Wood use in early medieval weapon production
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(2020) 12:9
ORIGINAL PAPER
Wood use in early medieval weapon production Kristof Haneca 1
&
Koen Deforce 1,2,3
Received: 28 June 2019 / Accepted: 16 October 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract In this paper, the analyses of wood remains from weapons that were found in early medieval graves in Belgium are presented. In addition, a large number of wood identifications from other early medieval weaponry from northwestern Europe (Germany, France, Switzerland, and England) was collected, resulting in a dataset of more than 800 items. The analysis of this dataset shows that the selection of wood taxa for specific weapons was largely similar all over northwestern Europe during this period and this selection can be explained by the physical and technical properties of each of these wood species. For instance, common ash (Fraxinus excelsior) being the preferred wood for arrow and spear shafts and alder (Alnus sp.) for scabbards. However, some regional differences emerged from this extensive dataset, e.g., the use of holly (Ilex aquifolium) for the production of axe handles being restricted to northern Belgium and poplar/willow (Populus sp./Salix sp.) being the preferred wood for shields in the UK, while these were mostly made from alder (Alnus sp.) in continental Europe. The results demonstrate the added value of wood anatomical analysis of mineralized wood particles preserved in the corrosion layer of metal objects, and weapons in particular, from archeological contexts. Clearly, taxonomic identifications have the potential to shed more light on material culture, technological craftsmanship, and the burial ritual in early medieval societies. Keywords Wood anatomy . Archeology . Early Middle Ages . Grave goods . Weapon production . Mineralized wood
Introduction Archeological records of early medieval settlements are rather scarce in northwestern Europe. Nevertheless, our current knowledge on the material culture of early medieval societies in northwestern Europe is predominantly based on the analysis of archeological finds, as there is hardly any historical documentation either for this period (Arnold 2005; Effros 2003). In contrast to both the preceding Roman era and the younger High Middle Ages, there is a low number of Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-01000-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Kristof Haneca [email protected] 1
Flanders Heritage Agency, Havenlaan 88 box 5, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
2
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
3
Department of Archaeology, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
archeological sites dating to this period with large finds collections. As a consequence, our knowledge on the use of organic materials during this period, as early medieval sites with good preservation conditions for organics (i.e., waterlogged) are even more scarce, is limited
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