Radiocarbon dating of two old African baobabs from India

PLoS One. 2020 Jan 16;15(1):e0227352. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227352. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

The article presents the radiocarbon investigation of the baobab of Jhunsi, Allahabad and the Parijaat tree at Kintoor, two old African baobabs from northern India. Several wood samples extracted from these baobabs were analysed by using AMS radiocarbon dating. The radiocarbon date of the oldest samples were 779 ± 41 BP for the baobab of Jhunsi and 793 ± 37 BP for the baobab of Kintoor. The corresponding calibrated ages are 770 ± 25 and 775 ± 25 calendar years. These values indicate that both trees are around 800 years old and become the oldest dated African baobabs outside Africa.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adansonia / growth & development*
  • India
  • Radiometric Dating / methods*
  • Trees / growth & development*
  • Wood / analysis*

Grants and funding

The research was funded by the Romanian Ministry of National Education CNCS-UEFISCDI under grant PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2016-0776, No. 90/2017 to AP. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.