{ "model": { "rank": 5967, "code": "thing-q80205", "model_id": "vr.tr.dendrochronology", "name": "dendrochronology", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to record and assess dendrochronological work, determine which tree-ring dates are defensible, and choose justified next analytical steps.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Activities and processes", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "ACT", "domain": "ACT.ACT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q80205/", "tier": 2, "score": 63, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [], "aliasCount": 0, "merged": 0, "knownIn": 63, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q80205", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q80205", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-07T10:25:39Z", "providers": [ "Codex", "Grok" ], "missingProviders": [], "pass": 2, "cost": { "grok": { "usd": 0.01172558, "turns": 1, "seconds": 136.3, "error": null }, "codex": { "seconds": 88.9, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.3\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a07b62-488a-7af0-848b-6ca9393525c3\n--------\nuser\nYou are drafting a Vercy meta-model for one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: dendrochronology\nRegistry id: vr.tr.dendrochronology\nPlane / domain: ACT / ACT.ACT\nRegistry definition: (none recorded)\nNames folded into this entry:" } } }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q80205", "registryId": "vr.tr.dendrochronology", "name": "dendrochronology", "version": "0.1.0-research.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.ACT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q80205/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.dendrochronology", "name": "dendrochronology", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to record and assess dendrochronological work, determine which tree-ring dates are defensible, and choose justified next analytical steps.", "definition": "Dendrochronology is the calendar dating and environmental interpretation of wood by cross-matching sequences of annual radial growth rings against independently built regional master chronologies, so that a given ring can be assigned to a specific year rather than only to a radiocarbon age range.", "scope_statement": "This model owns dendrochronology as an activity under vr.tr.dendrochronology: establishing ring sequences, crossdating them, constructing chronologies, and qualifying the dates and evidence supplied to subsequent interpretations.", "in_scope": [ "Suitability of woody specimens and sampling designs for tree-ring dating", "Ring identification, measurement, and resolution of anatomical anomalies", "Crossdating within and between trees and against reference chronologies", "Construction, calendar anchoring, and assessment of chronologies", "Dating conclusions, uncertainty, reproducibility, and limits on downstream interpretation" ], "out_of_scope": [ "General tree identification, physiology, and forest management", "Full archaeological site interpretation and building history", "Climate reconstruction models fitted to dated tree-ring measurements", "Radiocarbon laboratory measurement and calibration procedures", "General collections management and wood conservation treatment" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Requires evidence of matching ring patterns across sequences to justify dating; a ring count alone is insufficient. See [University of Arizona crossdating guidance](https://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/skeletonplot/ringanomalies.htm).", "Records the assignment of growth increments to years, including unresolved assignments, rather than merely describing wood anatomy or tree dimensions.", "Distinguishes a relatively aligned floating sequence from one supported by an explicit calendar anchor.", "Uses the ordered ring sequence as dating evidence; an associated radiocarbon result remains a separate constraint with its own evidential basis.", "Separates the date of preserved wood growth from proposed felling, construction, deposition, or environmental events." ], "characteristics": [ { "name": "Analytical objective", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "specimen dating; chronology construction; chronology extension; dating verification", "why_it_matters": "Determines the necessary comparisons, sample coverage, and acceptance criteria." }, { "name": "Annual-ring suitability", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "supported; unresolved; unsuitable for intended annual dating", "why_it_matters": "An agent must assess annual increment formation for the taxon and growth setting before interpreting ring positions as years." }, { "name": "Specimen-to-tree attribution", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "sample and measured radius linked to source tree or timber, with uncertain shared origin recorded", "why_it_matters": "Multiple radii from one tree must not be counted as independent trees." }, { "name": "Preserved sequence extent", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "observed increment count; assigned year span when established", "why_it_matters": "Constrains potential overlap and records the difference between visible increments and resolved annual positions." }, { "name": "Ring-width measurement", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "millimetres per identified increment, with instrument resolution and measurement path", "why_it_matters": "Retains the observations used to compare growth patterns." }, { "name": "Anomaly resolution", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "unexamined; suspected; resolved; unresolved, separately for each affected position", "why_it_matters": "Missing or false rings can alter the alignment of the entire sequence." }, { "name": "Crossdating support", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "overlap