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The oldest living tree has seen 9,565 birthdays (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tjikko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tjikko), but it doesn't have 9,565 r
by medstrom 3y ago
The oldest living tree has seen 9,565 birthdays (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tjikko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tjikko), but it doesn't have 9,565 rings. Even if it did, there's a gap of at least a few thousand years ;-)
I'm impressed they got it exact, but wasn't by ring-counting (only).
- thejoneser 3y agoNot necessarily. You can compare dead trees in the same vicinity that were alive at overlapping time intervals. Patterns in the width of the rings will reveal the period over which their lives overlapped. With enough dead trees, if they are preserved well enough, you could go back significantly further and age trees that are long dead.
- schrectacular 3y agoIt's called "Dendrochronology" and this is exactly how it is done. In the Northern Hemisphere they can date back at least 13,910 years.
- chrisco255 3y agoTrees turn into fossils too sometimes.
- medstrom 3y agoYou still have to figure out when it did. If there's a tree with 800 rings, but it died 100,000 years ago, then there's 100,000 years you have to date by some other method, and add 800 on top.