Carol Griggs

Old World megadroughts and pluvials during the Common Era

An atlas of megadroughts in Europe and in the Mediterranean Basin during the Common Era provides insights into climate variability. Climate model projections suggest widespread drying in the Mediterranean Basin and wetting in Fennoscandia in the coming decades largely as a consequence of greenhouse gas forcing of climate. To place these and other “Old World” climate projections into historical perspective based on more complete estimates of natural hydroclimatic variability, we have developed the “Old World Drought Atlas” (OWDA), a set of year-to-year maps of tree-ring reconstructed summer wetness and dryness over Europe and the Mediterranean Basin during the Common Era. The OWDA matches historical accounts of severe drought and wetness with a spatial completeness not previously available. In addition, megadroughts reconstructed over north-central Europe in the 11th and mid-15th centuries reinforce other evidence from North America and Asia that droughts were more severe, extensive, and prolonged over Northern Hemisphere land areas before the 20th century, with an inadequate understanding of their causes. The OWDA provides new data to determine the causes of Old World drought and wetness and attribute past climate variability to forced and/or internal variability.

The Unique History of The Armorer’s Shop: AN APPLICATION OF CONFOCAL X-RAY FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY

Abstract This article presents a multidisciplinary case study of The Armorer’s Shop (North Carolina Museum of Art), a seventeenth-century panel painting attributed to David Teniers the Younger of Flanders. The study was motivated, first, by visual and X-ray radiographic observations suggesting an atypical construction, and second, by the discovery that the depiction of armor in this painting is nearly identical to that in several other works. All but one of these paintings are attributed to Jan Brueghel the Younger, a contemporary Flemish painter related to Teniers by marriage. Stylistic analysis strongly supports the hypothesis that Brueghel completed the armor, whereas Teniers painted the background, figures and objects depicted around the armor. A broad range of materials analysis techniques, particularly cross-sectional analysis, dendrochronology and confocal X-ray fluorescence microscopy (CXRF), were used to establish whether the panel construction and palette composition are consistent with this hypothesis. Dendrochronology shows that the panel was fabricated from three distinct wood planks, and suggests that the smallest of these, the armor plank, was painted approximately 20 years before the other two. CXRF provides direct evidence that this plank was painted before the three planks were combined. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first evidence of the work of a seventeenth-century Flemish painter being re-used in this fashion by a second contemporary painter. Abstract Cet article présente une étude pluridisciplinaire du tableau The Armorer’s Shop (North Carolina Museum of Art), un panneau peint du XVIIe siècle attribué à David Teniers le Jeune, des Flandres. L’étude était motivée, premièrement, par des observations faites à partir de l’examen visuel et de celui des radiographies qui suggéraient une construction atypique, et deuxièmement par la découverte du fait que la représentation de l’armure dans ce tableau est presque identique à celles de plusieurs autres oeuvres. Toutes les peintures, sauf une, sont attribuées à Jan Breughel le Jeune, un peintre flamand contemporain parent de Teniers par alliance. L’analyse stylistique soutient fortement l’hypothèse que Breughel a peint l’armure, alors que Teniers peignait l’arrière-plan, les personnages et les objets dépeints autour de l’armure. Un large éventail de techniques d’analyse, notamment l’analyse de coupes stratigraphiques, la dendrochronologie et la microscopie confocale de fluorescence des rayons X, a été utilisé pour déterminer si la construction du panneau et la palette sont compatibles avec cette hypothèse. La dendrochronologie a montré que le panneau a été fabriqué avec trois planches et suggère que la plus petite de celles-ci, la planche de l’armure, aurait été peinte environ 20 ans avant les autres. De plus, la microscopie confocale de fluorescence des rayons X a démontré que cette planche a été peinte avant que les trois planches soient assemblées. Pour autant que le sachent les auteurs, ceci est le premier témoignage du travail d’un peintre flamand du XVIIe siècle réutilisé de cette façon par un autre peintre contemporain. Abstract In diesem Artikel wird eine multidisziplinäre Studie zu dem flämischen Gemälde The Armorer’s Shop (North Carolina Museum of Art) von David Teniers dem Jüngeren präsentiert. Die Studie wurde durch die bei der Betrachtung unter dem Mikroskop und bei Radiographischen Untersuchungen sichtbar werdende, ungewöhnliche Konstruktion motiviert sowie dadurch, dass die Darstellung der Waffen nahezu identisch mit zahlreichen anderen Werken ist. Mit Ausnahme eines sind alle diese Werke Jan Brueghel dem Jüngeren zugeschrieben, einem zeitgenössischen flämischen Maler, der mit Teniers durch Heirat verwandt war. Eine stilistische Analyse unterstützt die Hypothese, dass die Waffen von Breughel gemalt worden sind, während Teniers Hintergrund, Figuren und andere Objekte gemalt hat. Die Ganze Breite materialanlytischer Techniken wie Dendrochronologie oder Confocale Röntgenfluoreszenzmikroskopie (CXRF) wurden insbesondere an Querschliffen durchgeführt, um die Frage zu klären, ob die Konstruktion der Tafel und die verwendete Palette mit dieser Hypothese in Übereinstimmung gebracht werden kann. Die Holzuntersuchungen zeigen, dass die Tafel aus drei Brettern besteht, deren kleinstes, das Waffen- Brett, etwa. 20 Jahre älter ist als die anderen. CXRF zeigte dementsprechend, daß dieses Brett bemalt wurde, bevor die Tafel zusammengefügt wurde. Nach Wissen des Autors ist dies der erste Beleg einer Wiederverwendung eines Flämischen Werkes des 17. Jahrhunderts in dieser Art. Abstract Este artículo presenta el caso del estudio multidisciplinar de La tienda del armero(North Carolina Museum of Art), una pintura sobre tabla del siglo XVII atribuida al artista flamenco David Teniers el Joven. El comienzo de estudio estuvo motivado, en primer lugar, por observaciones visuales y radiográficas que sugerían una construcción atípica, y, en segundo lugar, por el descubrimiento de que la representación de la armadura en este cuadro es casi idéntica a la existente en muchas otras obras. Todas, con una única excepción, son atribuidas a Jan Brueghel el Joven, un pintor contemporáneo, también flamenco, vinculado a Teniers por matrimonio. El estudio estilístico mantiene con seguridad la hipótesis de que Brueghel terminó la armadura, mientras que Teniers realizó el fondo, las figuras y los objetos representados alrededor de la armadura. Un amplio abanico de técnicas analíticas, especialmente estratigrafías, dendrocronología y microscopía confocal de fluorescencia de rayos X (CXRF), fueron empleadas para el análisis de esta obra con el fin de confirmar si la construcción del panel y la paleta usada pueden ser relacionados con la mencionada hipótesis. La dendrocronología muestra que el panel se fabricó a partir de tres planchas distintas, y sugiere que la más pequeña de ellas, la que corresponde a la armadura es, aproximadamente, veinte años más antigua que las otras dos. La CXRF, además, demuestra que este panel fue pintado antes de que se uniesen las tres piezas. Para los autores esta es la primera evidencia de la reutilización de una obra pictórica flamenca del siglo XVII por un segundo artista contemporáneo.

