Subfossil Abies alba stems from the 5th millennium BC

Katarina Čufar; Angela Balzano; Daša Krapež; Luka Krže; Anton Velušček; Maks Merela

doi:10.26614/les-wood.2025.v74n02a03

Authors

Katarina Čufar
Angela Balzano
Daša Krapež
Luka Krže
Anton Velušček
Maks Merela

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26614/les-wood.2025.v74n02a03

Keywords:

silver fir = Abies alba, Čadrg, Slovenia, subfossil wood, dendrochronology, radiocarbon dating, light microscopy, 5th millennium BC

Abstract

Subfossil stems of silver fir (Abies alba) trees buried in wet soil were discovered in the Čadrg area above Tolmin, Slovenia. Dendrochronological analysis showed that the five studied trees were large and old, having grown in optimal conditions (maximum diameter and age over 80 cm and 187 years). The radiocarbon dates of the last tree rings below the bark of three trees were 4660 ± 64 cal BC (2σ), 4524 ± 64 cal BC (2σ), and 4272 ± 46 cal BC (1σ), and two tree-ring chronologies for the periods 4831–4524 and 4367–4272 cal BC were compiled. Light microscopy confirmed that the wood is mostly fairly well preserved, but there are areas in the wood where the cell walls are in various stages of decay caused by erosion bacteria. We discuss the significance of the subfossil trees for palaeoecology, archaeology, at the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Copper Age and to prolong the silver fir chronologies for Slovenia and Central Europe.

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