Format: Paper presentations and alternatives, with roundtable discussion
Convenors:
Chae Byrne, Project Manager/Archaeobotanist, University of Western Australia, Australia, chae.byrne@uwa.edu.au
Isabelle Thery-Parisot, Directrice de recherche au CNRS, Directrice du CEPAM, Université Nice Côte d’Azur, France, isabelle.thery@cnrs.fr
Emilie Dotte-Sarout, Social Sciences, Archaeology, University of Western Australia, Australia, emilie.dotte@uwa.edu.au
Anthracology, the analysis of archaeological wood charcoal macro-remains, has experienced an exponential growth over the last 10 years, especially via the multiplication of new applications around the world, including in Australia and the Indo-Pacific region.
These new works, and the continuous development of methodological and theoretical principles, are offering unique perspectives on the deep-time history of co-adaptations and relationships between humans, trees and woodlands. Anthracology can reveal how people used and related to fire, how they managed woody resources for fuel, but also how they transformed woodlands, moved through the landscape and accessed other resources offered by trees in general.
It is now becoming increasingly clear that fire was the very first natural element domesticated by humans, and that wooden artefacts as well as fruits and nuts have been a much more important part of material culture and alimentation than what has been assumed. In short, trees and woodlands have been fundamental elements throughout human history, but we are only starting to pay attention, thanks to improved field recovery methods and analytical approaches – and that includes a better integration of Indigenous perspectives and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in our work.
We call for papers presenting new methods, applications or theoretical perspectives and ethnoarcheobotanical approaches in anthracology; we hope to raise awareness for the potential of anthracology in archaeology around the world and in the Indo-Pacific region.
Of People & Trees: New Directions in Anthracology and the Archaeological History of Human-woodlands Interactions
Papers:
From the Paradise to the Desert, Round Trip: An Exploration of Dendroanthracology in the South-east of the Iberian Peninsula from the Recent Prehistory to the Late Middle Ages (9.000 BP- 500 BP)
Mireia Celma Martínez, Departamento de Prehistoria, Arqueología, Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas, Universidad de Murcia, Spain
Dendroanthracological analysis is a unique method for understanding how society-environment relations work and how wood production and consumption helped supply fuel, wood and timber throughout history. This paper discusses how the research results can help us understand the changing landscapes from recent prehistory to the Middle Ages in southern Europe, and particularly in the southern Iberian Peninsula. It is within this region that the most significant changes have been observed through the taxa identified, particularly in the flora that is now absent. Evidence of recent centuries of excessive forest exploitation is reflected in the drying up of rivers and the transformation of landscapes into deserts. However, it is important to note that such evidence can be misleading and lead to erroneous conclusions when attempting to draw analogies with past environments. The results of several analyses will be presented to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the ecological areas and the disturbances caused by the archaeological cultures of Los Millares, El Argar, Iberian, Roman, Andalusian and Late Middle Ages. This will enable the attainment of a comprehensive overview of long-term forest exploitation in the context of changing social and political processes.
The Role of Fire Plants from the Yungas Subtropical Mountain Forest in the Agro-pastoralist Practices of the Puna High Desert in the South-Central Andes of Argentina (1584-830 BP)
Maia del Rosario Rodriguez and María del Pilar Babot, Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET NOA Sur, CONICET; Grupo de Investigación en Arqueología Andina & Instituto de Arqueología y Museo, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e IML, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina
The first records of charcoal from Yungas trees in archaeological sites of the Argentine Puna high desert are presented. The nine taxa recovered in three archaeological sites of the Quebrada del Río Las Pitas in Antofagasta de la Sierra include: Podocarpus parlatorei Pilg. (Podocarpaceae), Chusquea lorentziana Griseb. (Poaceae), Schinus areira L. (Anarcadiaceae), Aralia soratensis Marchal (Araliaceae), Gochnatia curviflora (Griseb.) O. Hoffm./G. palosanto Cabrera (Asteraceae), Alnus acuminata Kunth. (Betulaceae), Jacaranda cuspidifolia Mart./J. mimosifolia D. Don (Bignoniaceae), Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell.) Brenan var. cebil (Griseb.) Altschul (Fabaceae), and Salix humboldtiana (Salicaceae). Wood was transported at least 210 km from three vegetational levels in the Yungas—Transitional or Pedemontana Forest, Low Montane Forest, and High Montane Forest, between 400 and 2300 masl—to the desert at 3600 masl, between ca. 1584 and 830 BP. These results are discussed based on the concept of fire plants, contextual analysis, and ethnographic information, to propose that the plant material may have been transported, used, and burned for different purposes other than fuelwood. Through these results, we seek to contribute to the understanding of the role that subtropical montane forests played for the societies of the Puna desert.
From the Tree’s Perspective—Approaching the Historical Ecology of West African Domesticated Landscapes
Alexa Höhn, Goethe University, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
West African parklands are misunderstood and threatened agroforestry landscapes of the Sudanian savanna biome. Their conservation urgently requires tree planting, but savannah ‘reforestation’ is contested, possibly due to a lack of adequate understanding of the role of humans in shaping and maintaining the woody vegetation in the form of an ancient agroforestry system. The iconic trees of these landscapes are shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) and winter thorn (Faidherbia albida), the latter associated with pastoralists and land use intensification.
