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Schematic illustration of the crossdating process. The climatic-related sequences of wide and narrow rings of the wooden samples allow the dating of wood from different sources and the development of millennia-long tree-ring width chronologies. Since the material is not evenly available through time, consequently the number of samples (replication) varies too.
Source publication
Human evolution was strongly related to environmental factors. Woodlands and their products played a key role in the production of tools and weapons, and provided unique resources for constructions and fuel. Therefore wooden finds are essential in gaining insights into climatic and land use changes but also societal development during the Holocene....
Citations
... This allows anchoring the recorded tree-ring pattern to an absolute time scale. In archaeological, architectural or art-historical studies, the primary objective of a dendrochronological survey is to ascertain an accurate estimate of the felling date (or dying-off) of the parent tree from which the timber originates (Domínguez-Delmás, 2020; Haneca et al., 2009;Tegel et al., 2022). This felling date is the closest related and datable event to the creation of the wooden object or construction. ...
... Generally, the expansion of human settlements resulted in an increasing demand for wood and therefore, an intensified exploitation of woodlands. This was particularly the case during the high medieval period (11 th to 14 th century) in Europe when large-scale deforestation led to a shortage of timber (e.g., Shindo and Claude, 2019;Tegel et al., 2022). In contrast, a decrease in wood demand led to natural reforestation, observed, for instance, during the abandonment of farms during the plague pandemic of 1347-52 CE in western and northern Europe (Yeloff and van Geel, 2007). ...
... Oak trees grow generally slower than the conifers, but their wood is harder and heavier. Oak has especially been used for foundations, and in water wells, where its decay resistance was essential (Tegel et al., 2012;Tegel et al., 2022). Due to its weight, water transport of oak has been less practised, but it has been noted in some regions (e.g., Morvan, eastern France) (Benoit et al., 2004), or in combination with conifers (Eißing, 2010). ...
... postholes), which provides an idea of size and shape of timber constructions but does not allow to recognise woodworking details (Stäuble & Wolfram, 2012). Under waterlogged conditions, however, wooden remains can be preserved for millennia (Tegel et al., 2022). Water wells provide such preferable conditions and are occasionally found in LBK settlements as essential structures for securing the water supply (Vostrovská et al., 2021). ...
... Crosssectional samples are cut from the individual timbers to measure their tree-ring widths to an accuracy of 1/100 mm, using stereo microscopes, semi-automatic measuring systems and the software PAST4 by SCIEM (http://www.sciem.com; Tegel et al., 2022). Before the dendrochronological analyses, sample surfaces are prepared with razorblades to facilitate the microscopic tree-ring measurement, and occasionally treated with chalk powder to improve the visibility of tree-ring borders. ...
... Although dendroclimatic evidence forms the backbone of high-resolution palaeoclimatology (Esper et al., 2016;Ljungqvist et al., 2020), the number of TRW chronologies that extend beyond medieval times declines drastically (Biondi et al., 2023;Büntgen et al., 2022). Owing to a general decrease in the quality and quantity of relict (subfossil) wood back in time (Tegel et al., 2022), there are currently only 17 published TRW chronologies worldwide that continuously cover the past 4000 years and were used for palaeoenvironmental interpretations (Table S1). From these 17 chronologies, 11 are based on dry-dead wood remains from mountainous environments: a 4154-year-long Huon pine chronology from Tasmania (Allen et al., 2014;Cook et al., 2000), a 5681-year-long Patagonian cypress chronology from Chile (Lara et al., 2020), two Qilian juniper chronologies of 4648 and 6691 years from the Tibetan Plateau (Yang et al., 2014(Yang et al., , 2021, and seven bristlecone pine chronologies from Nevada and California, which vary between 4350 and 8683 years in length (Ferguson, 1969;Ferguson et al., 2002;Ferguson and Graybill, 1983;Graybill, 1996Graybill, , 2002Salzer, 2010;Salzer andHughes, 2010a, 2010b). ...