in years; named similarity statistics with values; visual assessment and alternative placements", "why_it_matters": "Allows match strength to be judged in the context of the actual method and evidence." }, { "name": "Chronology anchoring", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "floating; provisionally calendar-anchored; accepted calendar-anchored; disputed", "why_it_matters": "Controls whether an agent may report calendar years or only relative positions." }, { "name": "Independent replication through time", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "contributing trees and contributing series per year, recorded separately", "why_it_matters": "Exposes weakly supported chronology intervals and dependence among samples." }, { "name": "Outer-edge preservation", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "bark or waney edge present; sapwood present with edge lost; heartwood only; indeterminate", "why_it_matters": "Limits what the last preserved ring can establish about felling." }, { "name": "Dating disposition", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "unassessed; candidate; accepted for stated use; rejected; unresolved", "why_it_matters": "Makes the permitted use of a proposed date explicit." } ], "affordances": [ "Assess specimen suitability and propose additional samples or radii that could resolve a dating problem.", "Trace measured increments to specimen images and flag suspected missing, false, or damaged rings.", "Compare candidate alignments and record the evidence for accepting or rejecting each placement.", "Build or extend a chronology while checking independent replication and calendar anchoring.", "Issue a qualified dating result that separates preserved growth dates from inferred event dates.", "Reopen affected dates and downstream conclusions when ring assignments or reference chronologies change." ] }, "sources": [ { "id": "fritts-1976", "title": "Tree Rings and Climate", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "Canonical account of how annual rings record climate, of crossdating, and of the measurements (ring width, density) used in dendroclimatology." }, { "id": "stokes-smiley-1968", "title": "An Introduction to Tree-Ring Dating", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "Laboratory practice of skeleton plotting, crossdating, and assigning calendar years to ring series; University of Arizona Press (1968, reprinted 1996)." }, { "id": "speer-2010", "title": "Fundamentals of Tree-Ring Research", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "Current field and lab methods, subfields (climatology, ecology, geomorphology, archaeology), and standard statistics such as EPS." }, { "id": "cook-kairiukstis-1990", "title": "Methods of Dendrochronology: Applications in the Environmental Sciences", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "Standardization, chronology building, and environmental applications; Kluwer Academic / IIASA." }, { "id": "baillie-1982", "title": "Tree-Ring Dating and Archaeology", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "European oak practice, archaeological felling dates versus construction dates, and the Baillie-Pilcher t-value used to accept a match." }, { "id": "wikipedia-dendrochronology", "title": "Dendrochronology", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrochronology", "what_it_supports": "Overview of the method, subfields, limitations (missing and false rings, tropical woods), and neighbouring dating techniques.", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "wikidata-q128110", "title": "dendrochronology (Q128110)", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q128110", "what_it_supports": "Stable identifier for the method as a Wikidata item.", "url_status": "live" } ], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "sampling-and-datability", "name": "Sampling and datability", "description": "Establish whether available wood and its sampling context can support the intended tree-ring analysis.", "rationale": "Dating quality depends on annual-ring suitability, preservation, and genuinely independent material.", "layers": [ { "id": "growth-context", "name": "Growth context", "description": "Connect the specimen to the biological and environmental conditions needed to interpret its increments.", "findings": [ { "id": "annual-increment-basis", "name": "Annual increment basis", "description": "Record the evidence that visible growth boundaries represent annual increments in this taxon and setting.", "questions": [ { "text": "What evidence supports annual ring formation for this taxon at its known or proposed growth location?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "annual-increment-basis-q01" }, { "text": "Which anatomical or growth conditions make annual boundary recognition uncertain?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "annual-increment-basis-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "sample-selection", "name": "Sample selection", "description": "Assess the dating value and independence of collected or proposed samples.", "findings": [ { "id": "coverage-and-sampling-constraints", "name": "Coverage and sampling constraints", "description": "Record specimen origin, radii, preserved extent, and constraints on obtaining better dating evidence.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which cores, sections, or timbers represent distinct trees, and which may share a source tree?