The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

not invariably) correspond to the discontinuities required by the Disturbance-Clustering hypothesis. Dendrochronology consists of additive as well as interactive aspects, and I examine both. The former consists of individual- pair crossmatches, conveniently shown in a matrix*[including the data summarized in Table 2], while the latter recognizes the powerful common signal that emerges from the averaging-together of strongly-matched individual trees into a master chronology, as performed by P2Aut, and which is manifested as the master chronology effect*. Hoever, this effect is not limited to correctly- crossmatched trees. It also repeatedly shows up under various situations that involve falsely-crossmatched trees (Table 1 and 2; even poorly-matched ones: Figure 5). I have, in a sense, “put in reverse” for the correctly-matched series that comprise TRN/FIN in the experimental procedures leading to Figure 7. This study is limited to the analysis of previously-archived tree- ring width measurements, and does not consider wood anatomy. However, it is unclear how important it is, in practice, to “look at the wood.” Some dendrochronologists who built the long tree- ring chronologies have informed me (personal communications) that it is the reproducibility of crossmatches that is paramount, and that clues from wood anatomy only occasionally come into play. Evidently, this can be generalized. Thus, Torbenson et al. (2016, p. 64) quip, “Themeasurement of EW[earlywood] and LW[latewood] has not been a routine practiced within dendrochronology in the past…” Finally, as elaborated in the next section, CDendro can automatically make crossmatching decisions, moreover based solely on ring-width data, that are just as trusted as those of a trained dendrochronologist. A comprehensive analysis of the relationship of C-14 dating, and the long tree-ring chronologies, is beyond the scope of this paper. However, I mention some seldom-recognized facts in this regard. This work includes a number of internet-based citations. The concerned reader should realize that they are all from long-term, reputable, scholarly sources—moreover ones that have commonly been cited as authoritative in refereed, printed journal articles. MATERIALS The tree-ring width measurements from the first two mentioned chronologies, and the Scots pine assortment of collections from all over Eurasia, all used in this study, are part of ITRDB, the online international tree-ring archive (NOAA 2018). They involve MWK ( ca535.rwl ), elaborated earlier (Woodmorappe 2003a, 2003b, 2009); the TRN ( Swed334.rwl ) described by Grudd et al. (2002). In addition, I have used tree ring-width data for FIN (Lustia Dendrochronology 2018), which is described by Eronen et al. (2002) and Helama et al. (2008). The tree-ring analysis software, used initially in this study, had been developed by the University of Arizona Tree Ring Laboratory. This includes programs for crossmatching and chronology development (COFECHA); the survey of tree-ring series in a file (SUR); the changing of the layout of tree-ring data (FMT); and the experimental alteration of individual listed tree rings (EDRM). CDENDRO, a commercial Swedish tree-ring program (Larsson 2003-2018) purchased by the author, was extensively used for the visual examination of tree-ring sequences prior to crossmatching, and for comparing tree-ring-matching statistical results from various programs used by dendrochronologists in Europe. It is invaluable for its graphical presentations of tree ring data, and especially for its automatic as well as interactive construction of master chronologies (mean value curves) of listed individual tree- ring series. The editing of individual listed tree ring values was expeditiously conducted by importing the file into Word, changing the numerical figures, and saving it as a .txt file. Whenever they were large, the COFECHA and CDendro output files were imported into Excel for the purpose of sorting the data, as, for example, by the highest t-value false crossmatches. RANDBETWEEN, in Excel, was used whenever a set of random numbers was needed, for a preliminary experiment. A word about computers to the skeptical. Dendrochronology is in no sense a “creation” of computers: It existed long before them. Unambiguous, reproducible ring-width patterns used to be identified and crossmatched visually, and statistical methods were generally eschewed owing to their labor intensiveness. Nowadays, we are blessed by computers that can display the visual patterns, and effortlessly quantify the unambiguously-distinctive crossmatched patterns of rings. In other words, these “number crunchers” merely mathematize, at great speed, the tasks that once had been performed manually, and usually qualitatively, by Woodmorappe ◀ Tree-ring chronology shortening via disturbances ▶ 2018 ICC 653 Figure 1. The Migrating-Disturbance Hypothesis (Woodmorappe 2003a). Slow-moving ring-altering events cause actually-contemporaneous trees to crossmatch in an age-staggered manner, ultimately creating an artificially- old chronology (far right).