Time Trees & Prehistory [Hardcover]

Stephen Edward Nash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 1999

Dendrochronology, the science of assigning precise calendar dates to annual growth rings in trees, provided archaeologists with accurate dates at a time when North American archaeologists had no absolute dating techniques available to guide their analyses. TIME, TREES, AND PREHISTORY examines the growth, development, application, and interpretive implications of North American archaeological tree-ring dating from 1914 to 1950. Once established at the University of Arizona in 1929, archaeological tree-ring dating was practiced at several institutions, some of which saw themselves in direct competition with each other. By 1931 the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe, and the Gila Pueblo Archaeological Foundation in Globe, Arizona had all established their own tree-ring dating laboratories. By the end of that decade, intensive efforts were also underway to develop tree-ring dating in Alaska and the American Midwest. Through the analysis of the appropriate institutional archives, this volume chronicles the painstaking research, the trials and tribulations, and the successes and failures of the often famous personalities engaged in tree-ring research at these fledgling dendrochronological institutions. The development of dendrochronology forced archaeologists to radically revise their understanding of the prehistoric past by compressing-by nearly fifty percent-the time scale within which the archaeological record was contained. Basketmaker sites, for instance, were once thought to date some two thousand years before Christ; tree-ring dates demonstrated that these sites dated well into the first millennium. Classic sites in Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde were once thought to have been occupied for upwards of a thousand years, but tree-ring dates demonstrated that such sites were often built, occupied, and abandoned in just over a century. Other similar changes in temporal scale forced archaeologists to reconsider their interpretations of the rate of prehistoric cultural change, population growth, and the degree of social and political complexity in the Southwest. TIME, TREES, AND PREHISTORY examines archaeological practices of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and demonstrates that tree-ring dating set the stage that enabled revolutionary developments in archaeological method and theory in succeeding decades.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stephen E. Nash is an anthropologist at the Field Museum of Natural History.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 294 pages
• Publisher: University of Utah Press; 1St Edition edition (May 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874805899
• ISBN-13: 978-0874805895
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,078,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, not for everyone., March 20, 2007

By 

Rob111111 "Rob111111" (Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time Trees & Prehistory (Hardcover)

Being interested in Dendrochronolgy I found this book extremely informative and fascinating. It is certainly a must have if you are interested in Archaeology as well, especially in the southwestern United States. I love the fact that this book is available and that this material is accessible.

That being said, I did have some trouble finishing it, simply because the story tends to get bogged down in the details. This really is two books in one, the author seems to be attempting to tell the story at the same time he is trying to give as much information as possible. It is a valiant effort but in my opinion doesn't do full justice on either part and you end up with almost, but not quite, enough technical info and a story that is almost, but not quite, a real page turning academic drama.

Aside from the aforementioned caution, I still highly recommend this book. If you are interested in the field this is a book you need to have! If you are just browsing for a casual light read and unfamiliar with this topic or southwestern archaeology in general, you may want to move on to something a little less involved.