A 2367-Year Tree-Ring Chronology for the Altai–Sayan Region (Mongun-Taiga Mountain Massif)

Wood material from living trees and trunk remains of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ldb) from the upper treeline (2300 m) of the Mongun Taiga mountain massif was used for building up a 2367-year Mongun tree-ring chronology. The chronology is consistent with paleoclimatic data and reflects the main changes in the climate of the Northern Hemisphere over the last two millennia: the cooling of the 6th century, “Medieval warming,” “Little Ice Age,” and the current warming. The calculation of the response function between the chronology and data from weather stations made it possible to reconstruct the variability of air temperatures in June and July for 2000 years. The chronology contains the climate signal of regional scale and is suitable for dating archaeological wood, that is, for determining the calendar time of building the monuments in the Altai–Sayan region.