Constructing the tree-ring chronology and reconstructing summertime air temperatures in southern Altai for the last 1500 years

Abstract

We have constructed and analyzed the 1896-year-long tree-ring chronology for the territory of the Altai Republic. The chronology was based on wood of live trees and remains of trunks of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) from the upper timberline (2300 m) of the Dzhelo river valley. The chronology agrees well with palaeoclimatic data and reflects the main climatic changes in the northern hemisphere for the last two millennia: an extraordinary decrease in increment after the year 536, “mean secular warming”, the “Little Ice Age”, and current warming. By calculating the response function between the tree-ring chronology for the Dzhelo and data from weather stations, it was possible to reconstruct the series of June–July air temperature variability for the last 1500 years. The chronology can be used in dating archaeological wood, i.e. in determining the calendar time at which archaeological monuments were constructed.