Wijk bij Duurstede is built on top of the Early Medieval settlement Dorestad. In 2008 ‘Veilingterrein’, an area adjoining the former port area, was excavated. Among the finds were 50 water wells....Show moreWijk bij Duurstede is built on top of the Early Medieval settlement Dorestad. In 2008 ‘Veilingterrein’, an area adjoining the former port area, was excavated. Among the finds were 50 water wells. For this study two of these wells were investigated at the Cultural Heritage Agency (lab Stichting RING/RCE). One water well was made of a discarded cask made of 23 oak staves and a piece of beech. Samples were taken from the staves and the tree rings measured. The staves were found to originate from one single tree. Synchronising the data from all staves created a series of 111 tree rings, including 11sapwood rings. This series did not match reliably with the reference chronologies. Cross-dating individual staves with the chronologies was not successful either. The piece of beech could not be dated dendrochronologically. The second water-well, a hollowed-out oak, was sampled, the synchronised measurements totalled 92 rings, no sapwood was present. The wood did not match with the reference chronologies.Show less
