Dendrochronological analyses of wood samples from a Late Bronze to early Iron Age site at Lake Luokesa, Lithuania

Tree rings of 184 archaeological wood samples from two Late Bronze to early Iron Age lake sites at Lake Luokesa (Luokesai eA3/4eras), Lithuania, Moletai district, were analyzed. Despite severe difficulties with synchronization, Pinus (pine), Quercus (oak) and Alnus (alder) yielded some cross-datable series. The general picture is that the settlers chose small trees as timber, which they used in their natural round shape. The trees did not grow in homogeneous even-aged stands, but show very different ages and growth levels. Despite the generally low numbers of tree rings in the individual samples, the strong archaeological framework allowed cross-dating of some series and the building of chronologies for single structures. Based on these attempts, a 90 year long first floating chronology of the settlement structures is presented. Luokesa Site 2 (L2) was mainly built within the relative year 53. Luokesa Site 1 (L1) was certainly in use from the relative year 74 onwards. All fences at L1 show their main building activity in the relative year 81, four years after the main building activities in the village itself. It can be concluded that the settlement L1 was in use for at least 16 years. Because of the lack of a standard dendrochronological curve for the Baltic region, wiggle-matching was applied to obtain an absolute date for both settlements. The data clearly show that all samples relate to the Late Bronze-early Iron Age. The period where all wiggle matching results overlap is the period between 625 and 535 bc (the 2 sigma ranges are given). Based on the dating, duration and timber characteristics of the occupation, comparisons with Polish early Iron Age sites are made, which indicate a close resemblance in terms of wood use and settlement concept.