1. KHALID IMRAN - Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, University of Haripur, Hattar Road Haripur City, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan & Assistant Silviculturist (Range), Biodiversity Research Division, Pakistan Forest
Institute, Peshawar, Pakistan.
2. SHER SHAH - Institute of Agricultural Sciences and Forestry, University of Swat, District Swat, KP, Pakistan.
3. ASHFAQ ALI - Department of Forestry, Range and Wildlife Management, Karakoram International University, Gilgit, GilgitBaltistan, Pakistan.
4. ADNAN YOUSAF - Department for Innovation in Biological, Agri-food and Forestry Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia,
Viterbo, Italy.
5. MUSTAFA SERT - Department for Innovation in Biological, Agri-food and Forestry Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia,
Viterbo, Italy.
6. MEHVISH MAJEED - Technische Universitaet Dresden, Faculty of Environmental Sciences Institute of International Forestry and
Forest Products, Germany.
7. MUHAMMAD AAMAD KHATTAK - Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Legnaro, Italy.
8. MAJID HUSSAIN - Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, University of Haripur, Hattar Road Haripur City, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Many dendroclimatological studies have been carried out on the conifer forests of Pakistan. But dating of the timber used in the historical forts of Pakistan has not been done yet. The study was carried out in northern areas of Pakistan covering the historical forts of Chitral and Gilgit Baltistan with an aim to identify the date of these woods to their exact calendar year. Sampling was done in different forts of Chitral and Gilgit Baltistan using the standard dendroarchaeological protocols. The samples were sanded and prepared for scanning. The images were measured through CoRecorder and data was saved in RWL format. The program calculates the indices of the ring-width series and also identifies false and missing rings. The maximum length of the samples recorded was 253 years whereas the lowest found sample was of 40 years. The chronology developed was up to 217 years (Baltit fort), followed by 196 years (Naghar fort) and 94 years (Altit fort). All these forts were found to best fit in the calendar year Altit (1731-1825), Naghar (1587- 1783), and Baltit fort (1892-1675). These findings provide a true description of the history of these forts and demonstrate the use of dendro-chronological analyses in the assessment of cultural resources
Dendrochronology; Historic forts; Tree rings; COFECHA; Chitral; Gilgit Baltistan.