Dendrochronologia 32 (2014) 357–363

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Dendrochronologia
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Castle Pišece, Slovenia – Building history and wood economy revealed

by dendrochronology, dendroprovenancing and historical sources
Katarina Čufar a,∗ , Matjaž Bizjak b , Manja Kitek Kuzman a , Maks Merela a ,
Michael Grabner c , Robert Brus d
a
University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Wood Science & Technology, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
b
Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Milko Kos Historical Institute, Novi trg 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
c
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Institute of Wood Technology and Renewable Resources, UFT Tulln, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 24,
3430 Tulln, Austria
d
University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Castle Pišece, located in SE Slovenia near the border with Croatia, is thought to have been built in the
Received 11 March 2014 12th/13th century as one in the line of Salzburg fortresses on the then SE border of the Holy Roman
Accepted 22 August 2014 Empire. During thorough restoration that started in 2005, its wooden constructions became accessible
for dendrochronological investigations. We collected representative samples from floor or ceiling con-
Keywords: structions in most of the rooms in the castle. Dendrochronology helped us to identify felling dates of
Tree-ring analysis
wood and to propose probable years of reconstructions in 1515, 1578, 1644, 1697, 1752, 1758, 1775 and
Cultural heritage
1878. The dating showed that the constructions in the presumed Romanesque and Renaissance parts of
Oak = Quercus sp.
Silver fir = Abies alba
the building were not as old as expected, whereas those in the supposedly Baroque part of the castle were
Archival documents older than assumed. The selection of wood species used for constructions varied over time. Constructions
with end dates 1515–1697 were made of oak (Quercus petraea and Q. robur), those dated to 1752 of sil-
ver fir (Abies alba), those dated to 1758 of sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) and those dated to 1878 of
common beech (Fagus sylvatica). Comparison of forestry archives and vegetation in the area showed that
most of the timber could have originated from nearby forests; only silver fir had to be transported from
sites that were at least 20 km away from the castle. Cross-dating of tree-ring series of oak elements with
two reference chronologies from Slovenia and two from Austria confirmed the great likelihood that the
wood used mostly originated from Slovenia. This indicates that dendroprovenancing, not used in the area
before, could also be used SE of the Alps. Both the existing archival documents and dendrochronology
indicate that woodworks have taken place every few decades in some periods. The dendrochronological
dates can be partly linked to reports on earthquakes (especially the devastating one in 1511), rebellions
and year marks carved on the stone plaques.
© 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Introduction need additional sources to elucidate the wood economy, including

In areas continuously populated for a very long period, wood as a
source of palaeo-environmental information often originates from
historical buildings. Castles, as complex buildings with a long life,
are especially important (Čufar, 2007). However, when working
with wood from castles, dendrochronology often faces difficulties
with interpretation of the obtained results, since the wood is of
different species, ages, contexts, quality and origin. We therefore
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +386 1 320 3645; fax: +386 1 423 50 35.
E-mail address: katarina.cufar@bf.uni-lj.si (K. Čufar).
wood origin and modes of its use.
We investigated the timber from Castle Pišece (46◦ 00 N,
15◦ 38 E), located in Slovenia near the border with Croatia (Fig. 1a).
Although mentioned for the first time in 1266, the castle was built
in the late 12th or early 13th century as a colonizing outpost,
belonging to the Archbishopric of Salzburg (Stopar, 1982). It was
one in a line of Salzburg fortresses on the SE border of the Holy
Roman Empire that had a significant defensive role in relation to the
neighbouring Kingdom of Hungary. The castle was initially given in
fief to members of a noble family, de Pissetz. From the middle of the
14th until the end of the 16th century, the castle and its territory
was administrated by several temporary stewards, who changed

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2014.08.002
1125-7865/© 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
358 K. Čufar et al. / Dendrochronologia 32 (2014) 357–363

Fig. 1. Castle Pišece (a) in Slovenia on the border with Croatia (historically the border between the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary and subsequently
between the Austrian and Hungarian parts of the Habsburg monarchy). Views of the castle before restoration showing (b) western and (c) eastern façades and (d) ground plan
indicating parts of the castle built in Romanesque (Ro), Renaissance (Re) and Baroque (Ba) styles (Stopar, 1982, 1993), with presumed dating: Romanesque AD 1000–1250,
Gothic 1250–1530, Renaissance 1530–1640 and Baroque 1650–1810 (Stopar, 1977; Bernik et al., 1998). Arrow points to the round tower.