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "coverage-and-sampling-constraints-q01" }, { "text": "Would another radius or specimen resolve the identified weakness, and is that sampling permitted?", "kind": "action", "id": "coverage-and-sampling-constraints-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "ring-sequence-observation", "name": "Ring sequence observation", "description": "Preserve the path from physical growth boundaries to an ordered measurement sequence.", "rationale": "A dating result must remain inspectable when a boundary identification or measurement is challenged.", "layers": [ { "id": "boundary-identification", "name": "Boundary identification", "description": "Record observed increments and distinguish observations from interpreted annual positions.", "findings": [ { "id": "ring-anomalies", "name": "Ring anomalies", "description": "Track suspected false and locally absent rings and the comparisons used to resolve them; these anomalies can defeat simple ring counting. See [University of Arizona ring-anomaly examples](https://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/skeletonplot/ringanomalies.htm).", "questions": [ { "text": "Where are boundaries ambiguous, duplicated, locally absent, or obscured by damage?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "ring-anomalies-q01" }, { "text": "What comparison with another radius or tree supports each proposed insertion, exclusion, or reassignment?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "ring-anomalies-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "measurement-traceability", "name": "Measurement traceability", "description": "Connect values to the specimen surface and measurement procedure.", "findings": [ { "id": "measured-ring-series", "name": "Measured ring series", "description": "Retain measurement paths, units, resolution, preparation details, and corrections separately from dating interpretations.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which specimen path, ring boundaries, instrument, units, and resolution produced the recorded values?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "measured-ring-series-q01" }, { "text": "Which values were remeasured or corrected, and what observation justified each change?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "measured-ring-series-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "crossdating-and-placement", "name": "Crossdating and placement", "description": "Evaluate alignment hypotheses and establish whether ring positions can receive calendar dates.", "rationale": "Pattern agreement and calendar anchoring require explicit evidence and may fail independently.", "layers": [ { "id": "alignment-testing", "name": "Alignment testing", "description": "Compare candidate placements without concealing contradictory intervals or competing matches.", "findings": [ { "id": "candidate-match-evidence", "name": "Candidate match evidence", "description": "Record visual agreement, statistical diagnostics, overlap, preprocessing, and alternative offsets for each proposed match.", "questions": [ { "text": "What overlap, diagnostic values, and distinctive ring patterns support each candidate offset?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "candidate-match-evidence-q01" }, { "text": "Which alternative placements and mismatching intervals were examined before accepting this alignment?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "candidate-match-evidence-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "calendar-assignment", "name": "Calendar assignment", "description": "Make the route from relative positions to calendar years inspectable.", "findings": [ { "id": "anchor-and-year-convention", "name": "Anchor and year convention", "description": "Record the anchor evidence, reference chronology version, and convention for assigning growth seasons to calendar years.", "questions": [ { "text": "What evidence anchors this sequence to calendar years, and which reference or independently dated ring supplies it?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "anchor-and-year-convention-q01" }, { "text": "How are cross-calendar-year growing seasons and any BCE/CE dates represented?", "kind": "definition", "id": "anchor-and-year-convention-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "chronology-construction", "name": "Chronology construction", "description": "Describe how dated series are combined and where the resulting chronology has adequate support.", "rationale": "A reference chronology's reliability varies with its contributing trees, processing choices, and temporal coverage.", "layers": [ { "id": "series-combination", "name": "Series combination", "description": "Preserve the relationship between individual measurements and a combined chronology.", "findings": [ { "id": "processing-and-membership", "name": "Processing and membership", "description": "Record included and excluded series, transformations, detrending when used, and aggregation choices. Raw measurements and growth-index chronologies are distinct products in the [NOAA tree-ring archive](https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/paleoclimatology/tree-ring).", "questions": [ { "text": "Which dated series contribute, and why were other candidate series excluded?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "processing-and-membership-q01" }, { "text": "What transformations and aggregation methods produced the chronology, and where are the original measurements retained?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "processing-and-membership-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "temporal-support", "name": "Temporal support", "description": "Expose changes in replication and agreement across the chronology.", "findings": [ { "id": "weak-intervals-and-reference-fitness", "name": "Weak intervals and reference fitness", "description": "Identify sparsely supported intervals, dependence on individual trees, and the justified range of reference use.", "questions": [ { "text": "How many independent trees and measured series support each interval, and how consistent are their patterns?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "weak-intervals-and-reference-fitness-q01" }, { "text": "Which intervals or target growth contexts require additional evidence before this chronology is used for dating?