Talk by physical geographer Dr Darren Davies on tree-ring science and ancient timbers, with a Q&A and handling session.
Dr Darren Davies is taking over the Museum of Gloucester on Saturday 21 November for a talk called Reading the Rings: How Trees Reveal the Past. He's a physical geographer, and the whole session is built around dendrochronology — the science of tree rings — and what they can actually tell us about the world.
Most of us know the basic idea: one ring for every year. But Davies takes that a step further, showing how new chemical techniques are changing what we can get out of them. It's not just about dating an old piece of wood; it's about the climate records locked inside. He'll be talking through how those rings help us figure out the age of ancient objects and how the climate we're living in today compares to the past. If you've ever wondered how we actually know what the weather was like hundreds of years ago, this is exactly where that comes from.
The talk runs from 14:00 to 15:00, and there's a Q&A afterwards, so you can ask your own questions once he's finished. The best bit comes after that: you're invited to stay on and get up close with real historic timbers. It's one thing to hear about tree rings in a talk, and another to actually see them in the wood they came from.
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So, if you're into history, climate, or just how things are dated, it's a good one to have on. It's at the Museum of Gloucester on Saturday 21 November, 14:00 to 15:00, with the timbers to look at once the talk and Q&A are done.
