PROGRESS TOWARDS A BYZANTINE-MEDIEVAL HISTORIC BUILDINGS TREE-RING CHRONOLOGY FROM CYPRUS USING DENDROCHRONOLOGY AND RADIOCARBON

ABSTRACT The rich architectural heritage of Cyprus from the period of Byzantine and Latin rule includes 10 churches inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list. Most of these monuments preserve wooden elements: whether structural, decorative or furnishings. Many preserve wall paintings that are considered among the best examples of Byzantine and Medieval art in the Eastern Mediterranean. The dating of these paintings as well as the church buildings themselves, has been based mainly on style, with occasional dedicatory inscriptions and related historical interpretation. We report early results from a project investigating the wooden cultural heritage of Cyprus and in particular the combined use of dendrochronology with radiocarbon via tree-ring sequenced 14 C wiggle-matching to help place initial tree-ring sequences. This includes a floating 264-year Pinus brutia chronology from several monuments, which, with a ca. 5-year gap, suggests prospects for >700-years of P. brutia chronology for Cyprus, and, with one gap of several decades to fill, ca. 1100 years of Pinus nigra chronology for Cyprus. Several currently floating elements from the multi-phase UNESCO-listed Timios Stravros church at Pelendri, including a terminus post quem for the celebrated liturgical wooden cross, are approximately dated across the 11th to 16th centuries AD.