Archaeologists have long been aware of the potential for serious overestimation of site ages based on radiocarbon and tree-ring dates from certain archaeological contexts. The “old wood problem” arises from the human use of deadwood elements for various purposes and the fact that trees are long-lived plants whose rings date to the years in which they were grown rather than to the years in which the organisms died. Despite a fairly unfocused concern with this issue, little effort has been devoted to quantifying the magnitude of the problem.
