The National Swedish Laboratory for Wood Anatomy and Dendrochronology

VDL

The National Swedish Laboratory for Wood Anatomy and Dendrochronology is part of the ArchLab consortium (http://archlab.se/), which was formed by a group of six leading scientifically oriented archaeology facilities in 2014 after having been awarded a planning grant by the Council for Research Infrastructure (RFI), which is a part of the Swedish Research Council (VR), in 2013.

The internationally respected laboratory have operated since 1973. The laboratory focusses on scientific analyses of wooden archaeological source materials as well as living trees and natural findings for climatologic and forest research. In 1994 it was awarded the status as National Swedish Archaeological Laboratories. Through a government regulation, the research facility was supplied with yearly funding for personnel and equipment during more than two decades until the funding ceased in 2016 following the recent reorganization of infrastructure funding provided by the Swedish Research Council (VR). The laboratory has been regularly monitored by a scientific committee and repeatedly evaluated in a national perspective with very favourable outcomes during recent years. The lab focusses on dendrochronological dating, dendroclimatology and provenance determination of natural and anthropogenic wood samples based on an extensive set of region-specific reference series (chronologies) which is unique for northern Europe. The lab also undertakes species determination on charcoal and other wood remains based on microscopic wood anatomy.

A variety of manual as well as engine-powered instruments are available for sampling of discs and cores of wood from living and dead trees, construction timber and different types of artefacts and art work. The laboratory is also equipped with specially adapted microscopes and measuring devices for tree-ring analysis, some of which are equipped with cameras. The common softwares TSAPwin and Catras is used for measurements, data storage, cross-correlation and various statistical analyses of tree-ring series.

The lab has an extensive set of region-specific reference series (chronologies) which is unique for northern Europe. Chronologies exist for oak and beech from southern Sweden, for pine and spruce from all over Sweden. In addition to the vast Swedish reference network, the lab also harbours references from other parts of Europe and the rest of the world. Extensive reference collections of macroscopic and microscopic wood samples are also available.

The lab focusses on dendrochronological dating, dendroclimatology and provenance determination of natural and anthropogenic wood samples.