Source: Photos b and c: archive of ZVKDS OE Novo mesto.

every few decades. In 1595 it was sold to Innocent Moscon and
remained in the possession of his family until 1927 (Stopar, 1982;
Kos, 2006).
Based on building styles, it is thought that the castle was built
or reconstructed in the Romanesque, Renaissance and Baroque
periods (Stopar, 1982, 1993) (Fig. 1b–d). The oldest parts of the
castle are considered to be the central, massive, four-storey north-
west tower and the southeast part of the bailey with the chapel
(Fig. 1d), which probably originate from the Romanesque period
(Stopar, 1982, 1993). These two parts were connected by defence
walls, which were later developed into additional residential and
auxiliary buildings. Based on the date 1568 on a carved stone plaque
built into the wall and the Renaissance style, it is assumed that the
western wing was constructed in the late 16th century. The build-
ings in the eastern part may have been built later, in the Baroque
period. The castle was renovated in the 19th century, presumably
between 1867 and 1884 (Stopar, 1982, 1993). Renovations also took
place in the 20th century (Golob, personal communication).
The castle is located in an afforested area that could poten-
tially have provided timber for the needs of its economy. The wider
area is orographically very diverse. It belongs to the subpannonic
phytogeographic region and is characterized by moderate temper-
atures and moderate rainfall. Such conditions are favourable for the
development of a variety of forest associations, mainly various sub-
montane beech communities. The dominant tree species in the area
today is common beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), often mixed with ses-
sile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.), sweet chestnut (Castanea
sativa Mill.), common hornbeam (Carpinus betulus L.) and sycamore
maple (Acer pseudoplatanus L.). In managed forests, Norway spruce
(Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) predomi-
nate (GGN OE Brežice, 2011). In the lowlands, which are dominated
by agricultural land, rare remnants of pedunculate oak (Quercus
robur L.) forests are still preserved (Marinček et al., 2003).
Thorough renovation in 2005 and 2006 offered us an oppor-
tunity to collect wood from floor and ceiling constructions of the
entire castle. The objectives of the present study were therefore to
carry out dendrochronological dating of wood from all accessible
constructions, to elucidate the use of different wood species and
their potential availability in the local forests or possible import
from other areas and to complement the results with various his-
torical data.
Materials and methods
Wood identification, dendrochronological dating
During renovation of the castle in 2005 and 2006, we collected
samples of wood from all accessible wooden constructions, by cor-
ing (Fig. 2a and d) and, when possible, by sawing (Fig. 2b and c). On
the first storey, the samples mainly originated from floor construc-
tions, whereas on the second storey they were taken from floor
or ceiling structures. In every room, we took samples from 5–7
beams or boards that seemed representative of the construction
and, where possible, contained more than 50 tree-rings. In cases
in which we believed that the construction contained wood from
different building phases, we took samples from each of the pre-
sumed phases. We collected a total of 103 samples from 18 rooms
representing ca. 60% of the rooms in the castle.
After sampling, the wood was smoothed by sanding. Macro-
scopic wood identification was performed by using standard
identification keys (Schweingruber, 1990; Schoch et al., 2004). For
dendrochronological dating, tree-ring widths were measured to
the nearest 0.01 mm. Both TSAP Win and TSAP/X programmes
(Frank Rinn, Heidelberg, Germany) were used for data acquisition
and processing. Tree-ring series, raw and detrended by using an
exponential curve or 20 year flexible spline (Holmes, 1994) were
visually and statistically cross-dated by calculating standard cross-
dating parameters, especially t-values (tBP), according to (Baillie
and Pilcher, 1973) and the Gleichläufigkeit coefficients (Eckstein
and Bauch, 1969). The cross-dating was finally checked by using the
COFECHA program (Holmes, 1983). All the samples were checked
for the possible presence of waney edges and bark. Where we could
clearly recognize sapwood, we recorded the number of sapwood
rings. The sapwood was mostly of a lighter colour than heartwood
and was often attacked by wood degrading insects.
