FORESTIMPACT
Wood use and management during the Prehispanic and Colonial period in the Canary Islands: adaptation and human impact on insular environments (FORESTIMPACT) Ref. PID2021-125055NA-I00
PI:
Paloma Vidal Matutano
Project Collaborators:
Dorota Wojtczak (UNIBAS)
Amelia Rodríguez (ULPGC)
Antoni Palomo (MAC)
Raquel Piqué (UAB)
Salvador Pardo (ULL)
Rosa López (Arenisca)
Period:
Prehispanic period in the Canary Islands (ca. 200 - 1500 CE) and Colonial period (15 - 16th centuries CE)
Abstract:
The exploitation of plant resources by human societies throughout History is a research line of great interest in archaeology. Charred wood or charcoal is an ideal archaeobotanical record for assessing the human-environment interaction, as it is the result of the use and management of woody resources in a local territory. Thus, this project presents a proposal for the analysis of new anthracological sequences from Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura covering part of the aboriginal phase, the contact as well as the colonial period in biogeographically similar areas. In addition, the exceptional preservation of organic matter in the Canarian archipelago allowed to recover a large number of Prehispanic wooden artefacts. Within the framework of this project, an extensive experimental programme is scheduled taking into account the corpus of work traces previously observed on the artefacts. Therefore, FORESTIMPACT will apply an interdisciplinary approach based on archaeobotany, tool-mark and use-wear analyses, documentation, experimental archaeology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and modelling, not previously applied in the Canary Islands. The main aim of the project will be to study the use and management of wood resources as well as the human impact on local landscapes during the Prehispanic and colonial periods.
Institution:
University of La Laguna (Spain)
Funding and financing institution:
36.300 euros (Spanish Ministry of Science)
Dates of Project
From 01/09/2022 to 30/08/2025