High-Precision Radiocarbon Measurements of Contemporaneous Tree-Ring Dated Wood from the British Isles and New Zealand: Ad 1850–950

Abstract

The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand and The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland radiocarbon dating laboratories have undertaken a series of high-precision measurements on decadal samples of dendrochronologically dated oak ( Quercus petraea ) from Great Britain and cedar ( Libocedrus bidwillii ) and silver pine ( Lagarostrobos colensoi ) from New Zealand. The results show an average hemispheric offset over the 900 yr of measurement of 40 ± 13 yr. This value is not constant but varies with a periodicity of about 130 yr. The Northern Hemisphere measurements confirm the validity of the Pearson et al. (1986) calibration dataset.