Overview
Dr. Joshua Oliver is a dendroclimatologist whose research focuses on the use of woody material to build multi-centurial to millennial length climate records from tree rings. He received his PhD from the University of Western Australia in plant sciences where he developed the first ever long-term climate reconstruction using eucalypt tree rings. His sub-disciplines include quantitative wood anatomy, the analyses of the cellular attributes of lignified tissues, and tree ring stable isotope analysis (e.g., δ13C, δ14C, and δ18O). As his main body of work is the production of tree ring chronologies from varying tree species and climate regimes of the world, Joshua has often sourced archaeological structures and sub-fossilized material to extend the records built further into the past. In past endeavors, he has used existing chronologies to accurately date timber used in the construction of historical and culturally significant structures of the United States to provide certainty to the establishment year of these edifices.
Research Focus
Currently, the main focus of his work at Cornell is building upon the utilization of separate, regional-based, 14C calibration curves to date archaeological and Holocene material from wood sources. This contrasts the all-encompassing 14C calibration curve used in most Northern Hemispheric projects of recent years. Simultaneously, he will be producing tree ring reconstructions from Cypriot sources to better understand the climatic underpinnings of the eastern Mediterranean region.
Publications
Oliver, J. S., Harley, G. L., & Maxwell, J. T. (2019). 2,500 years of hydroclimate variability in New Mexico, USA. Geophysical Research Letters, 46(8), 4432-4440.
Harley, G. L., Maxwell, J. T., Oliver, J. S., Holt, D. H., Bowman, J., & Sokolosky-Wixon, M. (2018). Precision dating and cultural history of the la pointe-krebs house (22ja526), pascagoula, mississippi, usa. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 20, 87-96.
Matheus, T. J., Maxwell, J. T., Oliver, J., Thornton, M., Hess, M., & Harley, G. L. (2017). A dendrochronological evaluation of three historic pioneer cabins at Spring Mill Village, Indiana. Dendrochronologia, 43, 12-19.