Abstract
No obvious grounds exist for questioning the overall validity of the bristlecone pine (BCP) long chronologies, but there is "play" in some of the crossmatches, imposing an element of flexibility in the interpretation of the data. Not enough is known about processes leading to plural annual rings in BCP for further consideration. A new model, based on non-climatic "overprinting" of incipient tree rings in a time-transgressive manner, shows how less than 1,000 years of real time could have become inflated to over 4,000 years of apparent time. The collateral progression of ¹⁴C dates in the BCP chronologies, not nearly as tightly-knit as commonly portrayed, is explicable by a large suddenly-arising and suddenly-ending 1000 year long steady-state emission of "infinitely old" subterranean CO₂.