Church of the Nativity larch, Palestine - PSE001 Additional Site Information Mauro Bernabei, Jarno Bontadi Measurement type: Total ring width Reference: Mauro Bernabei and Jarno Bontadi. 2012. Dendrochronological analysis of the timber structure of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Journal of Cultural Heritage, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. e54–e60, December 2012. DOI: 10.1016/j.culher.2012.10.002 Abstract: The roof rafters and the lintels of the trabeated system of the Church of the Nativity were analysed, determining their tree species, dating the structural timber and, thereby, identifying the principal building/ restoration phases and maintenance operations of the Basilica. The likely provenance of the timber was also determined, giving insight into the commercial trade routes of the time and the prevailing geopolitical connections. The roof timber of the Church is mainly oak, cedar and European larch, whereas its lintel beams consist entirely of cedar. The larch and oak timber was dated dendrochronologically, whereas the cedar could only be dated by radiocarbon analysis. The high correlation values between the Basilica's larch chronology and Alpine reference chronologies for the species indicate that the larch timber originates from the Eastern Alps. The oak site chronology correlates best with Turkish oak master curves made from Istanbul building timber, thereby pointing to a Turkish/Anatolian provenance of the Basilica's oak timber. Individual samples were measured either on photographs or directly on wood, as follows: BN0001 wood BN0002 wood BN0003 wood BN0004 wood BN0005 wood BN0006 wood BN0007 wood BN0008 wood BN0009 wood BN0010 photografic sampling BN0011 wood BN0012 wood BN0013 wood BN0014 wood BN0015 wood BN0016 wood BN0017 wood BN0018 wood BN0019 wood BN0020 wood BN0021 wood BN0022 photografic sampling BN0023 photografic sampling BN0024 wood BN0025 wood BN0026 photografic sampling BN0027 photografic sampling COFECHA output: Chronology file name : PSE001.CRN Measurement file name : PSE001.RWL Date checked : 09NOV16 Checked by : B. Bauer Beginning year : 815 Ending year : 1412 Principal investigators: Mauro Bernabei Jarno Bontadi Site name : Church of the Nativity Site location : Palestine Species information : LADE EUROPEAN LARCH Latitude : 3142 Longitude : 03512 Elevation : M Series intercorrelation: 0.613 Avg mean sensitivity : 0.213 Avg standard deviation : 0.369 Avg autocorrelation : 0.758 Number dated series : 27 Segment length tested : 50 Number problem segments: 17 Pct problem segments : 8.63 PART 5: CORRELATION OF SERIES BY SEGMENTS: Church of the Nativity larch 09:23 Wed 09 Nov 2016 Page 5 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Correlations of 50-year dated segments, lagged 25 years Flags: A = correlation under .3281 but highest as dated; B = correlation higher at other than dated position Seq Series Time_span 900 925 950 975 1000 1025 1050 1075 1100 1125 1150 1175 1200 1225 1250 1275 1300 1325 1350 1375 949 974 999 1024 1049 1074 1099 1124 1149 1174 1199 1224 1249 1274 1299 1324 1349 1374 1399 1424 --- -------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 1 BN0001 1126 1376 .50 .44 .58 .50 .60 .64 .65 .84 .75 .77 2 BN0002 1264 1395 .78 .76 .81 .77 .65 3 BN0003 815 1138 .08B .15B .53 .71 .87 .86 .79 .71 .69 4 BN0004 1292 1410 .67 .74 .79 .53 .47 5 BN0005 1293 1399 .52 .60 .57 .51 6 BN0006 1355 1412 .30A .46 7 BN0007 970 1234 .28B .31A .25B .48 .63 .45 .42 .43 .45 .35 .23B 8 BN0008 1168 1312 .77 .77 .78 .80 .79 .61 9 BN0009 1088 1282 .64 .69 .79 .80 .72 .78 .85 .81 10 BN0010 1124 1270 .69 .70 .62 .54 .66 .40B 11 BN0011 1074 1322 .73 .73 .77 .71 .62 .60 .60 .75 .70 .60 12 BN0012 1033 1340 .73 .68 .75 .86 .84 .74 .65 .57 .59 .72 .56 .46 13 BN0013 1093 1281 .76 .76 .81 .74 .67 .71 .76 .66 14 BN0014 978 1406 .65 .73 .75 .70 .64 .77 .77 .70 .63 .65 .73 .66 .56 .70 .64 .08B .01B 15 BN0015 961 1375 .52 .66 .63 .69 .74 .72 .54 .51 .67 .78 .75 .68 .64 .67 .72 .67 .66 16 BN0016 915 1111 .04B .15B .60 .77 .81 .78 .70 .62 17 BN0017 1087 1202 .62 .71 .79 .79 .80 18 BN0018 984 1197 .62 .66 .61 .73 .74 .31A-.13B-.18B 19 BN0019 1054 1371 .64 .68 .76 .76 .74 .69 .70 .81 .81 .71 .56 .39 20 BN0020 1337 1390 .66 .54 21 BN0021 1026 1195 .61 .66 .67 .76 .78 .71 22 BN0022 1110 1221 .73 .73 .67 .43 23 BN0023 1274 1333 .58 .59 .59 24 BN0024 987 1073 .63 .76 .77 25 BN0025 1302 1406 .65 .77 .57 .42 26 BN0026 1272 1384 .81 .78 .86 .80 .72 27 BN0027 980 1152 .65 .77 .82 .73 .54 .25B .27B Av segment correlation .06 .15 .48 .63 .69 .71 .70 .66 .65 .62 .62 .63 .63 .70 .72 .64 .68 .68 .53 .34 PART 7: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS: Church of the Nativity larch 09:23 Wed 09 Nov 2016 Page 9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corr //-------- Unfiltered --------\\ //---- Filtered -----\\ No. No. No. with Mean Max Std Auto Mean Max Std Auto AR Seq Series Interval Years Segmt Flags Master msmt msmt dev corr sens value dev corr () --- -------- --------- ----- ----- ----- ------ ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- 1 BN0001 1126 1376 251 10 0 .615 .90 3.15 .633 .924 .214 2.52 .348 -.045 1 2 BN0002 1264 1395 132 5 0 .736 1.16 1.87 .269 .499 .180 2.52 .417 .001 1 3 BN0003 815 1138 324 9 2 .569 .55 2.46 .354 .846 .271 2.44 .335 .026 2 4 BN0004 1292 1410 119 5 0 .603 1.50 3.63 .577 .720 .193 2.58 .483 -.017 1 5 BN0005 1293 1399 107 4 0 .503 1.18 3.26 .648 .883 .171 2.65 .547 -.065 1 6 BN0006 1355 1412 58 2 1 .418 1.74 3.69 .646 .857 .150 2.77 .540 .070 1 7 BN0007 970 1234 265 11 4 .382 .62 2.34 .341 .818 .230 2.85 .531 -.025 1 8 BN0008 1168 1312 145 6 0 .710 1.10 3.31 .640 .838 .240 2.64 .397 .018 1 9 BN0009 1088 1282 195 8 0 .745 .86 2.36 .407 .775 .237 2.65 .492 .043 1 10 BN0010 1124 1270 147 6 1 .545 .99 2.24 .392 .728 .217 2.66 .451 -.013 1 11 BN0011 1074 1322 249 10 0 .676 .78 1.68 .288 .867 .151 2.71 .466 .006 2 12 BN0012 1033 1340 308 12 0 .663 .83 1.95 .286 .775 .172 2.63 .405 -.006 1 13 BN0013 1093 1281 189 8 0 .708 .77 1.47 .238 .797 .155 2.66 .357 .044 1 14 BN0014 978 1406 429 17 2 .625 .52 1.50 .244 .836 .228 2.67 .378 -.016 1 15 BN0015 961 1375 415 17 0 .634 .56 1.92 .293 .901 .190 2.65 .355 -.031 2 16 BN0016 915 1111 197 8 2 .532 .72 1.50 .203 .464 .231 2.64 .428 .016 1 17 BN0017 1087 1202 116 5 0 .737 .68 1.29 .224 .661 .212 2.60 .310 -.033 1 18 BN0018 984 1197 214 8 3 .370 .77 1.63 .282 .536 .284 2.68 .443 .010 1 19 BN0019 1054 1371 318 12 0 .666 .48 1.32 .173 .757 .195 2.54 .360 -.025 2 20 BN0020 1337 1390 54 2 0 .658 .48 .97 .151 .612 .204 2.65 .506 -.034 1 21 BN0021 1026 1195 170 6 0 .665 1.04 2.11 .335 .425 .274 2.66 .453 -.057 2 22 BN0022 1110 1221 112 4 0 .570 1.92 5.04 .929 .853 .191 2.70 .461 .047 1 23 BN0023 1274 1333 60 3 0 .564 2.42 4.17 .870 .806 .189 2.53 .472 -.035 1 24 BN0024 987 1073 87 3 0 .691 .72 1.46 .262 .306 .327 2.52 .464 .002 1 25 BN0025 1302 1406 105 4 0 .585 1.66 4.54 .811 .866 .199 2.58 .402 -.015 2 26 BN0026 1272 1384 113 5 0 .784 1.35 2.26 .377 .582 .193 2.50 .393 -.008 1 27 BN0027 980 1152 173 7 2 .584 .89 2.50 .424 .780 .207 2.64 .403 -.022 1 --- -------- --------- ----- ----- ----- ------ ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- Total or mean: 5052 197 17 .613 .85 5.04 .369 .758 .213 2.85 .413 -.008