Archaeological significance of the Palaeolithic charcoal assemblage from Krems-Wachtberg

Dendrochronological investigations singled out a number of samples with very similar ring patterns, which obviously had been growing at the same time. As these clusters do not match each other, samples were either not contemporary or grew on climatologically differing places. As a result of these studies, we were able to ascertain the synchronous use of fireplaces 1 and 2 in at least one phase. The advanced methods of charcoal analysis described in this paper can be used for detecting and synchronizing settlement phases on many archaeological sites. In particular, it is possible to significantly enhance the temporal resolution achievable with 14C-ages on wood charcoal.