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "weak-intervals-and-reference-fitness-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "dating-results-and-use", "name": "Dating results and use", "description": "Convert the dating assessment into a bounded conclusion and justified next actions.", "rationale": "An accepted ring date does not by itself establish tree age, felling date, or the date of a human event.", "layers": [ { "id": "event-date-boundaries", "name": "Event date boundaries", "description": "Distinguish observed growth dates from interpretations requiring additional evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "preserved-edge-and-event-inference", "name": "Preserved edge and event inference", "description": "Record pith and outer-edge preservation, any estimated missing growth, and assumptions connecting growth to felling or use.", "questions": [ { "text": "Are pith, sapwood, bark, or waney edge preserved, and what limits do missing portions place on the conclusion?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "preserved-edge-and-event-inference-q01" }, { "text": "What separate evidence supports translating the last preserved ring date into a felling, construction, or deposition date?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "preserved-edge-and-event-inference-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "acceptance-and-revision", "name": "Acceptance and revision", "description": "Record whether a result is usable and what would warrant changing it.", "findings": [ { "id": "qualified-dating-decision", "name": "Qualified dating decision", "description": "Retain the decision, reviewer rationale, unresolved alternatives, and dependencies that may require reassessment.", "questions": [ { "text": "Is the placement accepted, provisional, rejected, or unresolved, and for which intended use?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "qualified-dating-decision-q01" }, { "text": "What remeasurement, independent comparison, or reference revision would trigger reconsideration, and which dependent results would need review?", "kind": "action", "id": "qualified-dating-decision-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evidence-and-external-alignment", "name": "Evidence and external alignment", "description": "What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.", "rationale": "A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.", "layers": [ { "id": "reported-evidence", "name": "Reported evidence", "description": "Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds", "name": "Kinds and varieties", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Archaeological and historic-building dendrochronology (felling dates of structural timber)", "Dendroclimatology (temperature, drought and precipitation reconstructions from ring width, density or isotopes)", "Dendroecology (fire, insect outbreak, stand release and disturbance histories)", "Dendrogeomorphology (dating landslides, floods, debris flows and glacier advances from living and killed trees)", "Dendroprovenancing (geographic origin of timber by matching to regional chronologies)", "Art-historical and organological dating (panel paintings, sculptures, musical instruments)", "Radiocarbon calibration and wiggle-matching on tree-ring-dated wood (IntCal-type series)", "Isotopic and chemical dendrochronology (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C, trace elements in cellulose or wood)" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds-q01", "text": "Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of dendrochronology this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-identifiers", "name": "Identifiers and schemes", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "scheme": "Wikidata", "value_or_pattern": "Q128110", "note": "Item for dendrochronology as a dating and environmental method." }, { "scheme": "Library of Congress Subject Headings", "value_or_pattern": "Dendrochronology", "note": "Established LCSH used in library and heritage catalogues." }, { "scheme": "NOAA ITRDB site/series code", "value_or_pattern": "typically a 2-3 letter region prefix plus a numeric site number (e.g. AZ033), with ring-width files in Tucson/decadal .rwl form", "note": "De facto public identifier for archived tree-ring measurement series in the International Tree-Ring Data Bank." } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-identifiers-q01", "text": "Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of dendrochronology this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation", "name": "Standards and regulation", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "NOAA NCEI International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB): contribution rules and Tucson (decadal) measurement-file format for archived ring-width and density series.", "Historic England / English Heritage, Dendrochronology: Guidelines on producing and interpreting dendrochronological dates - heritage practice for sampling buildings and reporting felling versus construction dates.", "IntCal working group (published in the journal Radiocarbon): tree-ring-dated wood is the backbone of Holocene radiocarbon calibration; laboratories follow IntCal rather than a product-safety statute.", "Disciplinary crossdating conventions (Tree-Ring Society / European oak labs): measurement to 0.01 mm; a calendar match commonly requires a Baillie-Pilcher t-value of about 3.5 or higher, often much higher for short series." