Alan Hogg

My principal research focus is radiocarbon dating and I have been Director of the University of Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory since 1985. I am recognised as an international authority on radiocarbon tree-ring dating, including development of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) radiocarbon calibration curve, SHCal20 (Hogg et al. 2020). I have been a member of the ~25-person international radiocarbon calibration committee (IntCal) since 2008 and was recently appointed Coordinator of the tree-ring and dendrochronology sub-group.
My current research centres upon radiocarbon calibration and palaeoclimate as well as radiocarbon wiggle matching of tree-rings. In 2016 I led a study to obtain the first precise calendar age for a Māori pā (Otāhau Pa near Taupiri - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2017). This case study has led to new Marsden-funded research on Waikato wetland pā. I am also involved in two current projects measuring radiocarbon levels in 25,000-50,000 BP swamp kauri, one as a Partner Investigator in an Australian Research Council project and a second as an Associate Investigator in a Marsden funded project. Other research has established the timing of arrival and impacts of Māori in New Zealand and radiocarbon dating the key tephra marker beds, the Kaharoa, Taupo, Mangaone and Kawakawa/Oruanui Tephras.