Woodlands of Antiquity: A millennium of dendrochronological data on forest exploitation and timber economy between the Alps and the Atlantic
Abstract
The Roman Empire dominated large parts of western and central Europe for over half a millennium, leaving a lasting cultural imprint on the continent. In the densely forested regions north of the Alps, material culture was characterized by the use of wood as a primary raw material. Yet, the drivers behind the Roman timber economy and its impact on woodland exploitation and forest dynamics remain poorly understood. To address this, we investigated a unique collection of 20.397 dendrochronologically dated archaeological woods spanning a millennium of European Antiquity (300 BCE–700 CE). Our results reveal significant increases in exploitation during Roman occupation, with regional differences in onset, intensity, and duration. Due to rising civilian and military demand for wood, Roman logging increasingly extended into primary forests far from settlements, which indicates a significantly improved infrastructure, professionalism, and organization of lumbering. The 3rd century CE marks a tipping point, with sharp declines in wood use and long-distance transport, alongside evidence of overexploitation of old-grown forests (trees aged over 200 y). Late Antiquity is characterized by an overall decline in felling activities during the 4th and 5th centuries and a reestablishment of old-grown forests, manifested by increased tree ages thereafter. These findings demonstrate how Roman imperial expansion fundamentally reshaped woodlands north of the Alps and contribute to the environmental and economic history of European Antiquity.
Article Details
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (25)
Bernhard Muigg
Chair of Forest History, Institute of Forest Sciences, University of Freiburg
Kristof Haneca
Flanders Heritage Agency
Willy Tegel
Laboratory for Dendrochronology, Archaeological Service of Canton of Thurgau
Martin Grünewald
German Archaeological Institute, Romano-Germanic Commission
Vincent Bernard
Niels Bleicher
Competence Center for Underwater Archaeology and Dendrochronology
François Blondel
Climate Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene Chair, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva
Matthias Bolliger
Laboratory for Dendrochronology, Archaeological Service of Canton of Bern
Manuel Broich
Laboratory of Dendroarchaeology, Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne
Yann Couturier
Dendrotech, Mémoires du Bois
Sjoerd van Daalen
Van Daalen Dendrochronologie
Marta Domínguez-Delmás
Archaeology Department, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
Olivier Girardclos
Laboratoire Chrono-Environnement—Unité Mixte de Recherche 6249 CNRS/Université de Franche-Comté
Franz Herzig
Dendroarchaeological Laboratory, Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Sites
Fabien Langenegger
Office du patrimoine et de l’archéologie
Yannick Le Digol
Dendrotech, Mémoires du Bois
Oliver Nelle
Tree-Ring Laboratory, State Office for Cultural Heritage Baden-Wuerttemberg
Kurt Nicolussi
Department of Geography, University of Innsbruck
Monika Oberhänsli
Laboratory for Dendrochronology, Archaeological Service of Canton of Grisons
Christophe Perrault
Dendrochronological Laboratory Centre d'Etude Dendrochronologie et Recherche en Ecologie
Andreas Rzepecki
Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz, Direktion Rheinisches Landesmuseum
Yardeni Vorst
Biological Archaeology & Environmental Reconstruction Consult
Julia Weidemüller
Dendroarchaeological Laboratory, Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Sites
Thorsten Westphal
Laboratory of Dendroarchaeology, Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne
Andrea Seim
Chair of Forest History, Institute of Forest Sciences, University of Freiburg