... Denmark (Christensen, 2007), Germany (Eckstein et al., 2009), Scotland (Moir, 2012), and England (Baillie and Brown, 1988) were essential for the development of TRW chronologies covering the fifth and fourth millennia before present (cf. Tegel et al., 2022 for a review on European dendroarchaeology and Edvardsson et al., 2016 for a review on peatbog dendrochronology). ...
Tree-ring chronologies form the backbone of high-resolution palaeoclimatology. However, their number declines drastically prior to medieval times, and only a few such records worldwide extend back to the mid-Holocene. Here, we present a collection of more than 400 subfossil yew (Taxus baccata L.) trees excavated from near sea-level peat-rich sediments in the Fenland region of eastern England. The well-preserved yew trunks are between
two and eight metres long, often exhibit adventitious root layers, and contain up to 400 rings of highly irregular growth. Combined dendrochronological and radiocarbon dating resulted in two tree-ring width chronologies that comprise 36 and 32 trees, span 413 and 418 years, exhibit mean inter-series correlations (Rbar) of
0.50 and 0.51, and were provisionally dated to 5225 -- 4813 (±4) and 4612 -- 4195 (±6) years cal BP. Together with a total of 63 radiocarbon dates (14C), our subfossil tree-ring evidence suggests that yew establishment (or onset of preservation) began ~5250 years cal BP and resulted in extensive climax forests between 5200 and 4200 years cal BP. A first stage of yew decline ~4800 -- 4600 years cal BP was possibly caused by oxygen
deprivation from soil wetting, whereas yew disappearance ~4200 years cal BP is suggested to have been triggered by marine inundation as a consequence of rapid sea-level rise. Both phases of yew decline in eastern England coincide with marked reductions in subfossil oak and pine from peatbogs in Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands. Our results emphasise the potential to develop a dendrochronological network in coastal England for better understanding of larger-scale climate and environmental changes during the mid-Holocene, including the still debated 4.2 ka climate event. Moreover, we expect our subfossil yew chronologies to facilitate the dating of local archaeological remains, refine sea-level reconstructions around the British Isles, and contribute to the international radiocarbon calibration curve IntCal.
... Deciduous oaks are among the most useful and commonly used species in dendroarchaeology (e.g. Č ufar, 2007;Haneca et al., 2009;Tegel et al., 2022), the field of science that uses wood for dating historical buildings among others (e.g. Sanjurjo-Sánchez, 2016;Edvardsson et al., 2021). ...
... Sanjurjo-Sánchez, 2016;Edvardsson et al., 2021). For Central and Northern Europe there are available numerous well-replicated centennial to millennia-long oak chronologies (see Haneca et al., 2009;Tegel et al., 2022 for a review), including the German oak chronology, covering more than 10,500 years, the longest continuous chronology in the world (Friedrich et al., 2004). Multi-centennial oak chronologies have also been developed for several Balkan countries and the southeastern part of Europe (e.g. ...
... All examined samples were deciduous oaks (Quercus sp.), a species commonly used for wooden constructions in the Mediterranean region (Ważny, 2009;Macchioni et al., 2012;Bernabei et al., 2020;Tegel et al., 2022), including Greece (Kuniholm andStriker, 1983, 1987;Ważny et al., 2020;Christopoulou et al., 2020;Makris et al., 2021). Oak wood has served many uses across time and societies (Bocsi et al., 2021) and its presence in Greece has been documented from buildings dated to as early as the Bronze Age period (Allen and Forste, 2020). ...
... Master and site chronologies for many regions, from Ireland to Estonia, from Norway to Spain, that have been built from thousands of tree-ring analyses over many decades of dendrochronology in Europe, are the tool for identifying the region of origin of historic timber (e.g. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]) and summarised in [21]. However, due to the highly mobile nature of this material (import of timber, timbers as part of moving/trade objects like ships, artworks, barrels etc.) chronologies built from past structures do not necessarily reflect material from the hinterland of a site. ...
