Session #248
ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF WOODLANDS – HUMAN-TREE INTERACTION
THROUGH TIME
Theme:
5. Changing worlds and environments in the past, present and future
Author:
Oliver Nelle (Germany) – Tree-ring Lab, Baden-Württemberg State Office for Cultural
Heritage – Institute of Botany, University of Regensburg
Co-Author(s):
Aleksandra Fostikov (Serbia) – Institute of History Belgrade
Dorina Moullou (Greece) – Ephorate of Antiquities of East Attica, Hellenic Ministry of
Culture – School of Applied Arts and Sustainable Design, Hellenic Open University
Maria Ntinou (Greece) – Department of Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Description:
Woodlands have evolved under human influence for millenia, with the availability of tree
products playing a pivotal role in shaping the development of human societies. The
interaction of humans with trees and woodland is a long and regionally diverse story.
Although the topic has a rich history of research, it increasingly requires more detailed
regional and synthetic investigations and truly interdisciplinary approaches, with
innovative combinations of methods and archives.
In this session, we focus on combining archaeological material and written or
iconographic evidence, alongside oral history and ethnographic data. The
complementation of archaeological finds and features -waterlogged wood, timber in
historic buildings, charcoal, tar, carpological remains- with sources from historical
sciences such as texts, maps, and iconography offers unique potential to explore the
interrelatedness of woodland products, their uses and their analysis. Knowing the
consequences of woodland use through time is essential for understanding current
ecosystems and contributes to contemporary debates on biodiversity and climate
change.
After a session at the EAA 2024 on PoTaRCh (Network of Forest by-products Potash, Tar,
Resin, Charcoal in Europe, EU-COST Action 22155) and the 2025 session focusing on the
connection of wood and charcoal with metallurgy, we now stress the collaboration
between archaeologists, historians and environmental scientists. This session expands
the PoTaRCh network’s initiative to promote transdisciplinary research on forest byproducts
across Europe. It aims to bring together researchers from different periods,
regions, and disciplines to examine how human activities have shaped and been shaped
by woodland ecosystems. We seek to identify long-term trajectories in woodland
exploitation and perception by integrating archaeological, historical, ethnographic, and
ecological perspectives. We welcome contributions on wood procurement and trade,
management, charcoal and tar production, resin extraction, timber construction,
palaeoecology, and the symbolic or ritual role of trees.
Keywords:
woodland, human-tree interaction, material and historical sources, interdisciplinarity, environmental
archaeology, long-term perspective
