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During the First World War (1914-1918), the construction and maintenance of the Western Front in North-west Europe required huge quantities of timber. Although archaeological investigations regularly uncover wellpreserved wooden structures and objects, studies of the timber'sprovenance are rare. The authors combine archival research with wood-species identification and tree-ring analysis of a large assemblage of wooden objects excavated from former trenches on the Western Front. The results show that most objects and structures were made using fast-growing European species, with evidence for the small-scale but continuous importation of North American timber.Keywords: Western Front, First World War, dendrochronology, wood anatomy, battlefield archaeology, IntroductionDuring the First World War (1914-1918), the landscape along the European Western Front was devastated by warfare and military operations. By the end of 1914, a stalemate was reached and [...]

A heavy and impressive chest — part of the museum collection of the city of Antwerp — served as a strongbox to securely store the city's historical documents, including citizen privileges, public liberties, and responsibilities. A recent dendrochronological survey revealed that the tree-ring pattern of the lid dates to 1005–1294 CE, suggesting a felling date early in the 14th century. The Silver fir wood originated from the Vosges mountains in France, and hence was transported to the city of Antwerp that had already developed as an important trade centre along river Scheldt by the 13th century. The tree-ring pattern of the bottom plank could not be measured, but the presence of caulking material in some large cracks and metal clamps (sintels) revealed that this repurposed timber must have originated from a medieval ship. The archaeobotanical analysis of the mosses used as caulking material and of the pollen trapped in these mosses points toward two different locations where the ship was repaired, with at least one location outside the Low Countries. During the examination, a collection of wooden boxes stored inside the chest drew the attention. It was unclear whether the collection of boxes had any connection with the original content in the chest. Tree-ring dating on these wooden boxes made of oak and beech revealed their 14th to 16th century dating. Furthermore, inscriptions proved their relationship with historical documents. The combined dendrochronological, archaeobotanical, and historical examination demonstrates that this medieval chest was a privileged spectator of the city's turbulent history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roof construction is a key element while documenting and studying building traditions in historical towns. In the city centre of Ghent (Belgium), numerous roofs of large monuments (churches, merchants' halls, town halls) as well as historical houses from the pre-industrial era are still in place. Tree-ring research has been carried out on several intact roof constructions since the 1990s. The dated roofs range from the mid-13th to the 17th century. Recent research has revealed the presence of historical roofs in the church of St. Nicholas, an iconic building in the city's historical centre. Tree-ring research has dated the roof constructions of the nave and the choir to the first and second quarters of the 13th century, which makes them the oldest preserved examples of carpentry in Ghent and among the oldest in Flanders (northern Belgium). These and other such dating results for the Ghent region allow for the development of a typology for (late) medieval and early modern roof constructions and provide context for a better understanding of the procurement, trade, and transport of building timber from the early 13th century to the early modern era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a medieval tower in the Tallinn Old Town wall there is a wooden internal door that was suspected of being rather old. The age of the door was determined using dendrochronology. It was possible to measure tree rings from the lower ends of the oak planks of the door. Matching the ring-width series with oak references from northern Europe revealed that the door was over 600 years old, and still in place in medieval Bremen Tower in Tallinn, Estonia. The ring-width series of the door was most similar to oak chronology from the Daugava River. However, this does not mean that the door timbers originate from that region. At present, we do not possess Estonian oak chronologies extending back to that time. Thus, the provenance of the oak for this door remains undecided. The dendrochronological date of the door, AD 1394-1411, can be confirmed and can be narrowed by documentary evidence to AD 1400-1410. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the study of the early medieval cemetery at Broechem (Belgium), human bones from 32 cremation graves have been dated through radiocarbon (14C) analysis. It was noted that many of the dates were not in accordance with the chronological ranges provided by the characteristics of the cultural artifacts deposited in the graves. In fact, the human bones were "older" than the artifacts. Subsequently, a number of animal bones (in all cases from domestic pigs) was radiocarbon dated, yielding dates that were more consistent with the information from the cultural artifacts than the human bones. The dates obtained on human and pig bones from the same grave often differed around 100 radiocarbon years. This paper tries to find an explanation for the pattern observed, concentrating on two hypotheses: aquatic reservoir versus old wood effects. The evaluation takes into account additional