Dendrochronology (tree-ring analysis) allows us to precisely date and identify the origin of timber from historic contexts. However, reference datasets to determine the origin can include timber of non-local origin. Therefore, we have applied Sr isotopic on timbers from three buildings in Jutland, Denmark, mostly dating from the late 16 th and early 17 th centuries CE to improve and refine the provenance identification. The dendrochronology suggested that some timbers analysed were imported from the Swedish side of Øresund/Kattegat while others were local, and others again might be from south Norway. By adding the Sr isotopic analysis, a far more detailed interpretation of the origin of these timbers can be presented for non-Danish timbers. In this paper we suggest that Danish ports in the provinces of Halland and Skåne played a major role in the timber trade between the Danish and Swed-ish parts of the Danish kingdom. For Danish timbers dendroprovenancing proved better than Sr isotopic analysis. Furthermore, a small number of Sr isotopic analyses were performed to contribute to the base-line along the Gö ta-river in Southern-Sweden.
... Deciduous oaks are among the most useful and commonly used species in dendroarchaeology (e.g. Č ufar, 2007;Haneca et al., 2009;Tegel et al., 2022), the field of science that uses wood for dating historical buildings among others (e.g. Sanjurjo-Sánchez, 2016;Edvardsson et al., 2021). ...
... Sanjurjo-Sánchez, 2016;Edvardsson et al., 2021). For Central and Northern Europe there are available numerous well-replicated centennial to millennia-long oak chronologies (see Haneca et al., 2009;Tegel et al., 2022 for a review), including the German oak chronology, covering more than 10,500 years, the longest continuous chronology in the world (Friedrich et al., 2004). Multi-centennial oak chronologies have also been developed for several Balkan countries and the southeastern part of Europe (e.g. ...
... All examined samples were deciduous oaks (Quercus sp.), a species commonly used for wooden constructions in the Mediterranean region (Ważny, 2009;Macchioni et al., 2012;Bernabei et al., 2020;Tegel et al., 2022), including Greece (Kuniholm andStriker, 1983, 1987;Ważny et al., 2020;Christopoulou et al., 2020;Makris et al., 2021). Oak wood has served many uses across time and societies (Bocsi et al., 2021) and its presence in Greece has been documented from buildings dated to as early as the Bronze Age period (Allen and Forste, 2020). ...
... The study of larch exploitation in the French Alps must therefore be seen through other parameters. Several recent studies have demonstrated the suitability of dendrochronological data to illustrate historical facts on a large scale or to highlight practices unknown in historical sources (Ljungqvist et al., 2018(Ljungqvist et al., , 2022(Ljungqvist et al., , 2021Tegel et al., 2022). In this work we use felling dates, diameters, and age of the harvested trees with the aim of assessing the relevance of larch used in rural construction to explain past socio-economic trajectories. ...
Dendrochronological studies are carried out on rural buildings in the French Alps for twenty years. In this
contribution, we examine an extensive dataset of larch timbers (n = 1294) that were dendrochronologicaly dated
at 139 buildings. This material yielded felling dates spanning the 11th century to the 20th century and
contributed to improve our knowledge of human occupation and exploitation of mountain forests during the
second millennium CE. From the 11th to the 14th century, rural populations increasingly exploited older forests.
The crises of the 14th century led to a significant decrease in construction and by extension in tree cutting. The
beginning of the 15th century marks a resumption of construction and felling which is continuous until the
beginning of the 20th century. There is a relationship between the age of harvested trees, the number of dates
and population fluctuations, which corroborates findings at the European scale. Regional trade probably influ-
enced the stem diameters used in constructions in the immediate vicinity of the forests. Logging regulations can
be perceived through variations in the age of harvested trees. The 14th century gap in felling dates would also
mark a transition period in the exploitation of mountain forests and by extension a transformation of the
economy.
