Abstract The application of tree-ring research to the study of cultural heritage has seen important conceptual and methodological developments in the 21 st century. Following the breakthrough discovery in the 1980s of the importation of timber from the south-eastern Baltic to the Low Countries for panel paintings, the historical timber trade acquired paramount relevance in European dendrochronology. The improvement of methods and tools to locate the area of origin of the wood has since become a focal line of research. Reference chronologies of different variables (ring width, earlywood, latewood, earlywood vessel size in oak, latewood density in conifers, stable isotope chronologies of δ13C, δ18O) are now being developed in areas formerly (and currently) exploited for timber production, and isotopic signatures of 87Sr/86Sr are being mapped to provide a geochemical reference. In parallel, novel techniques to identify wood species (automated wood identification, chemical biomarkers, DNA barcoding) and their application on historical and ancient wood are being explored, given that this could sometimes help narrow down the timber source area. Modern technology is playing a key role in the study of wooden objects through non-invasive methods, and collaboration with (art) historians, mathematicians, engineers and conservators has proven essential in current achievements. Tree-ring series can now be retrieved from high resolution X-ray computed tomography images, allowing the research of otherwise inaccessible pieces. This paper reviews recent advances in those fields (tree-ring based dendroprovenancing, wood species identification, chemical fingerprinting, use of genetic markers, isotopic signatures, and non-invasive methods), and discusses their implementation and challenges in dendroarchaeological studies.

中文翻译：

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只见树木不见森林：21世纪树木考古的新方法和挑战

摘要 树轮研究在文化遗产研究中的应用在 21 世纪出现了重要的概念和方法发展。继 1980 年代从波罗的海东南部向低地国家进口木材用于面板画的突破性发现之后，历史木材贸易在欧洲树木年代学中获得了至关重要的相关性。改进木材原产地定位方法和工具已成为研究的重点。不同变量的参考年表（年轮宽度、早材、晚材、橡木中的早材容器尺寸、针叶树中的晚材密度、δ13C、δ18O 的稳定同位素年表）现在正在以前（和目前）用于木材生产的地区开发，正在绘制 87Sr/86Sr 的同位素特征以提供地球化学参考。与此同时，正在探索识别木材种类的新技术（自动木材识别、化学生物标志物、DNA 条形码）及其在历史和古代木材上的应用，因为这有时有助于缩小木材来源区域。现代技术在通过非侵入性方法研究木制物品中发挥着关键作用，与（艺术）历史学家、数学家、工程师和保护者的合作已被证明对当前的成就至关重要。现在可以从高分辨率 X 射线计算机断层扫描图像中检索树轮系列，从而可以研究其他无法访问的碎片。本文回顾了这些领域的最新进展（基于树轮的树木繁殖、木材物种鉴定、