An interim report on the dendrochronology of Flag Fen and Fengate

The Flag Fen excavations of 1984 revealed a large number of oak timbers and it was immediately apparent that there was potential for dendrochronology. It was suggested that the work should initially comprise a major element in the Ph.D research of Nigel Holman, at the University of Cambridge. The direction of that research, however, moved away from Flag Fen, and it was not until 1987 that the Trust became aware of the situation. It was then decided, after much urgent consultation, that the best approach to the Flag Fen tree-ring analysis would be to undertake the study in-house (Pryor 1991: 111). The intention has been to keep costs low and (in view of the accumulated backlog) to produce as many measured samples as was reasonably possible. The dendrometer and computer facilities were initially provided by the Trust and the full implementation of the scheme has been supervised by the author. This work has been carried out under the supervision of the English Heritage funded Sheffield Dendrochronology Laboratory – to whom special thanks are due.