... Concerning the use of the chestnut tree for timber production, it seems highly unlikely that Celtic tribes could have been inclined in adopting and cultivating the chestnut tree when they were accustomed to exploit the excellent mechanical properties, the high durability and the great availability of oak for construction purposes (Bernard 2005;Haneca, Čufar, and Beeckman 2009;Tegel et al. 2016). Further, it must be stressed that oak remained a hardwood with enormous value and success as construction timber even during and after Roman times (Durand 2002;Haneca, Čufar, and Beeckman 2009;Toriti 2018;Bernabei et al. 2019;Tegel et al. 2022). Therefore, the adoption of Castanea for wood production could only take place within particular contexts and conditions (Buonincontri, Saracino, and Di Pasquale 2015;Bernabei et al. 2016). ...
The political and administrative unification process under the Roman Empire resulted not only in a progressive linguistic, religious, and cultural homogenisation of the concerned population, but also in the need of trade and exchanges for satisfying new dietary habits and markets. In this paper, we use palaeoecological pollen and macroremain records extracted from Neotoma online database and from scientific literature to analyse the contribution of the Romans in the distribution and cultivation history of Castanea sativa and Juglans regia, two tree species, which are usually considered highly connected with Romanisation. Our results highlight a substantial difference in the impact of the Romans on the history of the two species between the territories of the Western and Eastern Empire, where the Roman influence is much less evident. In the western territories, Juglans regia experienced a significant pre-Roman increase and spread, which was only partially intensified under Roman domination. Castanea sativa, on the contrary, benefited from a significant boost following the Roman conquest, especially in the mountain areas south of the Alps and in France. After the fall of the Roman Empire this led to the traditional medieval chestnut civilisation in which the chestnut tree became a main source of livelihood.
... Enhancing the accuracy and resolution of wood provenance is paramount in studies dealing with domestic timber supply and historical forestry practices, as well as in multi-scale analyses of human-environment interactions that reach far into the past using historic timbers (Eissing and Dittmar, 2011;Gut, 2018;Muigg et al., 2020;Tegel et al., 2022). Indeed, several authors pleaded for the use of a multi-proxy approach to further improve the accuracy of wood provenancing, namely in studies aimed at inferring the provenance of shipwreck timbers (Domínguez-Delmás et al., 2020;Akhmetzyanov et al., 2020a;Akhmetzyanov et al., 2020b) or at pinpointing the origin of oak timbers in Northern Spain (Akhmetzyanov et al., 2019). ...
Dendroprovenancing provides critical information regarding the origin of wood, allowing further insights into economic exploitation strategies and source regions of timber products. Traditionally, dendroprovenancing relies on pattern-matching of tree rings, but its spatial resolution is limited by the geographical coverage of species-specific chronologies available for crossdating and, in the case of short-distance trades, by scarce environmental variability. Here, we present an approach to provenance timber with high spatial resolution from forested areas that have been exploited intensively throughout history, with the aim to understand the sustainability of the various woodland management practices used to supply timber products. To this end, we combined tree-ring width (TRW), wood anatomical and geochemical analyses in addition to multivariate statistical validation procedures to trace the origin of living oak trees (Quercus robur) sampled in four stands located within a 30-km radius around the city of Limoges (Haute-Vienne, France). We demonstrate that TRW and wood anatomical variables (and in particular cell density) robustly discriminate the eastern from the western site, while failing to trace the origin of trees from the northern and southern sites. Here, strontium isotopic ratios (87Sr/86Sr) and Ca concentrations identify clusters of trees which could not be identified with TRW or wood anatomy. Ultimately, our study demonstrates that the coupling of wood anatomy with geochemical signatures allows to correctly pinpoint the origin of trees. Given the small geographic scale of our study and the limited differences in elevation and climate between study sites, our results are particularly promising for future dendroprovenancing studies. We thus conclude that the combination of multiple approaches will not only increase the accuracy of dendroprovenancing studies at local scales, but could also be implemented at much larger scales to identify trends in historic timber supply throughout Europe.
