Woodland Management
One of the goals of this project is to investigate whether it is possible to detect woodland management in assemblages of uncarbonised wood from archaeological sites. Therefore, we analyse branch age/diameter data of branches from modern-day trees to investigate whether there is a difference between managed trees (pollarded and coppiced trees) and unmanaged trees.
Project Leads: Welmoed Out, Kirsti Hänninen and Caroline Vermeeren
Project Collaborators: Claudia Baittinger, Katarina Čufar and Oriol López-Bultó
Period: All archaeological periods, until now focus on Mesolithic and Neolithic
Abstract
It is often presumed that woodland management, i.e. pollarding and coppicing, was practised in prehistory, but the precise beginning and the details of such former practices are unclear. To fill this gap, this project aims:
· To investigate whether it is possible to detect woodland management in assemblages of uncarbonised wood from archaeological sites;
· To investigate when and where archaeological sites provide convincing evidence of woodland management.
We work towards reaching these goals by studying modern managed and unmanaged trees as well as roundwood from archaeological sites in Europe. The outcomes contribute to an understanding of how people interacted with their environment in the past and how this developed over time.
Selected publications:
Out, W.A., Vermeeren, C., Hänninen, K. 2013. Branch age and diameter: useful criteria
for recognising woodland management in the present and past? Journal of Archaeological Science 40 (11), 4083-4097.
Out, W.A., Baittinger, C., Čufar, K., López Bultó, O., Hänninen, K., Vermeeren, C. 2020.
Identification of woodland management by analysis of roundwood age and diameter: Neolithic case studies. Forest Ecology and Management 467, 118136.
Out, W.A., Hänninen, K., C., Vermeeren, C. in press/2023. Comment on “A question of method
and place? A critical reappraisal of the methods of dendroarchaeology, anthracology, archaeobotany and roundwood analysis on the question when systematic woodland management began in Europe [Quat. Int., in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2022.05.006]”. Quaternary International, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2023.01.001.
Institution:
Moesgaard Museum, BIAX Consult
Funding and financing institution:
Yearly fieldwork in Denmark (trees and laboratory) facilitated by Moesgaard Museum
Start Date: 2009
Web page: https://www.researchgate.net/project/The-detection-of-woodland-management-by-analysis-of-branch-age-and-diameter