Radiocarbon Age Calibration Back to 13,300 Years BP and the 14C Age Matching of the German Oak and US Bristlecone Pine Chronologies

Abstract

With the recent establishment of an unbroken West European tree-ring sequence spanning the past 7272 years (Pilcher et al, 1984) the calibration of the 14C time scale was advanced considerably. It is now possible to use this chronology as an independent cross-check on the 8681-year US Bristlecone Pine series (Ferguson & Graybill, 1983). There also are opportunities for 14C matching (wiggle matching) between the older portion of the Bristlecone Pine series and floating (not tied to the present) parts of the South German Oak sequence. Linick, Suess and Becker (1985) used this approach in matching the earliest part of the Bristlecone Pine series with the Donau 6 Main 4/11 (Becker, 1983) series and thus established a D6M4/11 “zero” point (tree-ring no. 1) of 7215 bc.