Chronology structure and climate research

Chronology as a teaching of time is the subject of research at CEZA in various ways. Using the analytical methods of ¹⁴C dating, luminescence dating and dendrochronology, the age of historical, archaeological and subfossil material is determined and thus events of the past are classified chronologically. CEZA is concerned with the extension and improvement of these dating tools.

The application of the methods to new materials and the extension of the comparative datasets for ¹⁴C calibration (IntCal) and dendrochronology are in the foreground. The broad applicability of these methods also outside of pure dating questions allows their use in climate research.

One of the world’s largest annual ring collections is located at CEZA and is used here as an archive for the reconstruction of climatic changes. CEZA also works closely with the University of Heidelberg as a partner in questions of climate reconstruction and climate observation (ICOS project).