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The First 377-Year Tree-Ring Chronology in Russia Based on Charcoals from Ancient Altai Iron-Smelting Furnaces (Mountains of Southern Siberia)

  • GEOECOLOGY
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Abstract

Charcoal is a common material for radiocarbon dating. Meanwhile, it is underestimated as an object of dendrochronological analysis used to date natural and historical–archaeological events with an accuracy of up to a year. The new approach to charcoal sample preparation developed by the authors makes it possible to remove previous restrictions on this fragile material imposed in the dendrochronological studies and to use it as an efficient information source in paleoecology, paleoclimatology, paleogeography, and archaeology. This new method has been applied to construct a 377-year tree-ring chronology using archaeological charcoals from ancient iron-smelting furnaces in the Chuya–Kurai ferrous metallurgy province of the Russian Altai. This tree-ring chronology of charcoal is the first in Russia and the longest in dendrochronological practice throughout the world. Further analysis will provide new information on the nature and archaeological events of the high-mountain region located in the center of Eurasia.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to E.V. Vodyasov and I.Yu. Slyusarenko for the opportunity to work with the charcoal collection from the Kuekhtonar archeological monument.

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grant no. 22-27-00454.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Siberian Federal University, 660041, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

    V. S. Myglan & V. V. Barinov

  2. Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 630058, Novosibirsk, Russia

    A. R. Agatova & R. K. Nepop

  3. Ural Federal University, 620075, Yekaterinburg, Russia

    A. R. Agatova & R. K. Nepop

  4. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia

    M. O. Filatova

Authors
  1. V. S. Myglan
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  2. V. V. Barinov
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  3. A. R. Agatova
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  4. R. K. Nepop
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  5. M. O. Filatova
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. R. Agatova.

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The authors of this work declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Translated by E. Maslennikova

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Myglan, V.S., Barinov, V.V., Agatova, A.R. et al. The First 377-Year Tree-Ring Chronology in Russia Based on Charcoals from Ancient Altai Iron-Smelting Furnaces (Mountains of Southern Siberia). Dokl. Earth Sc. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X24600889

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X24600889

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