Dendro-geography. Mapping the Northern European historic timber trade

Insight into many aspects and dynamics of the trade of timber in Northern Europe, through time, are possible through the combination of archaeological, historical and dendrochronological analyses. A selection of examples from the analysis of material from a range of archaeological sites shows the range of information that emerges. Barrels from the 8th century found in Ribe
in Denmark show links to archaeological material in England, the Netherlands and the Middle Rhine in Germany. Finds in Denmark of barrels from the 14th and 15th centuries confirm the pattern that dendrochronological research in many laboratories throughout Northern Europe has shown of the explosion in trade of panels, wainscots, boards etc., from the southern Baltic Sea coastal region. A summary of barrel finds, chiefly from Denmark, allows us to take a chronological view of the changes in sources for this often mundane find type. In many cases we also see regional differences in the standard dimensions of barrels. A shipwreck from the island of Darss, in northern Germany, is dated to around 1590. Two timber sources were utilised in the building of this ship, and the timbers from these two regions were worked and utilised differently. The results from these many examples raise the possibility of future multidisciplinary investigation into the regionality (or geography) and chronology of Northern European timber-working traditions. A new term suggested for this analysis might be “dendro-geography”.