Absolute dating was performed with updated Slovenian refer-
ence chronologies of oak (Čufar et al., 2008a,b), silver fir (Levanič
and Čufar, 1997) and beech (Čufar, unpublished). Based on den-
drochronologically defined end dates and the presence of sapwood
and waney edges, we proposed the years of substantial tree felling,
presuming that building activities followed in the same or in the
following calendar year, as has been shown for vernacular build-
ings in the same region (Štepec et al., 2011). The felling dates were
 K. Čufar et al. / Dendrochronologia 32 (2014) 357–363
Fig. 2. Wooden constructions for dendrochronological sampling (a) floor construction in room 27 after the removal of the parquet, (b) ceiling construction in room 30 partly
damaged by wood destroying fungi, (c) boards of the painted ceiling prepared for restoration and (d) floor construction in room 25 below which the painted ceiling was
discovered.
Source: Photos: Marko Dobrina.
marked on ground plans of the 1st and 2nd storeys of the castle,
in which the rooms were arbitrarily numbered for the needs of
this research. For interpretation, we differentiated between load
bearing and non-bearing constructions, and presumed that each
replacement of bearing constructions indicated a notable building
phase in the castle.
Forestry chronicles and archives and origin of wood
Data to interpret the possible origin of wood species used in
the castle were based on various forestry sources. Information on
existing and potential vegetation (Marinček et al., 2003) in the area
helped to explain the possible presence and distribution of par-
ticular species. Past and present forest management plans were
another important source (e.g., GGN OE Brežice, 2011) or published
papers and books describing past forest usage in the region (e.g.,
Valvasor, 1689; Jenko, 1958).
In the case of oak, the origin of the wood was also evaluated
by the dendroprovenancing technique (e.g., Wazny, 2002; Haneca
et al., 2005; Eckstein and Wrobel, 2007; Bridge, 2012). For this pur-
pose, we cross-dated the tree-ring series (raw and detrended ones
by using an exponential function or 20 year flexible spline) of indi-
vidual elements against updated reference oak chronologies for SE
Slovenia (Čufar et al., 2008a), the Bizeljsko area in a radius of ca.
20 km around Pišece (Čufar, unpublished), East Austria (Wimmer
and Grabner, 1998) and Weinviertel, Northeast Austria (Geihofer
et al., 2005). These areas were selected because they were politi-
cally and economically connected to Pišece and because they are
the only nearby areas for which chronologies of adequate length
and replication are available.
Historical sources and archival data
We inspected all known written sources that could potentially
contain information concerning the construction history of the
359
castle. In addition to published historical sources, we searched for
accounts for buying wood, which can usually be found in charters,
account books and other documents of estate administration. We
found and studied two relevant archive collections; the charters
of the Salzburg Archbishopric in the Vienna State Archives (Haus-,
Hof- und Staatsarchiv), covering mainly the mediaeval period, and
records concerning the Moscon family in the Provincial Archives
of Styria (Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv) in Graz. This family was
in possession of the castle between 1595 and 1927.
Results and discussion
Dating
Samples of 79 representative wood elements (out of 103 col-
lected ones) from 18 rooms could be dated with statistically
significant t-values (tBP ≥ 4). The end dates (Fig. 3), respecting
the number of preserved sapwood rings and possible presence of
waney edge, which are crucial for interpretation (Haneca et al.,
2009), helped us to propose that tree felling in the years 1515, 1578,
1644, 1697, 1752, 1758, 1775 and 1878 was probably followed by
building activities.
The spatial distribution of building activities in different parts
of the castle (Fig. 4) showed that the oldest wood, with an end date
of 1515, was part of the load bearing floor constructions in rooms
5 and 6. The wood dated 1578 was part of floor constructions in
rooms 2, 27 and 28 (Figs. 3 and 4). In both cases, at least some ele-
ments seemed to contain the entire sapwood or had a waney edge.
The wood in the round tower, room 41, with end date 1571 ter-
minus post quem and the decorative ceiling (found under the floor
of the room 25), with painted plants, flowers and fruits (Fig. 2c)
dated 1574 terminus post quem (Fig. 4), perhaps also belong to the
building phase after 1578. The non-structural elements with pre-
served sapwood in the floor of room 25 had an end date of 1584
360 K. Čufar et al. / Dendrochronologia 32 (2014) 357–363
Fig. 3. Time spans of the dated tree-ring series of load bearing and non-bearing
timber elements made of oak (Quercus sp.) (differentiated into sapwood (black) and
heartwood (white)), silver fir (Abies alba) (yellow), sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa)
(dark orange, sapwood black), and common beech (Fagus sylvatica) (light orange).
