Dating sites & networking events: addressing chronological questions using volcanic ash Seminar

Far travelled volcanic ash (tephra) is readily preserved as discrete non-visible layers (cryptotephra) within rapidly accumulating and undisturbed sediments. Consequently, cryptotephra research over the last few decades has focussed on dating and correlating palaeoenvironmental records, including lacustrine, marine, peat bog and ice core archives. This research has brought about improvements in the precision and accuracy of many site-specific age models, as well as advances in our ability to compare independently dated records, allowing evaluation of the synchronicity of abrupt environmental transitions across continental distances. The potential of using cryptotephrochronology within suitable archaeological sites, where it offers the same chronological advances, has also now been realised. Particular success is found within wetland archaeological sites, where studies of land use go hand in hand with palaeoenvironmental investigations, and within cave and rock shelter records, which can offer sheltered environments for sediment accumulation. Examples of recent crypto-tephrostratigraphic applications within palaeoclimate research and archaeology will be presented, aiming to highlight the potential of this method as a valuable multidisciplinary research tool.