Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Scientists can now date some stave churches more accurately than in the past. A non-destructive measurement method called photodendrometry was used by researchers, and it shows that several stave churches are older than the dates previously attributed to them.
Stave churches are medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe.
What’s the real age of Norwegian stave churches?
With this technique, the material can be photographed in place. The method has the advantage of not needing to take core samples, and scientists can photograph large amounts of material in a protected building and procure larger amounts of data. This provides more precise knowledge of the estimated construction date because it allows wood that cannot be core sampled to also be dated.