The numbers on the right indicate the years of tree felling presumably followed by
building activities; the asterisks indicate presence of waney edges. Column on the
left shows presumed periods of the building styles, Gothic (Go), Renaissance (Re),
and Baroque (Ba). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend,
the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
(Fig. 3). This might indicate that additional woodwork took place
over several years after the construction was completed.
Wood dated 1644 was found in rooms 6, 27 and 28 and 1697 in
rooms 2 and 27 (Fig. 4). Wooden constructions with end dates 1752
and 1758 were present in the south-eastern, eastern and western
parts of the castle, to a large extent in the ceiling constructions of
the 2nd storey (Fig. 4). The ceiling in room P38 had an end date of
1878 terminus post quem (Fig. 4), which is the most recent end date
of the investigated constructions.
Based on the presumed dating of building styles in Slovenian
castles: Romanesque AD 1000-1250, Gothic 1250-1530, Renais-
sance 1530-1640 and Baroque 1650-1810 (Stopar, 1977; Bernik
et al., 1998), it can be concluded that no wood from the earliest
Fig. 4. Ground plans of the 1st and 2nd storeys with room numbers (left) and indication of felling dates. Arrows show whether the timber originated from the ceiling (arrow
point up) or floor construction (arrow point down).
Romanesque constructions has been preserved. However, we
found some wood from the end of the Gothic period (end date
1515). The dating of the wood from the round tower (room 41)
agrees with the assumption that it was installed during the Renais-
sance period, whereas the wood from the presumed Renaissance
western wing was more recent than expected (end dates 1758 and
1878, Fig. 4), which perhaps indicates repairs and renovations. The
wood from the presumed Baroque western wing was older than
expected. At least the floor of some parts of the 1st storey was
built earlier than had been thought (in 1515). The 1st storey might
have been constructed around 1578, whereas the 2nd storey was
perhaps raised around 1752. This was probably the time when
the entire eastern wing was given Baroque treatment, which was
typical of many sacred and profane buildings all over Slovenia at
this time (Bernik et al., 1998).
Origin of wood
The selection of wood species in the constructions varied with
time (Fig. 3). They were made of oak, sweet chestnut, common
beech, silver fir and Norway spruce. The oldest bearing con-
structions, with end dates 1515–1697, were made of oak, only
the decorative painted ceiling dated 1574 was made of silver
fir and Norway spruce. Silver fir was used for the load bearing
constructions of the eastern wing, dated 1752, whereas sweet
chestnut dated 1758 was found in the western part of the castle
(Figs. 3 and 4). The non-bearing ceiling in room 38, dated 1878, was
made of common beech. The wood collected in room 37 belonged
to Norway spruce and could not be dated.
The oak was possibly sessile or pedunculate oak, both of which
belong to the group of white oaks and cannot be differentiated
on the basis of wood anatomy (Richter and Dallwitz, 2000). Both
oaks grew in the area in the 16th and 17th centuries. Sessile oak
was probably more common in the immediate surroundings of the
castle, on the sunny and dry hills and slopes, whereas pedunculate
oak grew in the nearby lowland forests. At the end of the 17th
century, oak started to become generally scarce in the area, as also
shown by investigations into numerous local vernacular buildings
(e.g., Čufar et al., 2013). Sessile oak probably became relatively
scarce because the forests on the warm slopes were massively
converted to vineyards, while much of the lowland pedunculate
oak forest was felled (as early as the 16th century) for the needs of
agricultural production. However, both species were continuously
present, either in small patches or large forest complexes. In the
 K. Čufar et al. / Dendrochronologia 32 (2014) 357–363
16th and 17th centuries, the quantities of local oak wood were
probably still sufficient to meet local needs.
Silver fir probably did not grow in the forests in the close vicin-
ity of the castle in either the 16th or 18th centuries, due to a lack
of suitable sites for this species. However, at that time, the clos-
est abundant silver fir forests already existed on the Bohor massif
(1023 m a.s.l.), which is less than 20 km away and where silver
fir is still a common species (GGN OE Brežice, 2011). The trans-
port of wood from Bohor to Pišece was probably not easy, since
there were no forest roads and no possibility of water transport;
however, forestry activities had already begun on Bohor at the
end of the 16th century (Jenko, 1958). Based on this, it can be
assumed that the silver fir wood could have originated from the
Bohor area.
