Botany
Tree Ring Cross-Section
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Sliced across the trunk, a tree reveals a ring for every year it grew — wider rings mark good growing years, narrower ones mark drought or stress, turning a cross-section into a readable record.
Additional Information
This dating method is called dendrochronology, and it can date wood samples to the exact calendar year they grew.
Tree rings have been used to date historical events, verify old wooden artifacts, and even reconstruct centuries of past climate and rainfall.
The oldest known living trees, some bristlecone pines, have ring counts confirming ages beyond 4,800 years.