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01", "text": "Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of dendrochronology this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-real-world-use", "name": "Real-world use", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Dating the felling year of oak or conifer timbers in standing buildings, ships, wells and pile dwellings, often to a calendar year when bark or waney edge is present.", "Assigning a terminus post quem to panel paintings, altarpieces and musical instruments whose boards retain a measurable ring sequence.", "Reconstructing past drought, growing-season temperature, streamflow and wildfire from living trees and remnant wood, including millennial bristlecone, oak and kauri series.", "Calibrating radiocarbon (IntCal) by measuring ¹⁴C in wood that already has a dendrochronological calendar date.", "Checking whether timber was imported or reused by seeing which regional master chronology it matches (dendroprovenancing, including illegal-logging cases)." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-real-world-use-q01", "text": "Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of dendrochronology this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-measurements", "name": "Typical measurements", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "quantity": "Annual ring width", "typical_range": "about 0.2-5 mm yr⁻¹ in temperate trees (suppressed rings can be ~0.01 mm; release rings can exceed 10 mm)", "unit": "mm" }, { "quantity": "Ring-width measurement resolution", "typical_range": "0.01 (standard stage micrometer or image-analysis increment)", "unit": "mm" }, { "quantity": "Maximum latewood density (MXD)", "typical_range": "roughly 0.4-1.0", "unit": "g cm⁻³" }, { "quantity": "Series length needed for a unique calendar match", "typical_range": "commonly ≥50-80 rings for European oak; shorter series are often only dated with a strong regional master and high t-value", "unit": "years (rings)" }, { "quantity": "Baillie-Pilcher t-value against a master chronology", "typical_range": "candidate matches typically ≥3.5; many labs treat ≥5 as a working oak threshold", "unit": "dimensionless" }, { "quantity": "Expressed population signal (EPS) of a site chronology", "typical_range": "0.85 often used as a replication threshold for climate work", "unit": "dimensionless" } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-measurements-q01", "text": "Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of dendrochronology this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards", "name": "Failure modes and hazards", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Missing rings (especially drought years in conifers) and false or intra-annual rings, which shift the counted sequence unless caught by crossdating.", "Complacent series with little year-to-year variation cannot be uniquely matched to a master chronology.", "Many tropical, and some Mediterranean, woods do not form reliable annual rings, so a calendar date is not available.", "Reused, stockpiled or imported timber: the ring date is the tree's growth/felling history, not the construction or painting date.", "No bark or waney edge: the outermost measured ring is only a terminus post quem for felling, not a felling year.", "Short sequences can lock onto the wrong interval of a long chronology.", "Destructive coring or sectioning of heritage objects; climate reconstructions can also be biased if age trend, competition or disturbance is treated as climate." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01", "text": "Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of dendrochronology this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-regional-variation", "name": "Regional variation", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Northwest Europe: dense archaeological oak (Quercus) chronologies for buildings and artefacts; practice centres on waney-edge felling dates and high t-value matches.", "Western North America: living and remnant conifers used mainly for climate and fire history; Great Basin bristlecone pine supplies multi-millennial series.", "East Asia: hinoki, sugi and related temple timbers in Japan; different species masters than European oak.", "Southern Hemisphere: opposite seasonal timing; long records from species such as kauri, Fitzroya and Nothofagus rather than oak.", "Tropics: annual-ring dendrochronology is possible only for certain taxa (e.g. some teak and dry-forest species) and is not the default method." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-regional-variation-q01", "text": "Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of dendrochronology this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-neighbours", "name": "Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "name": "Dendrology", "difference": "Dendrology is the identification and classification of trees; dendrochronology is calendar dating and environmental inference from annual rings of already identified wood." }, { "name": "Radiocarbon dating of wood", "difference": "¹⁴C on a bulk or single-ring sample yields a calibrated age range; dendrochronology, if the series crossdates and bark/waney edge is present, can give a calendar felling year. The two are complementary: tree-ring-dated wood calibrates ¹⁴C." }, { "name": "Sclerochronology", "difference": "The same idea of annual growth bands, but in molluscs, corals or otoliths rather than tree xylem; the organism and the archive differ." }, { "name": "Varve chronology", "difference": "Annual layers in lake or marine sediment, not in wood; a varve year is a deposition year in a basin, not a cambial growth year of a tree." }, { "name": "Wood anatomy / xylology", "difference": "Identifies taxon, structure and sometimes season of last growth; it does not by itself assign a calendar year. Dendrochronology uses anatomy then crossdates the ring sequence." }, { "name": "Lichenometry", "difference": "Ages a surface from lichen thallus size with large uncertainty; it does not produce a ring-by-ring calendar match to a master chronology." } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-neighbours-q01", "text": "Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of dendrochronology this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Which acceptance criteria and independent checks are appropriate for different taxa, regions, sequence lengths, and intended uses without imposing a universal match threshold?", "What evidence is sufficient to establish annual increment formation in poorly studied taxa or growth settings?", "Which regional and taxon-specific sapwood estimation methods are defensible, and how should their uncertainty constrain felling-date statements?", "How far should this model cover density, anatomical, or isotopic series used directly for dating, while leaving downstream environmental reconstruction to neighbouring models?", "Does an existing Vercy world model already own dendrochronology or an equivalent activity, requiring this registry entry to link to it?