When I was but a wee lad, I remember learning about how not only the ages of trees could be determined by counting their rings, but also that major environmental events – such as past wildfires, for example – could also be discovered and dated through them. The study of such things – as I was taught – was called dendrochronology.
Dendrochronology, also now termed tree ring research, has greatly developed since I was young, as I learned recently from listening to an interview given by Dr. Valerie Trouet to the In Defense of Plants podcast about her new book Tree Story; The History of the World Written in Rings.
Written as a popular work to bring to a wide audience just what types of things she does in her work, and what astonishingly unexpected things it can uncover, Dr. Trouet’s book explains her own path to and through her field, how the science she practices functions, and offers captivating examples of just what sort of things tree ring research has discovered, “including the fate of lost pirate treasure, successful strategies for surviving California wildfire, the secret to Genghis Khan’s victories, the connection between Egyptian pharaohs and volcanoes, and even the role of olives in the fall of Rome.”
Whether you live in the countryside or the city, you likely have at least a few trees somewhere nearby. Learning what type of things they may have witnessed during their lives and to which the patterns in their very bodies bear testimony sounds quite frankly, to me absolutely fascinating! I look forward to giving it a thorough reading very soon.