Integrated Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon High-Resolution Timeframe to Resolve Earlier Second Millennium BCE Mesopotamian Chronology.

500 years of ancient Near Eastern history from the earlier second millennium BCE, including such pivotal figures as Hammurabi of Babylon, Šamši-Adad I (who conquered Aššur) and Zimrilim of Mari, has long floated in calendar time subject to rival chronological schemes up to 150+ years apart. Texts preserved on clay tablets provide much information, including some astronomical references, but despite 100+ years of scholarly effort, chronological resolution has proved impossible. Documents linked with specific Assyrian officials and rulers have been found and associated with archaeological wood samples at Kültepe and Acemhöyük in Turkey, and offer the potential to resolve this long-running problem. Here we show that previous work using tree-ring dating to place these timbers in absolute time has fundamental problems with key dendrochronological crossdates due to small sample numbers in overlapping years and insufficient critical assessment. To address, we have integrated secure dendrochronological sequences directly with radiocarbon (14C) measurements to achieve tightly resolved absolute (calendar) chronological associations and identify the secure links of this tree-ring chronology with the archaeological-historical evidence. The revised tree-ring-sequenced 14C time-series for Kültepe and Acemhöyük is compatible only with the so-called Middle Chronology and not with the rival High, Low or New Chronologies. This finding provides a robust resolution to a century of uncertainty in Mesopotamian chronology and scholarship, and a secure basis for construction of a coherent timeframe and history across the Near East and East Mediterranean in the earlier second millennium BCE. Our re-dating also affects an unusual tree-ring growth anomaly in wood from Porsuk, Turkey, previously tentatively associated with the Minoan eruption of the Santorini volcano. This tree-ring growth anomaly is now directly dated ~1681–1673 BCE (68.2% highest posterior density range), ~20 years earlier than previous assessments, indicating that it likely has no association with the subsequent Santorini volcanic eruption.