The ceiling constructions of the two rooms dated 1758 were
made of sweet chestnut. The chestnuts used for the constructions
were perhaps planted at the end of the 17th or the beginning of
the 18th century. Chestnut is indigenous in the area and, due to
its edible fruits, was additionally planted in the forests to improve
the diet of the local population in SE Slovenia in the 17th century.
At the end of the 17th century, Valvasor (1689) reported charming
and beautiful chestnut forests in the village of Šentjernej, ca. 30 km
away from Pišece. Just as today, the chestnut was probably part of
communities of beech and chestnut or, to a lesser extent, even grew
in associations of pedunculate oak and Norway spruce (Marinček
et al., 2003). The Posavje region, to which Pišece and surround-
ings belong, is today one of the most important areas for chestnut
cultivation in Slovenia (Brus, 2012) so it can be assumed that the
chestnut found only in one building phase very likely originated
from the local forests.
Norway spruce, together with silver fir, was found in a painted
ceiling dated 1574 and in an undated ceiling construction (room
37), in which the spruce had on average only 21 tree-rings.
Since spruce is not native in this part of Slovenia, we assume
that the wood dated 1574 was probably imported. It should be
noted that Norway spruce has been planted in SE Slovenia since
the 19th century, so it nowadays also grows in the wider area
of Pišece, as part of the widespread community of pedunculate
oak and spruce (Piceo abietis-Quercetum roboris) (Marinček et al.,
2003).
Common beech is today by far the most abundant tree species,
not only in the area of Castle Pišece but also in the entire Brežice
region (to which Pišece belongs), where nowadays as much as 75%
of the forests belong to various beech forest associations (GGN OE
Brežice, 2011). Its presence in the close vicinity of the castle at the
end of the 18th century is quite certain and strongly supports the
idea that the beech timber of the ceiling in room P38 (1878) is of
local origin. The use of beech wood for constructions in castles was
very rare, although it was often used in vernacular buildings (e.g.,
Čufar et al., 2012).
Cross-dating of the tree-ring series of individual oak elements
with the two Slovenian and two Austrian chronologies showed that
23 tree-ring series could be dated with at least one, and 11 of them
with all four reference chronologies with statistically significant t-
values (tBP ≥ 4). The highest t-values were mainly obtained with
the chronologies from Slovenia; only in 3 cases they were higher
when using the Austrian chronologies (Table 1). In most cases,
the entire time span of the tree-ring series overlapped with the
reference chronologies, so overlapping did not seem to affect the
results.
Since the principle of dendroprovenancing is based on the
assumption that the similarity between two curves of nearby sites
is higher than between those of remote areas, the results support
the hypothesis that the oak timber in the castle mainly originated
from Slovenia. We could not confirm whether the wood was felled
361
in the immediate surroundings of the castle or in a wider area of
SE Slovenia.
The presented results, and a recent study showing similari-
ties among local chronologies of the 20th century from Slovenia,
Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia due to a common response to
climatic factors (Čufar et al., 2014), showed that dendroprovenanc-
ing could be used in the area. In the present study, we used two
well replicated oak chronologies from Austria, which was politi-
cally and economically connected to the area under investigation,
although it is not known whether it could have served as a source of
wood. Unfortunately, adequately long and replicated chronologies
from nearby Croatia and Hungary do not exist or were not avail-
able for comparisons. Lack or poor replication of chronologies in
the wider region has been among the main obstacles to the use of
the dendroprovenancing technique.
Dendroprovenancing could not be applied for silver fir, sweet
chestnut and common beech, because we do not have available
network of adequate chronologies, although silver fir in particular
shows very good teleconnection over larger distances (e.g., Büntgen
et al., 2013).
