The excellent condition of the timber relicts allows dendrochronological dating to the year 1051 B.C. Weaving spindles made of clay, tools, needles and fishing hooks from bronze, charred wild apples and cereals have been conserved.
These varves allow a chronology to be established, because of the leaf fragments embedded in them, which have been used to calibrate the Carbon-14 time scale beyond the range of the absolute tree-ring calibration.
The oldest settlement was a neolithic settlement in the Inner Site that has been some-what reliably dated to about 3590/3580 BC by tree rings.
According to dendrochronological research the wooden beams date back to the year 1202; the gate was first given documentary evidence in 1238 as „Porta Sancti Martini“ (Latin Gate of the Holy Martin).
Tree ring analysis has found settlements from 3160 BC, 2850 BC, 2820 BC, 2750-2690 BC and 2660-2620 BC.
However, recent dendrochronologic testing on boards and planks in the house showed that they dated to the 1750s.
Presenter Neil Oliver visited the sands of Aberdyfi and Ynyslas, near Borth, and examined the remains of the submerged forest and Sarn Badrig which are revealed at low tide, assisted by local historians and dendrochronologists.