Using dendrochronology to date the Val Comeau canoe, New Brunswick and developing an eastern white pine chronology in the Canadian Maritimes
- Available online 15 September 2010
Abstract
This paper examines the dendrochronological analysis that was needed to establish the construction date of the Val Comeau canoe. The canoe was unearthed in northeastern New Brunswick after a large storm hit the area. It is currently housed at the New Brunswick Provincial Museum in Saint John, and had been radiocarbon dated to 440 ± 50 years. After a scanning electron microscope analysis, the species of the canoe wood was determined to be eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.). A chronology for the white pine species was constructed for New Brunswick using living trees and structures; however, the dates did not extend far enough back in time to overlap the range of radiocarbon dates on the canoe. Another eastern white pine chronology was established for Nova Scotia which included an Acadian sluice whose chronology extended back into the radio carbon date range on the canoe. The Val Comeau canoe was successfully pattern matched against the sluice chronology and dated to a minimum cut date of 1557. Regional white pine chronologies for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were also developed in the process which will help with future dendrochronological investigations within these regions.
Keywords
- Dendrochronology;
- Eastern white pine;
- Pinus strobus;
- Dugout canoe;
- New Brunswick;
- Canadian Maritimes
Copyright © 2010 Istituto Italiano di Dendrocronologia. Published by Elsevier GmbH All rights reserved.
