Oak wood megafossils found from Kemiö island in SW Finland

Abstract

Subfossil tree trunks recovered from the Holocene deposits are commonly used as indicators of past vegetation shifts and climatic fluctuations. Such findings must be scientifically dated prior to any palaeobotanical or palaeoclimatic interpretations. This study concentrates on a subfossil specimen of oak (Quercus sp.) wood unearthed from Kemiönsaari, SW Finland. The specimen available for scientific examination represents a mature tree with > 150 annual rings and stem diameter c. 25 cm. The age of the tree specimen was determined by radiocarbon dating as 3340 ± 28 BP. Radiocarbon calibration results in a calendar year age range between 1732 and 1532 cal BC. The implications of the results are discussed in a multi-disciplinary context. The investigated oak specimen may not be the first one ever discovered in Finland. However, at least to our knowledge, it represents the first piece of evidence of its kind, rigorously dated and described in the scientific literature.