radiocarbon dates derived from charcoal fragments of the funeral pyre, from both short-lived and long-lived taxa. A conclusive explanation for the anomalous radiocarbon dates could not be reached but clear suggestions can be put forward for future experimental work that will without doubt shed more light upon the interpretational problems raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this study we draw attention to the inherent variability in the results of trial trenching, when taking into account the countless variations in orientation and positioning of trenches. Grids of trial trenches were simulated time and again on the excavation plans of 16 archaeological sites from Flanders, Belgium. Orientation and positioning of the grid layout was shifted randomly, whilst the area coverage varied from 2.5% to 80%. The intersection rates of the archaeological features allow to gain more insight in trends and variability that are inherent to the chosen design of trial trenches. It is assessed how robust a chosen grid layout performs on (multi-period) archaeological sites and how variable these results might be. The most effective layout appears to be a grid with short, parallel and discontinuous trenches or a standard grid, closely followed by 2 m wide continuous trenches. Implementing 4 m wide trenches reduces the effectiveness of the latter method substantially. When the area coverage of the trenches is below 10%, the results of the archaeological prospection become unreliable and can potentially lead to a substantial over-or underestimation of the actual feature density on the site. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2002, the preserved bottom part of a wreck was excavated, identified as a cog, and named Doel 2. An interdisciplinary research programme (2010-2014), revealed that the ship was constructed after 1328 with wood from northern Poland. Complete 3D-registration of the timbers, and structural analysis showed it had a keelplank with a natural upward curve at the bow that served as a hook, and that most bottom planks were recaulked, among many other repairs. The ship ended up in 'den Deurganck', a creek near the Scheldt river where it was partially disassembled before the surviving remains were inverted, probably as a result of a flood. This paper presents the detailed recording and archaeological interpretation of the ship remains, and the results of the dendrochronological analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2000, a well-preserved, c.21 m-long shipwreck, Doel 1, was found upside-down in a silted-up creek near the river Scheldt ( Belgium). An interdisciplinary research project was initiated, including 3 D registration of all timbers, wood species identification, dendrochronology and archaeobotanical analysis of the caulking material. Doel 1, of which 70% is preserved, displays the construction features of a cog. Unseasoned wood was used and dated by dendrochronology to AD 1325/26. Remarkable features include the symmetrical layout of the bottom planks, the atypical arrangement of the frames to the fore, and evidence of partial dissassembly of the ship after intensive use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2000, the remains of a cog, Doel 1, were found in Doel, Belgium. Wood species identification of all ship timbers and smaller elements was performed. European oak was the dominant species, followed by alder that was used for the fairings. In total 150 ring-width series were recorded. The construction date was set at AD 1325/26 and the timbers proved to originate from forests along the rivers Elbe and Weser. For the bottom strakes a strict symmetrical layout was observed. The keel plank was hewn from a trunk with a slightly earlier felling date. Repairs were performed with high-quality boards, some with a southern Baltic provenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses an dendrochronological analysis of the choir hall and its frame at the Notre-Dame church located in the city of Damme, Belgium. According to the article, the church is a testament to the development of the city and is considered to be a religious architecture prototype of the late Middle Ages in the maritime Flanders, or Flandre flamingante. The author discusses the choir hall's architecture, including the oak rafters in its center dating back to 1241-1242, and the choir hall's construction which took place from 1283 to 1291 and then again from 1312 to 1315. The war between the comte de Flandre Guy de Dampierre and French King Philippe le Bel from 1297 to 1305 is also mentioned.

Climate model projections suggest widespread drying in the Mediterranean Basin and wetting in Fennoscandia in the coming decades largely as a consequence of greenhouse gas forcing of climate. To place these and other "Old World" climate projections into historical perspective based on more complete estimates of natural hydroclimatic variability, we have developed the "Old World Drought Atlas" (OWDA), a set of year-to-year maps of tree-ring reconstructed summer wetness and dryness over Europe and the Mediterranean Basin during the Common Era. The OWDA matches historical accounts of severe drought and wetness with a spatial completeness not previously available. In addition, megadroughts reconstructed over north-central Europe in the 11th and mid-15th centuries reinforce other evidence from North America and Asia that droughts were more severe, extensive, and prolonged over Northern Hemisphere land areas before the 20th century, with an inadequate understanding of their causes. The OWDA provides new data to determine the causes of Old World drought and wetness and attribute past climate variability to forced and/or internal variability.