Anthracological studies from archaeological sites dating to the first two millennia CE and in various regions of central West Africa, aim to provide a different perspective on these savannas – as landscapes shaped by humans cultivating (African) crops and managing useful trees as wild plant resources.
So far, results point to a constantly high number of shea trees in the surroundings of various sites in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Benin, already in the first millennium CE. The development of parklands with winter thorn is more difficult to trace due to the low frequency of winter thorn charcoals in the assemblages. Still the anthracological investigations show that the West African Sudanian savanna biome while not anthropogenic has been significantly shaped by millennia of tree management.
How Wood and Charcoal are Revealing New Insights into Arboriculture Practices in the North-eastern Iberian Peninsula
Eva Maria López Castillo and Anna Barberà Berrocal, Dept of Prehistory, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
Oriol López-Bultó, Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya, Spain
Raquel Piqué Huerta, Dept of Prehistory, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
Pere Castanyer Masoliver, Joaquim Tremoleda Trilla, and Joan Frigola Torrent, Grup de Recerca Arqueològica del Pla de l’Estany, Banyoles, Girona, Spain
The aim of this research is to approach tree management and arboriculture practices in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula (from 1st century BC to 7th century AD), focusing on waterlogged wood and charcoal remains recovered inside a well in the rural settlement of Vilauba and on the charcoal remains recovered at the Roman villa of Can Ring.
These materials have been analysed following a combination of two methodologies on dendrological analyses: the roundwood method (Out et al. 2013, 2018, 2020, 2023) and the eco-anatomy method (Limier et al. 2018; Terral et al. 1996, 1999, 2006). These methods are being applied on both modern and archaeological materials and the eco-anatomy method over Prunaceae is the first experience of this type of analysis. In addition, cut marks and branch morphology have been recorded.
To analyse the archaeological remains and to obtain comparative materials, a reference collection of modern wood from cultivated, managed and unmanaged trees of the predominant species has been designed and developed.
The results are contextualised with those obtained in other archaeobotanical studies. The results have provided some arboriculture practices in Prunus sp. and Vitis vinifera, and possible management practices in Sambucus nigra and Salix sp.
Decolonising Archaeobotany? How Anthracology in the Tropics can Disrupt our Frames of Interpretations – With a Focus on Oceania
Emilie Dotte, UWA Archaeobotany Lab, School of Social Sciences, University of Western Australia, Australia
Despite undeniable progress towards decolonial archaeologies in Australia and the Pacific, it can be argued that questions specifically related to the archaeological understanding of human-environment relations have not yet managed to escape hidden biases inherited from the particular history of the discipline in our region. Perspectives seem to remain constrained in conceptual frameworks that are rooted in the Mediterranean/Near & Middle Eastern origins of archaeobotany in particular. These are strongly influenced by semi-arid/temperate environments associated to specific socio-cultural contexts, evolutionary perspectives and landscape representations focusing on neolithisation and sedentarisation processes, domestication of animals and plants, cereal-based agriculture centred on sexually reproduced species, and the delimitation of ‘natural’ (wild) and ‘cultivated’ (‘civilised’) spaces. Here I wish to reflect on my experience, as a settler descendant from the tropical Pacific where I have also applied anthracology for the past 20 years, in realising how cultural landscapes, Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and the archaeobotanical record itself are disrupting traditional frames of interpretations – especially given the importance of treescapes and forests in the region’s socio-ecosystems. These offer a chance to escape the rigidity of orthodox, neolithic models, to develop locallyeaningful interpretations. Is it time to decolonise archaeobotany? How can anthracology help make this happen?
Artificial Intelligence for Identification of Wood and Charcoal in Archaeological and Palaeoecological Perspectives
Isabelle Théry-Parisot and Marco Corneli, Université Cote d’Azur, CNRS, CEPAM, Nice, France
Diane Lingrand, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France
Antoine Pasqualini, Université Cote d’Azur, CNRS, CEPAM, Nice, France
Dieu-Donné Fangon, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France
Anthracology relies on a visual or morphometric analysis of the anatomical structure of wood charcoal. The expertise of the specialist is effective for the identification of the majority of taxa, but the anatomical proximity of certain species remains a lock for the identification of other taxa. Leveraging the latest advances in deep learning, we propose an AI-based decision support tool designed to identify taxa that conventional methods cannot resolve.
This work is grounded in the creation of a large database comprising over 10,000 images of modern European taxa. Tested on two genera of particular interest: Quercus and Acer, the algorithm achieves a test accuracy rate of 100% at the genus level and 99.17% at the species level. The second step was to test the algorithm on images of archaeological charcoal from Quercus and Acer. This task is particularly challenging due to the less well preserve anatomy of charcoal than that of modern wood. While the accuracy rate is very high when tested on modern wood, it is still lower for archaeological charcoal. However, significant improvements can be achieved by adapting and optimising the algorithm to better account for the altered anatomical features of charcoal.