A Reappraisal of the Dendrochronology and Dating of Tille Höyük (1993)

The results of a tentative oak tree-ring chronology built from charcoal samples found in Late Bronze to early Iron Age contexts (late 2nd millennium to early 1st millennium BCE) at the site of Tille Hoyuk in southeast Turkey, and its placement in time, was published in 1993 (Summers 1993). This represented one of the few publications about archaeological dendrochronology for this period and region. However, the dendrochronological sequence and its crossdating have been ques- tioned, including in this journal (Keenan 2002). Here, we critically reassess and revise the dendrochronological positioning of the sites building phases and their place in time by absolutely dating 7 decadal tree-ring sequences via radiocarbon wiggle- matching.

Collaboration or Appropriation? Examining a 17th c. Panel by David Teniers the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Younger Using Confocal X-Ray Fluorescence Microscopy

The 17 th c. Flemish painting on panel, The Armorers Shop , has long been attributed to David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690). The painting depicts an opulent pile of parade armor at the bottom left foreground, a seated armorer at the bottom right foreground, and a forge surrounded by workers in the middle ground. The Teniers attribution is derived from his signature at the bottom right as well as figural groups and other visual elements that are commonly associated with him and executed in his style. During dendrochronological examination of the painting, a portion of the oak plank comprising the overall structure was found to have been carved out so that a smaller plank (containing the parade armor) could be inserted into the resulting depression. This unusual construction, combined with the identification of several paintings by Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601-1678) depicting the same parade armor, raised questions about the attribution and chronology of construction of the painting. Art historical research suggests that the smaller plank with the armor was painted by Brueghel and that the remainder of the panel with the workers and forge was painted by his brother-in-law Teniers. While Brueghel writes of collaborating with Teniers in his journal, this appears to be the only identified collaboration of the two artists. Conventional microanalysis methods did not resolve the paintings construction chronology. However, confocal x-ray fluorescence microscopy (CXRF) revealed the composition and location of buried paint layers at the panel interfaces by combining depth scans at a number of adjacent lateral positions to produce virtual cross-sections over 20 mm in length. The relationship of the paint layers at the panel interfaces provided evidence for the armor panel having been painted separately and prior to the rest of the composition. This data, along with dendrochronological and IRR data, provided a chronology of construction for the painting that provided additional evidence for a Brueghel attribution. An overview of the CXRF technique will be provided along with a discussion of how CXRF data relates to data collected using SEM-EDS, FTIR, Raman, conventional XRF, x-radiography, IRR, and dendrochronology.

Fluctuating radiocarbon offsets observed in the southern Levant and implications for archaeological chronology debates

Significance We observe a substantive and fluctuating offset in measured radiocarbon ages between plant material growing in the southern Levant versus the standard Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon calibration dataset derived from trees growing in central and northern Europe and North America. This likely relates to differences in growing seasons with a climate imprint. This finding is significant for, and affects, any radiocarbon application in the southern Levant region and especially for high-resolution archaeological dating—the focus of much recent work and scholarly debate, especially surrounding the timeframe of the earlier Iron Age (earlier Biblical period). Our findings change the basis of this debate; our data point to lower (more recent) ages by variously a few years to several decades. Considerable work has gone into developing high-precision radiocarbon (14C) chronologies for the southern Levant region during the Late Bronze to Iron Age/early Biblical periods (∼1200–600 BC), but there has been little consideration whether the current standard Northern Hemisphere 14C calibration curve (IntCal13) is appropriate for this region. We measured 14C ages of calendar-dated tree rings from AD 1610 to 1940 from southern Jordan to investigate contemporary 14C levels and to compare these with IntCal13. Our data reveal an average offset of ∼19 14C years, but, more interestingly, this offset seems to vary in importance through time. While relatively small, such an offset has substantial relevance to high-resolution 14C chronologies for the southern Levant, both archaeological and paleoenvironmental. For example, reconsidering two published studies, we find differences, on average, of 60% between the 95.4% probability ranges determined from IntCal13 versus those approximately allowing for the observed offset pattern. Such differences affect, and even potentially undermine, several current archaeological and historical positions and controversies.