Simple writes:
Well, let us finish the tree ring part here, with you being real clear if you have any idea what is going on. You seem to be claiming here that there are 4887 actual rings in the tree, we can see, and count, as well as a bunch of missing ones. If what you say is true, would not they come up with a much older date for the tree, taking into account, maybe hundreds of missing rings as well? So, would they not say it was guessed to be about, say, 5200 years old? Something seems wrong with the picture here, and your claims.
Not sure why RAZD did not reply directly to Simple here and answer this question, which I thought was a reasonable question (or maybe he did but I missed it earlier on).
So I did my own research and found this on a Forest Service site
http://www.fs.fed.us/...ase/feis/plants/tree/pinlon/all.html
From this source I find this quote with references to papers to back it up...
Linked Site writes:
Great Basin bristlecone pine has the longest life span of any nonclonal species in the world. The oldest known living Great Basin bristlecone pine had
4,862 countable annual rings when it was cut on Wheeler Peak in 1974. A few downed trees in the White Mountains lived over 5,000 years before they fell.
Emphasis mine. Also, interesting to note that they have retrieved old downed trees with over 5k of countable rings.
Doesn't this pretty much flush Simple's arguement right there! Not much reason to move on to other evidence if this one cannot be explained away. If this does not satisfy the most ardent "old earth skeptic" then not much ever would.
BTW Simple's arguement of different growing conditions "before the split" with references to scripture detailing trees bearing fruit all twelve months is nonsense. Such conditions would result in tree wood production with *no rings*. I believe there are samples of fossilized wood without tree rings from the Jurassic when the earth was warmer and conditions were such that there were not dominate seasons.