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© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Dendroarchaeology is under-represented in the Gulf Coastal Plain region of the United States (US), and at present, only three published studies have precision dated a collection of 18th–19th-century structures. In this study, we examined the tree-ring data from pine, poplar, and oak timbers used in the Walker House in Tupelo, Mississippi. The Walker House was constructed ca. the mid-1800s with timbers that appeared to be recycled from previous structures. In total, we examined 30 samples (16 pines, 8 oaks, and 6 poplars) from the attic and crawlspace. We cross-dated latewood ring growth from the attic pine samples to the period 1541–1734 (r = 0.52, t = 8.43, p < 0.0001) using a 514-year longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) latewood reference chronology from southern Mississippi. The crawlspace oak samples produced a 57-year chronology that we dated against a white oak (Quercus alba L.) reference chronology from northeast Alabama to the period 1765–1822 (r = 0.36, t = 2.83, p < 0.01). We were unable to cross-date the six poplar samples due to a lack of poplar reference chronologies in the region. Our findings have two important implications: (1) the pine material dated to 1734 represents the oldest dendroarchaeology-confirmed dating match for construction materials in the southeastern US, and (2) cross-dating latewood growth for southeastern US pine species produced statistically significant results, whereas total ring width failed to produce significant dating results.

Details

Title
Latewood Ring Width Reveals CE 1734 Felling Dates for Walker House Timbers in Tupelo, Mississippi, USA
Author
Patterson, Thomas W 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Harley, Grant L 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Holt, David H 1 ; Doherty, Raymond T 3 ; King, Daniel J 2 ; Heeter, Karen J 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Chasez, Ashley L 1 ; Crowell, Alyssa C 1 ; Stewart, Ian M 1 

 School of Biological, Environmental and Earth Sciences, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406, USA; [email protected] (D.H.H.); [email protected] (A.L.C.); [email protected] (A.C.C.); [email protected] (I.M.S.) 
 Department of Earth and Spatial Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA; [email protected] (G.L.H.); [email protected] (D.J.K.); [email protected] (K.J.H.) 
 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 38677, USA; [email protected] 
First page
670
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
19994907
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2544802846
Copyright
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.