.Google Scholar
Lorentzen, B., Kuniholm, P. I., and Wazny, T., 2012. Cedar of Lebanon (made in Anatolia). Reconstructing Late Ottoman timber trade networks with dendrochronology and dendroprovenancing. Presentation given at Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, New York, February 24–28, 2012.Google Scholar
Lucas, A., and Harris, J. R., 1962. Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries. Kessinger Publishing, London.Google Scholar
Manning, S. W., Kromer, B., Kuniholm, P. I., Newton, M. W., 2001. Anatolian tree-rings and a new chronology for the East Mediterranean Bronze–Iron Ages. Science 294(5551):2532–2535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manning, S. W., Kromer, B., Kuniholm, P. I., and Newton, M. W., 2003. Confirmation of near-absolute dating of East Mediterranean Bronze–Iron dendrochronology. Antiquity 77(295). http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/Manning/manning.html.Google Scholar
Manning, S. W., Dee, M. W., Wild, E. M., Bronk Ramsey, C., Bandy, K., Creasman, P. P., Griggs, C. B., Pearson, C. L., Shortland, A. J., and Steier, P., 2014. High-precision dendro-14C dating of two cedar wood sequences from First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom Egypt and a small regional climate-related 14C divergence. Journal of Archaeological Science 46:401–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meiggs, R., 1982. Trees and Timber in the Ancient Mediterranean World. Oxford.Google Scholar
Mikhail, A., 2011. Nature and Empire in Ottoman Egypt. An Environmental History. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitsutani, T., 2004. Dendrochronology and the Latest Imaging Equipments [sic]. Applications to Ancient Architecture, Carved Wooden Buddha Statues, and Wooden Artifacts . National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Nara.Google Scholar
Nash, S. E., 1998. Time for collaboration. A. E. Douglass, archaeologists, and the establishment of tree-ring dating in the American Southwest. Journal of the American Southwest 40(3):261–305.Google Scholar
Nash, S. E., 1999. Time, Trees, and Prehistory. Tree-Ring Dating and the Development of North American Archaeology, 1914 to 1950. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Nash, S. E., 2008. Seven decades of archaeological tree-ring dating. In It's About Time. A History of Archaeological Dating in North America, edited by Nash, S. E.; pp. 60–83. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Nash, S. E., and Dean, J. S., 2005. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions and archaeology. Uniting the social and natural sciences in the American Southwest and beyond. In Southwest Archaeology in the Twentieth Century, edited by Cordell, L. S., and Fowler, D. D.; pp. 125–141. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Newton, M. W., 2004. Selected Problems in Aegean and Near Eastern Dendrochronology. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell University, Ithaca.Google Scholar
Newton, M. W., and Kuniholm, P. I., 2004. A dendrochronological framework for the Assyrian colony period in Asia Minor. In TÜBA-AR 10: Featuring Complex Societies from Early Villages to Early Towns. Studies in Memory of Robert J. Braidwood; pp. 165–176. Turkish Academy of Sciences, Ankara.Google Scholar
Nibbi, A., 1981. Ancient Egypt and Some Eastern Neighbors. Noyes, Park Ridge, NJ.Google Scholar
Nibbi, A., 1987. Some remarks on the lexicon entry. Zeder, cedar. Discussions in Egyptology 7:13–27.Google Scholar
Nibbi, A., 1990. A note on the cedarwood from Maadi. Discussions in Egyptology 17:25–27.Google Scholar
Oakley, K. P., 1932. Woods used by the ancient Egyptians. Analyst 57(672):158–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patch, D. C., and Haldane, C. W., 1990. The Pharaoh's Boat at the Carnegie. Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Postgate, J. N., and Powell, M., editors, 1992. Trees and Timber in Mesopotamia. Sumerian Agriculture Group, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Reid, J. J., and Whittlesey, S. M., 2005. Seven years that reshaped Southwest prehistory. In Southwest Archaeology in the Twentieth Century, edited by Cordell, L. S. and Fowler, D. D.; pp. 47–59. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Rich, S., 2013. Ship Timber as Symbol? Dendro-Provenancing and Contextualizing Ancient Cedar Ship Remains from the Eastern Mediterranean/Near East. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. KU Leuven. Leuven.Google Scholar
Rizkana, I., and Seeher, J., 1989. Maadi III. The Non-Lithic Small Finds and the Structural Remains of the Predynastic Settlement. Phillip von Zabern, Mainz.Google Scholar
Ryholt, K. S. B., 1997. The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c. 1800–1550 B.C. Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Schweingruber, F. H., 1988. Tree Rings. Basics and Applications of Dendrochronology. Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Shaw, I., 2000a. Introduction. Chronologies and cultural change in Egypt. In The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Shaw, I.; pp. 1–16. Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, I., editor, 2000b. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sowada, K. N., 2009. Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Old Kingdom. An Archaeological Perspective. Academic Press, Fribourg.Google Scholar
Speer, J. H., 2010. Fundamentals of Tree-Ring Research. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Thirgood, J. V., 1981. Man and the Mediterranean Forest. A History of Resource Depletion. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Touchan, R., and Hughes, M. K., 2009. Dendroclimatology in the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean Region. In Tree-Rings, Kings and Old World Archaeology and Environment. Papers Presented in Honor of Peter Ian Kuniholm, edited by Manning, S. W., and Bruce, M. J.; pp. 65–70. Oxbow, Oxford.Google Scholar
Touchan, R., Meko, D., and Hughes, M. K., 1998. A 396-year reconstruction of precipitation in southern Jordan. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 35(1):49–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turkish Forestry Research Institute, 1990. International Cedar Symposium, 22–27 October, 1990, Antalya, Secretariat of the Organizing Committee, Orman Bakanliği, Ankara.Google Scholar
Ward, C., 2000. Sacred and Secular. Ancient Egyptian Ships and Boats. Archaeological Institute of America, Boston.Google Scholar
Ward, C., 2006. Boat-building and its social context in early Egypt. Interpretations from the First Dynasty boat-grave cemetery at Abydos. Antiquity 80(307):118–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, C., and Zazzaro, C., 2010. Evidence for Pharaonic seagoing ships at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis, Egypt. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 39(1):27–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, G. E., 1983. Tree Rings and Telescopes. The Scientific Career of A. E. Douglass. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Wilson, P., 1997. A Ptolemaic Lexikon. A Lexicographical Study of the Texts in the Temple of Edfu. Peeters, Leuven.Google Scholar
Wittmack, L., 1912. Holz vom Porträtkopf der altägyptischen Königin Teje (18. Dynastie, ca. 1400 v. Chr.). Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft 30:275–278.Google Scholar