Dendrochronology

The science of dating and interpreting past environmental conditions and events by analysing annual growth rings in trees and woody plants, using ring width, density, anatomical features, and cross‑dating to build chronologies and infer climate, disturbance, and calendar ages.

A dating and environmental-reconstruction method that uses the sequence of annual growth rings in wood to assign precise calendar years to tree-ring patterns (cross‑dating) and to infer past climatic or ecological conditions; it requires preserved wood with identifiable rings and an overlapping reference chronology.