Dendrochronologie des épaves de navires antiques de Méditerranée

Résumé En

On the basis of samples collected over the last twenty-five years during excavations carried out in Frenal Mediterranean coastal waters and during the annual campaigns of reopened, already excavated sites, the dendrochronological study of eighteen wrecks of ancient ships dated from their cargo, the equipment on board and the coins, to be from between the 2nd century BC and the middle of the 5th century AD has enabled twenty-nine site rnean chronologies representative of twelve Mediterranean, mid-European and alpine tree species to be built up. Although floating on a dendrochronological point of view because they have not yet been correlated with master chronologies, these chronologies partially cover the period extending from the beginning of the 3rd century BC to the middle of the 5th century AD The analysis of several tree ring series from different parts of the same wreck often reveals the optimal use of wood. This is illustrated by the fact that several timbers corne from the same tree. The difficulties met in crossdating site chronologies could be due to the sometimes limited representativeness οf certain means because of the small number of samples of which they consist, of the insufficient overlap between site chronologies and the different geographical origins of the timber used.