STUDIA UBB CHEMIA, LXVII, 4, 2022 (p. 187-196) (RECOMMENDED CITATION) DOI:10.24193/subbchem.2022.4.12 ©2022 STUDIA UBB CHEMIA. Published by Babeş-Bolyai University. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. RADIOCARBON DATING OF THE HISTORIC EMPEROR’S BEECH FROM MUNCEL, BAIA DE ARIES, ROMANIA Adrian PATRUT a, *, Victor BOCOS-BINTINTAN b , Roxana T. PATRUT a , Doriana PARTILA c , Ileana-Andreea RATIU a,d , Laszlo RAKOSY e , Karl F. VON REDEN f ABSTRACT. The article reports the AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) radiocarbon dating results of the historic Emperor’s Beech (Fagul Împăra- tului ) from Muncel, Baia de Arieş, Romania. Two wood samples were collected from the large tree, out of which four segments were extracted and analysed by AMS radiocarbon. The oldest dated sample segment had a radiocarbon date of 233 ± 18 BP, which corresponds to a calibrated age of 365 ± 5 years. This value suggests an age of 420 ± 20 years for the Emperor’s Beech. Thus, the historic beech started growing around the year 1600. Keywords: AMS radiocarbon dating, Fagus sylvatica, dendrochronology, age determination, Romania. INTRODUCTION The European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), which belongs to the genus Fagus of the Fagaceae family, subfamily Fagoideae, is one of the most important and widespread broadleaved trees in Europe. It is typically 25-40 m tall, reaches a Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 11 Arany Janos, RO-400028, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. b Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, 30 Fantanele, RO-400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. c Dr. Lazar Chirila High School, 41 22 Decembrie 1989, RO-515300 Baia de Aries, Romania. d Babeş-Bolyai University, Raluca Ripan Institute for Research in Chemistry, 30 Fantanele, RO-400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. e Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Biology and Geology, 44 Republicii, RO-400015, Cluj- Napoca, Romania. f NOSAMS Facility, Dept. of Geology & Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, U.S.A. * Corresponding author: apatrut@gmail.com