Historical sources and archival research
We checked in the archives whether it was possible to find
reports of building activities and acquisition of wood that could
possibly explain the activities around the years defined by den-
drochronology. It should be noted that the years 1515, 1578, 1644,
1697, 1752, 1758, 1775 and 1878 refer to felling dates, so build-
ing activities took place with some delay. We found only three
records containing information on construction works in the two
archive collections studied: an annual account of building expenses
for 1443 (HHStA, AUR), a report on restoration of the castle after the
peasant revolt from 1662 (StLA, Altes Landrecht, K 737, p. 150–152)
and an assessment of necessary renovation works from 1675 (StLA,
Altes Landrecht, K 739, p. 335); none of these, however, can be
directly linked to the dated timber of the castle constructions. Since
the public archives concerning Castle Pišece preserve older docu-
ments covering the period until the early 19th century, we could
not trace any documentation that could refer to the latest wood,
dated 1878. Other surviving documents indicated that woodworks
were a very significant part of building activity and such work was
often done every few decades, as also shown by the dendrochrono-
logical dating.
We also checked reports of devastating events in local or
regional history that have caused need for repairs. Mention should
be made of the earthquake of 1511, which devastated buildings all
over Carniola and Friuli (provinces on the territory of present day
central Slovenia and NE Italy), and was also recorded over a wider
area. Košir and Cecić (2011) and the sources cited there, report
that many castles in Carniola were destroyed by the earthquake.
These sources do not directly mention damage to Castle Pišece,
perhaps because it was located in Styria, not far from the border
with Carniola. In any case, the wood dated 1515 could indicate
repairs related to this earthquake. Furthermore, there are records
of a series of local earthquakes, in 1628, 1632 and 1635, in Krško
(approximately 10 km away from Pišece), which destroyed several
castles (Koblar, 1899). Although there is no direct report concerning
Pišece, timber felled around 1644 may be linked to reconstructions
after the earthquakes. There are no reports on damage to the castle
due to peasant revolts in 1573 and 1661 (Grafenauer, 1972) but
the wood felled around 1578 could perhaps be linked to the 1573
revolt.
It has been suggested that the dates 1568 and 1884 carved on
stone plaques in the walls of the south and north wings, indicate
two major renovations of the castle (Stopar, 1982, 1993). Again, the
362 K. Čufar et al. / Dendrochronologia 32 (2014) 357–363

Table 1
Statistical cross-dating of raw tree-ring width series of individual oak elements of Pišece Castle (code PIS*) with reference oak chronolo-
gies: SLO local – of the Bizeljsko area around Pišece (Čufar, unpublished), SE Slovenia (Čufar et al., 2008a,b), East Austria (Wimmer and
Grabner, 1998), and A Weinviertel – Northeast Austria (Geihofer et al., 2005). OVL – overlapping in years, tBP (t-value after Baillie and
Pilcher), Glk (%) Gleichläufigkeit coefficient. Shaded cells indicate the highest tBP or the Glk value for a particular element.

Name SLO local SE Slovenia East Austria A Weinviertel

Time span 1477-1776 1456-2003 1172-2003 1312-1996 Length End Date
GLK
Code tBP GLK (%) tBP (%) tBP GLK (%) tBP GLK (%) Max OVL
PIS052 6.5 71.1 5.2 69.7 3.0 63.4 4.1 64.8 73 1550
PIS047 4.9 62.7 4.3 69.7 4.6 69.1 4.0 63.5 91 1561
PIS097 6.6 69.2 5.8 76.7 3.2 63.4 4.0 62.2 88 1564
PIS037 2.1 60.1 5.1 61.8 1.6 60.3 1.1 55.8 114 1567
PIS044 3.9 70.4 4.5 69.7 7.1 73.2 6.6 77.5 73 1569
PIS099 3.9 67.5 3.9 70.6 2.9 62.5 3.5 61.3 82 1569
PIS056 5.0 69.5 4.8 69.0 4.8 67.5 5.1 70.5 102 1578
PIS057 6.0 68.2 4.7 63.6 5.4 64.3 5.7 72.1 79 1578
PIS059 3.5 60.0 4.9 65.3 2.6 64.0 2.3 66.7 77 1578
PIS060 7.8 74.8 7.6 76.2 4.9 68.8 6.4 74.8 103 1582
PIS064 5.1 71.7 5.8 66.3 4.2 68.1 5.1 72.9 85 1584
PIS011 5.0 66.4 4.5 66.0 4.1 63.0 4.7 69.7 121 1616
PIS054 5.2 65.8 6.7 66.2 3.9 59.4 4.4 57.9 141 1630
PIS068 7.0 73.9 4.9 69.2 5.0 63.4 5.8 67.3 196 1637
PIS045 4.7 66.8 5.1 63.6 3.0 64.0 3.1 60.8 127 1640
PIS080 5.0 70.7 6.3 64.3 5.7 65.0 5.1 66.3 149 1640
