Dendrochronological dating of frame-and-post type buildings: structure 11 at the Ust-Voikar settlement

The Ust-Voikar site is a multilayered settlement of the indigenous population of the North of Western Siberia, which existed in the Middle Ages - Modern period. This site is one of rare settlement complexes in the region with the frozen cultural layer. The permafrost has ensured relatively good preservation of wooden buildings which form identifiable architectural and space planning structures. A natural and promising step in solving the problems of chronology at the site is using the method of dendrochronology. This article discusses dendroanalysis of residential buildings of the frame-and-post type using the example of one of the buildings from the settlement. Main features of such buildings are external walls of the vertically set elements, closed central room, open hearth in the center, passage along the perimeter of the central room, and wooden floors throughout the entire area of the building. The archaeologized remains of buildings of this type require a more thorough approach in identifying the elements which serve as sources of dendrosamples. The analysis takes into account archaeological and architectural context of dendrosamples ’ origin, species and age of wood, and season of wood harvesting. For analysis, the samples are grouped according to their belonging to certain structural elements of the building. The dendrochronological study has revealed that the building was built in the 1670s. The distribution of dates has shown periodic renovation of details in different elements of the structure. High statistical parameters of synchronization manifested by wood growth series indicates that a number of parts were made of a single tree trunk. The time of the burial found in the building area is estimated according to dendrochronological analysis.