Dendrochronology from Greece to Arizona or from fire history reconstruction to dendroarcheology

Greece has attracted dendrochronologists’ interest since the late 80s, with the pioneer work of P.I. Kuniholm, whom together with C.L. Striker collected and analyzed tree ring series from several historical buildings, forests and archeological sites in Greece and the surrounding Aegean region. Since then, dendrochronology has also been used for the identification of tree growth – climate relationship, while the use of dendrochronology for fire history reconstruction remains rather limited. With this presentation I will try to summarize my background in dendrochronology, as well as my participation in The Balkan-Aegean Dendrochronology Project: «Tree-Ring Research for the Study of SE-European and East Mediterranean Civilizations», coordinated by Dr. Tomasz Wazny. The primary goal of this project is absolute dating of key events shaping the history of the East-Mediterranean cultures by means of dendrochronology to systematize the historic chronologies.