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The first European settlements accompanied by crop and livestock farming occurred approximately 7500 years ago. In this agrarian society, wood was one of the most important raw materials, most notably for construction, but only a little is known about wood use and woodworking technology. Hence, archaeological wooden finds are of particular importance. Dendroarchaeological studies combine the analysis of external and internal characteristics of archaeological wood: traces of tools on the wooden surfaces and the shape of timbers provide information about woodworking techniques, the tree rings allow dendrochronological dating and provide a paleoecological archive. In 2015 and 2016, two water wells with wooden linings from the Early Neolithic Period were discovered in the Czech Republic close to the towns of Velim (Bohemia) and Uničov (Moravia). The timbers were excellently preserved under waterlogged conditions. Here, we present a dendroarchaeological study including tree-ring and woodworking analyses. Furthermore, we consider former forest species composition. Overall, 15 lumbers from both wells were successfully dated by dendrochronology. The oaks used for the wells from Velim and Uničov were felled in 5196/5195 BCE and 5093–5085 BCE, respectively. Additionally, the taxa of 1859 wooden fragments, such as charcoals, branches and chips, were wood anatomically identified. The well lining from Velim with a hollowed tree trunk is already known from other Central European locations. In contrast, the construction from Uničov is unique for this period. Until now, the advanced construction design formed by four corner posts with longitudinal grooves and inserted horizontal planks was only known several thousands years later. The Early Neolithic wells from Uničov and Velim are the oldest archaeological discoveries of wooden artefacts in the Czech Republic that have been dendrochronologically dated. The tree-ring width series extend the Czech oak tree-ring width chronology more than 300 years into the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally accepted that anthropogenicinduced climate change may affect the frequency and intensity of hydrological extremes, together with a variety of subsequent impacts on ecosystems and human society. Proxy records that are absolutely dated and annually resolved are indispensable to a better understanding of temporal changes in the occurrence of floods and droughts. This contribution presents a new data set of 3194 oak (Quercus spp.) ring width samples from living trees and historical timbers, collected across the Czech Republic. A composite tree-ring width (TRW) chronology is developed that best captures the high-frequency extremes over the past 1250 years. The temporal distribution of negative and positive extremes is regular with no indication of clustering. The highest number of negative extremes was found in the 19th century, while positive extremes were most frequent in the 12th century. The lowest number of negative and positive extremes occurred in the 18th and 13th centuries respectively. Negative and positive TRW extremes were compared with the instrumental measurements back to 1805 AD, with documentary-based temperature and precipitation reconstructions from 1804 to 1500, and with documentary evidence before 1500 AD. Negative TRW extremes coincided with above-average March-May and June-August temperature means and below-average precipitation totals. Positive extremes coincided with higher summer precipitation, while temperatures were mostly normal. Mean sea level pressure (SLP) over the European/North Atlantic sector suggested drought for the negative oak TRW extremes, whereas the positive extremes corresponded to wetter conditions overall. More consistent patterns of synoptic SLP were found for negative rather than for positive extremes. Reasons for the possible offset between the oak-based hydroclimatic extremes and their counterparts from meteorological observations and documentary evidence may be manifold and emphasize the need for multi-proxy approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charcoal piles have become a frequent subject of research in recent years as a better understanding of past human activities in forests is sought. The age of charcoal piles is usually determined by radiocarbon dating; dendrochronology is rarely used because of the small size of preserved charcoal remains and the insufficient number of visible tree rings. This paper presents the potential for dendrochronological and 14C method in research into charcoal piles. From 14 charcoal-burning sites in the Czech Republic, 214 pieces of charcoal were anatomically identified at the genus level and dendrochronologically analysed. Our results show that fir dominated in these charcoal remains, followed by oak, beech, spruce and pine. With an overall dendrochronological dating success of 24 %, fir charcoal was dated most often (65 %) with measurable tree rings ranging from 14 to 90. The oldest charcoals were dendrochronologically dated to summer 1682 CE; conversely, the youngest had end dates in the second half of the 19th century. The relatively poor dating success of oak charcoal very likely resulted from the use of branches for charcoal production rather than tree trunks. Based on an analysis of selected charcoal samples, we confirm that radiocarbon dating provided a very wide range of dates in the post-1650 CE period and the use of the wiggle-matching method was usually challenging because of short TRW series. Based on samples with preserved waney edges, we conclude that charcoal was more commonly made from wood felled in the summer than in the winter. Despite the relatively low level of success of dendrochronological dating, it seems more effective for dating charcoal than the 14C method, especially with samples from the last 350 years. • Fir dominated in the investigated charcoal followed by oak, beech, spruce and pine. • Success of dendrochronological dating of charcoals was 24 %. • Oak charcoal was made of branches instead of coppice shoots or tree trunks. • Charcoal was more often made from trees felled in summer than in winter. • Dendrochronological dating of charcoal is more effective than 14C method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longstanding demographic growth accompanied by rising settlement activities and development of industry led to an increasing demand on utilization of wood. Tree species were selected for their specific properties. As a consequence of regional differences of forest species composition, wood has become an extremely important trade commodity. Therefore, the utilization of individual species could substantially change in space and time. In this study, we use 8´135 precisely dated timber constructions from a dendrochronological database to investigate spatio-temporal changes in wood utilization across the Czech lands from the 15th to the 19th century. Our results suggest that the utilization of individual species in historical timber constructions was primarily limited by their availability. Species selection was also based on wood properties and stem geometry. Most of historical constructions (99.7%), represented mainly by roofs and ceilings, are made of fir, spruce, pine, and oak. While fir constructions prevail in eastern Moravia and Silesia, spruce constructions are largely spread across the western and central part of the Czech Republic. Pine and oak constructions reflect natural occurrence of such forests in lower elevated central Bohemia and southern Moravia. Although fir prevailed in timber construction in the late-Medieval and post-Medieval times, planting of spruce monocultures resulted in its significantly increased utilization by the end of the 19th century. This study demonstrates the value of dendrochronological databases as an indicator of historical wood utilization. • Most of the 8´135 historical constructions are made of fir, spruce, pine and oak. • Easy availability of tree species was pivotal for their use in the 1400–1900 period. • Wood properties and stem geometry was crucial in species selection as well. • Fir prevailed until the 18th century, while spruce prevailed from the 19th century. • Pine and oak utilization reflect their natural distribution in the Czech lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]