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Updated: Oct 9, 2025

Dendrochronological Dating and Provenancing of String Instruments
Published on: October 6, 2022
Single-year radiocarbon dating anchors Viking Age trade cycles in time
Bente Philippsen1,2, Claus Feveile3, Jesper Olsen4,5
1Aarhus AMS Centre (AARAMS), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. bphilipp@au.dk.
Abstract:
Recent discoveries of rapid changes in the atmospheric 14C concentration linked to solar particle events have spurred the construction of new radiocarbon annual calibration datasets1-13. With these datasets, radiocarbon dating becomes relevant for urban sites, which require dates at higher resolution than previous calibration datasets could offer. Here we use a single-year radiocarbon calibration curve to anchor the archaeological stratigraphy of a Viking Age trade centre in time. We present absolutely dated evidence for artefact finds charting the expansion of long-distance trade from as far away as Arctic Norway and the Middle East, which we linked to the beginning of the Viking Age at AD 790 ± 10. The methods developed here enable human interactions and cultural, climatic and environmental changes to be compared in archaeological stratigraphies worldwide.
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