Dating of sub-fossil oaks from Smarhoṅ riverine sediments

Abstract

Sub-fossil oaks excavated in the vicinity of Smarhon (Belarus) have been in the attention of scientists since the 1960s. The initial dating difficulties were caused by the lack of sufficiently precise radiocarbon dates and missing oak reference chronologies in the Baltic region. The aim of this study was to explore the tree-ring series from sub-fossil oaks found in Smarhon riverine deposits and to construct precisely dated chronologies. The research site (Smarhon in Belarusian language, Smurgainys in Lithuanian) is located in the Grodno district in Belarus, 85 km south-east from Vilnius and 52 km from the present state border of Lithuania. Trunks of oak were excavated in 1968–1972 during the exploitation of a gravel pit, located on the bank of the river Viliya (Neris), approximately 10 km to the east from the Smarhon town. The trunks were found in 3–8 m depth and were of variable size; some samples exceeded 1.5 m in diameter. In total, 129 samples were obtained and 109 cross-sections are being stored in the repository of the Laboratory at present. The earlier radiocarbon datings of sub-fossil oaks already indicated that the dates are dispersed over the whole Holocene. Our investigation confirmed that the accumulation of oaks in the Viliya river valley was not a constant process, and that meandering was common for the river in the vicinity of Smarhon. Cross-dating of the samples has indicated several periods during the Holocene with much higher numbers of accumulated oak trunks, e.g. in 4191–3830 cal BC, 1137–716 cal BC and 778–1326 AD.[...]