Dating Techniques
Following the success of timber sampling in the 2000 fieldwork season, this strategy was continued in 2001 under the guidance (and saws) of Nigel Nayling (University of Wales, Lampeter). Further sections of trees exposed on the submerged land surfaces have been recovered for analysis both on the Mesolithic peat shelf at Bouldnor Cliff and the later, and far more extensive exposures around Pitts Deep and Tanners Hard.
Nigel Nayling liberating a wood sample from a NW Solent tree
The main objective of this work has been to provide material for the construction of tree-ring chronologies from oak trees preserved in the waterlogged sediments. Precise dating of tree-ring sequences could provide the key to a clearer understanding of the timing of environmental changes in the development of the Solent including sea-level change since the last glaciation. Analysis of samples from the earlier trees, dating to approximately 8000-8500 years ago, may help to extent existing British tree-ring curves which presently run back no further than about 7000 years ago. Work on samples taken in 2000 suggests possible links to Mesolithic material from the Severn Estuary being studied as part of a NERC-funded research project. Diving in the challenging environment of the Solent has also allowed the development of sampling procedures suited to SCUBA diving and improved underwater assessment techniques which can be applied elsewhere.
The abiding impression left from 2001 is the huge potential of the submerged landscapes of the Solent. From a dendrochronological perspective, they offer a rare opportunity to investigate a period of our deeper past when lowland river valleys and coastal plains occupied by hunter-gatherer communities were swathed in oak-rich forests before being lost to the sea.This technique has been used successfully on a variety of recent HWTMA projects including the 2003 Bouldnor Cliff Project, the Alum Bay I wreck site and the Langstone Harbour Logboat.
Section of Mesolithic tree from Bouldnor Cliff