Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory

• Sturt Manning
• Peter Kuniholm
• Peter Brewer
• Carol Griggs
• Charlotte Pearson
• Tomasz Wazny
• Research Aides
• PhD Students

Charlotte Pearson

Tel. (Lab): 60-255-8650
Email: clp66@cornell.edu

Charlotte joined the lab as a Research Associate in July 2007 from the University of Reading, UK, where she was manager of Archaeological, Forensic, and Environmental Scientific Services within the School of Human and Environmental Sciences.

She has a background in interdisciplinary archaeological science research, with an degree in Environment and Archaeology, a masters in Geoarchaeology and a PhD in Archaeological Geochemistry.

She has been involved with excavations in the Severn Estuary and Scottish Hebrides (UK), and on Cyprus, and has lectured on a range of geoarchaeological subjects.

She has a particular interest in the application of Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Flourescence (SR-XRF), Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), solution ICP-MS, Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to tree-rings and other paleoenvironmental archives.

Research Interests

• Dendrochronology and Dendrochemistry
  • Dating volcanic eruptions or other major environmental events via tree ring chemistry
  • Constructing annually dated pollution histories
  • Chemical tracing of annual growth in tropical wood
  • Provenance (isotope ratios)
  • Climate change causalities
• Geoarchaeology
  • Technique / applications development in soil / sediment micromorphology
  • Volcanic and Glacial geomorphology
  • Paleoenvironmental reconstruction
  • Geochemical / sedimentological analysis of soils and sediments
  • The geoarchaeology of catastrophes
  • Solid rock geology - provenance / materials

Selected Publications

• BROWN, A., MORGAN, R., TURNER, R. & PEARSON, C. L. (2007) Fishing Structures on the Sudbrook Foreshore, Monmouthshire, Severn Estuary. Archaeology in the Severn Estuary, 18:
• PEARSON, C. L., MANNING, S. W., COLEMAN, M. L. & JARVIS, K. (2006) A Dendrochemical study of Pinus sylvestris from Siljansfors Experimental Forest, Central Sweden. Applied Geochemistry, 21: 1681-1691 [URL].
• PEARSON, C. L. (2006) Volcanic Eruptions, Tree Rings and Multielemental Chemistry: An Investigation of Dendrochemical Potential for the Absolute Dating of Past Volcanism BAR International Series 10191.
• PEARSON, C. L. (2006) Under the Microscope: New advances in soil and sediment micromorphology. The Archaeologist, 59: 16-17.
• ARCHER, S., BARTOY, K. M. & PEARSON, C. L. (2006) The life and death of a home: House history in a sub-surface feature. IN: Bartoy, K. M. & Archer, S. Between Dirt and Discussion: Methods, Methodology and Interpretation in Historical Archaeology. Springer.
• PEARSON, C. L., MANNING, S. W., COLEMAN, M. L. & JARVIS, K. (2005) Could Tree-Ring Chemistry Reveal Absolute Dates for Past Volcanic Eruptions? Journal of Archaeological Science, 32: 1265-1274 [PDF].
• PEARSON, C. L., MANNING, S. W., COLEMAN, M. L. & JARVIS, K. (2005) Tree rings, volcanic eruptions and multi-elemental chemistry: The potential of dendrochemical techniques for the absolute dating of past volcanism. Geophysical Research Abstracts, 7: 00804 [PDF].
• COOK, S. R., FULFORD, M., CLARKE, A. & PEARSON, C. L. (2003) Soil Geochemical analyses as an indication of metal working at the excavation of a house in the Roman City at Silchester (UK). Journal of Physics IV France, 107: 319-321 [URL].
• MANNING, S. W., RAMSEY, C. B., DOUMAS, C., MARKETOU, T., CADOGAN, G. & PEARSON, C. L. (2002) New evidence for an early date for the Aegean Late Bronze Age and Thera eruption. Antiquity, 76: 733-744 [PDF].