A Dendrochronological Study of the Origin of Driftwood in Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, N.W.T., Canada

Abstract

Archaeological sites in Frobisher Bay, located far above the treeline, yielded large amounts of wooden remains. Questions were raised about the source of that wood. Forty driftwood samples were collected from the shores and analyzed by dendrochronological and wood-anatomical methods to determine their origins and ages. Four Picea logs are cross-dated via tree-ring chronologies from the Yukon River drainage in Alaska and two Pinus samples are cross-dated with a tree-ring chronology from the Yenisey River in Siberia. The Picea driftwood and some Larix driftwood were eroded naturally from river terraces, while most Pinus and Larix wood escaped logging and floating operations along Russian rivers. We propose that wood on the shores of Frobisher Bay drifted from the Arctic Ocean via Fram Strait, between Greenland and Svalbard, and around the southern tip of Greenland rather than through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.