PIS046 4.0 60.8 4.6 65.3 2.2 57.6 2.2 55.3 172 1644
PIS001 5.3 66.4 4.5 68.8 5.4 68.8 6.0 67.0 170 1664
PIS051 6.7 65.5 4.7 56.5 4.0 54.7 4.9 62.6 141 1671
PIS048 4.0 67.1 3.1 59.2 2.5 64.5 2.9 61.8 78 1678
PIS053 5.3 59.8 5.3 61.0 2.8 56.1 3.8 59.1 206 1684
PIS036 4.7 66.8 5.4 66.3 5.1 67.8 3.3 65.9 106 1697
PIS009 4.2 66.9 4.0 68.5 0.2 50.8 0.3 50.0 67 1775

oak timber felled around 1578 in the round tower and in the south-
ern and eastern part of the castle could be related to the carved
date 1568, if it indicates a specific event (maybe the beginning) of
a longer reconstruction period. The end date 1878 terminus post
quem of the beech ceiling perhaps agrees with the reconstruction
indicated by the carved date 1884. As observed in many other build-
ings (e.g., Čufar and Strgar, 2011) the two carved year marks did not
correspond exactly with dendrochronological dating.
The relatively few cases in which the dendrochronological dat-
ing and historical sources more or less agree may be due to the
fact that both lines of information are incomplete and fragmen-
tary and that they are scattered over an 800 year long period of
existence of the castle. It should also be noted that mainly floor
and ceiling constructions were available for investigation and that
we could only investigate wood that had been preserved and was
accessible for sampling. The dendrochronological dating showed
that the oldest preserved timber was felled ca. 500 years ago. This
is in agreement with observations in other constructions in Slove-
nia, which in the optimal cases rarely last more than 500 years
(Čufar et al., 2008b; Čufar and Zupančič, 2009). Belowground con-
structions, such as foundation piles, where the wood is waterlogged
and can be preserved over longer periods (e.g., Pukienė and Ožalas,
2007; Čufar et al., 2008c; Tegel and Hakelberg, 2008) were in our
case not available for sampling.
Conclusions
Dendrochronological investigation of the timber from a castle
built in the 12/13th century helped us to identify seven probable
phases of building activities between 1515 and 1878. The wood
for constructions felled in the 16th and 17th century was mainly
oak, in the 18th century silver fir and sweet chestnut and in the
only construction from the 19th century common beech. Forestry
archives and current vegetation indicate that most of the timber
could have been obtained in the vicinity of the castle, except silver
fir, which had to be transported from forests at least 20 km away.
The dendroprovenancing technique confirmed the great likelihood
that the oak timber originated in Slovenia.
Dendrochronological dating compared to other sources of infor-
mation, such as historical sources, archived documents, building
styles and year marks carved on stone plaques on the castle,
showed that the building activities may perhaps be linked to
regional and local earthquakes and to peasant rebellions. The dates
1568 and 1884 carved on stone plaques can be partly linked to den-
drochronological dates. The building styles, which had previously
served to evaluate the building dynamics and age of different parts
of the castle, could not be directly confirmed by dendrochronology.
The felling date 1515 could be the first dendrochronological link
to the devastating regional earthquake in 1511, which, according
 K. Čufar et al. / Dendrochronologia 32 (2014) 357–363
to historical sources, affected most and totally destroyed some of
the castles on the territory of present day Slovenia (Košir and Cecić,
2011).
Acknowledgements
The research was funded by the Institute for the Protection of
the Cultural Heritage of Slovenia (ZVKSD) and by the Slovenian
Research Agency, programme P4-0015 and projects L6-4157 and
J6-4087. The international cooperation was facilitated by COST
Action FP1106, STReESS. We thank Marko Dobrina for his enor-
mous help with work in the castle and in the laboratory, Josip
Korošec and Tomaž Golob for their support and professional guid-
ance, Igor Sapač and Helena Seražin for providing us with valuable
information and comments, Luka Krže for help in laboratory, Martin
Cregeen for language editing, as well as the editors and reviewers
for their helpful comments.
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