From Wood to Fire, An Anthracological View of a Late Woodland St. Lawrence Iroquoian Village – Strategic Entanglement with the Forested Landscape Around the Isings Aite (BgFo-24) in Montérégie, QC
Xavier Dagenais-Chabot, Université de Montréal, Canada
As part of my anthropological master’s thesis aimed at shedding light on the relationship between forests, their woody resources, and the Indigenous communities of southern Quebec before the arrival of Europeans, I focus on exploring the daily life processes within a St. Lawrence Iroquoian horticultural village. My study is based on the analysis of charred wood remains discovered at the Isings site (BgFo-24) in Montérégie.
For the 10th World Archaeological Congress, my presentation will focus on the results, particularly anthracological spectra (block diagrams and graphs) derived from my research. These spectra have been developed by considering three crucial spatial and statistical scales in the field: the context of soil samples (including occupation surfaces and archaeological structures such as hearths and pits), the sectors (activity areas and longhouses), and finally, the entire site.
The presentation will follow four themes: (1) the choice of fuel, (2) the specific management of pyrotechnic waste, (3) the question of seasonality, and (4) the representativity and contamination of the anthracological record, in an attempt to reconstruct the role of wood and charcoal within the material assemblage of the site and highlight the importance of past human (co)interactions with the forested landscape.
New Interpretations from Karnatukul: The Importance of Indigenous Knowledge in Archaeobotanical Interpretation
Chae Byrne, University of Western Australia, Australia
Birriliburu Traditional Owners (MNR), Australia
This paper revisits anthracological data from Karnatukul, Australia’s oldest known Australian Western Desert sites, to explore the significance of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge in archaeobotanical interpretation. The original analysis provided a rare, continuous record of human-landscape interactions spanning over 50,000 years (Byrne et al. 2021) of which will soon be further explored with re-excavation planned for later this year. We re-examine the taxonomic diversity of charcoal assemblages with more in-depth traditional Aboriginal knowledge of plant ecology, uses, and landscape management practices. By integrating IEK, we offer new perspectives on past firewood selection strategies, mobility patterns, and the broader role of plants in shaping the Karnatukul landscape. This approach moves beyond purely environmental interpretations, considering how cultural knowledge and human agency influenced the long-term relationship between people and plants in this arid environment. The intricate relationship between human societies and the landscapes they occupy is characterised by a constant and evolving interplay, resulting in the mutual growth of both.
Iron Age Charred Wooden Crafts: Plants, Objects and Environmental Involvement of Craftspeople
María Martín Seijo, Nuria Romero Vidal and Joeri Kaal, Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio (INCIPIT), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
The preservation of wooden artefacts from the Iron Age in southern Europe is rare due to their perishable nature. Most are preserved by charring, accidental or deliberate burning, and they are challenging objects to study. Fragmented remains are often the only evidence available due to their fragility, making non-invasive or minimally invasive study methods essential. Their analysis is essential for understanding the environmental involvement of craftspeople, wood resource management, the role of wooden objects in ancient societies, and the technical processes involved in their production. A systematic methodology is required, starting with archaeological excavation, especially in contexts with charcoal-rich deposits and evidence of worked wood. In the laboratory, taxonomic identification and the recording of dendrological and taphonomic attributes are followed by morpho-technological analysis, documentation of transformation methods and other technological aspects. The chaîne-opératoire framework is used to systematically organise data on the production process, extending to the life cycle of the object, including use wear, as well as evidence of repair and reuse. Standard equipment is used alongside advanced tools such as Dino-Lite for minimal object handling in museums, as well as conventional microscopy, SEM, MicroCT and molecular analysis (Py-GC-MS).
Anthracology Meets Ecological Niche Models: New Avenues for the Reconstruction of Past Vegetation History and Human Behaviour?
Bàrbara Mas, Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, CEPAM, France; Seminari d’Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques (SERP), Departament d’Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
Auréade Henry, Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, CEPAM, FranceOne of the great challenges of anthracology is to identify human choices regarding firewood. Indeed, if the refinement of sampling and interpretative methods over the past decades has allowed to establish the paleoenvironmental value of this discipline, it often remains difficult to assess to what extent past taxonomic choice is linked to local species availability and thus, to highlight ancient human behaviour. Traditionally, the comparison of anthracological with off-site paleoenvironmental spectra (e.g., palynological data) has been used to investigate the equation between available and collected taxa, but differential resolution, taphonomy and sequence correlation biases inherent to each discipline have complicated this endeavour. In this paper, we explore the potential of ecological niche models (ENM) to reconstruct the potential distribution of tree species over time. By modelling where species could have grown under different climatic conditions, ENM provides new results that can be cross-compared with bioarchaeological/paleoenvironmental data, helping to validate or challenge existing interpretations. Here, we present ENM examples of Betula pendula, Quercus pubescens and Q. ilex in different past climatic scenarios, to show how these models can improve our understanding of both the history of past woody species and forest management strategies.