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 11, "findings": 18, "questions": 28 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a dendrochronology, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Enable an AI agent to record and assess dendrochronological work, determine which tree-ring dates are defensible, and choose justified next analytical steps.", "characteristics": { "substance": "activity", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Described in 63 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a dendrochronology, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [], "standing": "Described in 63 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one dendrochronology from another, and a dendrochronology from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a dendrochronology, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a dendrochronology, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a dendrochronology is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a dendrochronology, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a dendrochronology, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a dendrochronology is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a dendrochronology sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a dendrochronology, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a dendrochronology, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a dendrochronology is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a dendrochronology from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a dendrochronology, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a dendrochronology, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a dendrochronology is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a dendrochronology passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a dendrochronology between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a dendrochronology, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a dendrochronology, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a dendrochronology is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a dendrochronology, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a dendrochronology is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a dendrochronology, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a dendrochronology, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a dendrochronology is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process-and-outcome", "name": "Process, inputs and outcome", "description": "How a dendrochronology proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.", "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.", "layers": [ { "id": "steps-and-sequence", "name": "Steps and sequence", "description": "The steps of a dendrochronology, their order and what may run in parallel.", "findings": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions", "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion", "description": "What has to be true before each step of a dendrochronology and what marks it done.", "questions": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a dendrochronology, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a dendrochronology, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a dendrochronology is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-results", "name": "Inputs, resources and results", "description": "What a dendrochronology consumes and what it produces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs", "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects", "description": "The resources a dendrochronology takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.", "questions": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a dendrochronology, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a dendrochronology, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a dendrochronology is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What dendrochronology is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of dendrochronology are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is dendrochronology operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of dendrochronology and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of dendrochronology?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as dendrochronology?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a dendrochronology came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a dendrochronology and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a dendrochronology, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a dendrochronology, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a dendrochronology is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a dendrochronology is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a dendrochronology, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a dendrochronology, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a dendrochronology is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }