J. Mrgic, ‘Some Considerations on Woodland Resource in the Medieval Serbia and Bosnia’, Beogradski Istorijski Glasnik/Belgrade Historical Review, vol. 1 (2010) 87-101 (original) (raw)
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Based on the analysis of the position of wood in historiography on economic history, forestry and environmental history of the eastern Adriatic in the Middle Ages, the author argues that the position of Koper and Piran as the two largest medieval urban centres in Slovene history of forestry is characterised by lack of research on wood as a commodity, misinterpretation of the role of Venetians in the exploitation of wood in the eastern Adriatic as well as by the concept of Slovene history of forestry with the Middle Ages considered as its prehistory.
Descriptions of the Forests of Slavonia in Travelogues of the Early Modern Age
Historical Studies on Central Europe
Forest history is a relatively new discipline in Croatian historiography. The scale ofexploitation remains the main point of interest for scholars dealing with forest history. Nevertheless,recent scholarship has turned scholarly interest towards another question: Can exploitation (timberconsumption) be the only criterion for the anthropization of forests? The present paper analyzesthree travelogues from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and compares them withquantitative data originating from various historical sources. It shows how travelogues do not onlyoffer a vivid description of a land and its inhabitants but can also be used as a valuable confirmationof historical conclusions based on quantitative historical data. Even more, travelogues may providesome specific data not available elsewhere. In this case, three travelogues (Atanazije Jurjević, OsmanAga of Timişoara/Temesvár, and Friedrich Wilhelm von Taube) give a broader understanding of theanthropization of forests in ...
Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products in Early Modern Poland
The quantification of human impacts on past forest ecosystems becomes more challenging as one goes deeper into the past. This is primarily due to a scarcity of appropriate source material. It is well known that the inclusion of the Polish lands in the zone of economic ties with Western Europe at the end of the 15th century enabled intensive export of cereal and forest products. In this paper, we have used place names established before 1600 to demonstrate how ancient forests were exploited. By analyzing the naming material, we distinguished three basic types of names related to logging, industrial production, and beekeeping. In addition, we have included several theoretical considerations related to the environmental consequences of forest exploitation. Thus, our article provides a strong basis for further research into the environmental effects of past landscape changes.
Trees and shrubs used in medieval Poland for making everyday objects
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
This article presents the results of the wood identification of 3,867 everyday objects dated from the 9th to the 15th century ad, which were excavated from 48 medieval strongholds and early urban centres in Poland. The analyses have shown that medieval craftsmen used the wood of 27 tree and shrub taxa. The timber used the most was Pinus sylvestris (pine), Quercus sp. (oak), Fraxinus excelsior (ash) and Alnus sp. (alder). Pine was used mainly to make vessels out of staves (curved pieces of wood) such as buckets and tubs, and for torches for lighting; oak was used for furniture, barrels, cart axles, spades and club hammers used by carpenters. Ash wood was the main material used for making turned bowls, and alder for making articles which were to be in long-lasting contact with water, such as beaters and scoops. Wood studies agree with historical records about the intensive use of yew wood, which finally caused the decrease of Taxus baccata in woodlands in the 14th and 15th centuries. Also, the wood of shrubs such as Euonymus sp. (spindle) and Sambucus sp. (elder) was quite often used. The choice of wood for the specific needs of a particular craft in medieval Poland was done selectively and it was determined by the particular function of the object being made, but at the same time it was limited by availability from the local woodlands. Regional differentiation in the selection of raw material is best indicated in the case of Abies alba (fir). Chronological analysis of the use of wood shows that the number of items made of timber from deciduous trees in all regions of Poland decreased in the late Middle Ages when compared to the Piast period of the early Middle Ages.
Woodland Management Practices in Bronze Age, Bruszczewo, Poland
Forests
The article presents a study of wood excavated from archaeological site in Poland (2100–1650 BC). The large amount of collected samples created a unique opportunity for research because the subfossil wood was in very good preservation state. This made it possible to carry out dendrotypological analysis. This is the first such study conducted for Early Bronze Age timber originating from Poland. The main goal of the study was to determine whether the presence of strong and abrupt reductions and releases of growth, observed within tree-ring sequences, is due to natural stand dynamics, results from the influence of extreme environmental factors or whether they should be linked to specific silvicultural practices already known in ancient times. Another purpose of the study was to determine the type of forest management techniques applied to the trees growing in Bruszczewo site. The research was conducted using the dendrochronological method. In addition to the measurements of growth-ring...
Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, 2023
The former royal forests of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania present a unique example of centuries-old protection. Based on archival documents and published literature, we analyzed the evolution of the management and protection system of Białowieża Forest in the fourteenth-eighteenth century. The timeframe of our analysis (1386-1795) covers the period of the union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Białowieża Forest (BF, now on the borderland of Poland and Belarus) has been the most prominent example of successful long-term protection efforts. The results present: (1) the evolution of the legal status of BF in 1386-1795, (2) the role this woodland played for the monarchs, (3) the goals of protecting BF's resources, (4) types of threats to the forest environment and methods of counteracting risks and enforcing protection, and (5) the development of the hunting and forest personnel of BF and their duties. The egalitarian character and horizontal structure of that personnel, which existed since the fourteenth century (beaters), by the years 1765-1795 developed into a five-level, hierarchical structure (beaters, rangers, guards, subordinate foresters, and a forester), with differentiated tasks and a high complexity of responsibilities and duties.
Plants, 2023
Out, W.A., Hänninen, K., Merela, M., Velušček, A., Vermeeren, C., Čufar K. 2023. Evidence of woodland management at the eneolithic pile dwellings (3700-2400 BCE) in the Ljubljansko barje, Slovenia? Plants 12(2), 291. It is assumed that people practiced woodland management, i.e., coppicing and pollarding, in prehistory, but details are poorly known. This study aims for a better understanding of woodland exploitation through time in the wetland basin of the Ljubljansko barje, Slovenia, from 3700–2400 BCE (Before Common Era). To do so, uncarbonized, waterlogged wood from 16 Eneolithic pile dwellings situated in two geographical clusters that cover a time span of c. 1300 years were subjected to age/diameter analysis. It is the first time that age/diameter analysis has been applied to multiple sites from the same region. The investigated posts represent a wide range of taxa, but oak (Quercus sp.) and ash (Fraxinus sp.) represent 75% of the total, indicating selective use of wood for this purpose. Diameter selection of ash may have taken place as well. At both site clusters, the age/diameter data do not reveal any unequivocal evidence for woodland management. Only at the youngest sites do the data possibly show some gradually changing practices. The outcomes are discussed within the framework of recent discussions about woodland management in Europe.
New Archaeological Research into the Middle Ages in the Slovenian Regions of Pomurje and Podravje
2017
The article initially shows a short presentation of medieval archaeological sites of the Slovenian Pomurje and Podravje regions, which have been discovered after 2008, following the completion of major research projects on the Podravje and Pomurje motorway routes. In sequel the article presents the results of a synthesis attempt of the settlement of Slovenian Pomurje and Podravje in the early Middle Ages. In doing so, we took into account archaeological as well as historical, linguistic and cartographic sources. Known archaeological data were mapped separately according to time of formation: an initial settlement in the 6th–7th centuries, developed settlement in the 8th–9th centuries and the settlement after the arrival of the Magyars in Pannonia in the 10th–11th centuries. In doing so, we payed special attention to the position of settlement points depending on the soil and hydrological characteristics of the area. In addition, we observed their position in relation to the proximity of historic transport corridors. Changes in settlement pattern throughout the centuries were interpreted as a consequence of the introduction of different agrarian activities. The initial settlement of the 6th–7th centuries focus on areas of moist alluvial soil suitable for animal husbandry. Developed settlement of the 8th–9th centuries moves to the agriculturally more suitable space on the edge of the gravelly river fan. In the 10th–11th centuries, immediately after the settlement of Hungarians in Pannonia, the settlement re-focus on areas of moist soil, which we again associated with an increase in livestock production. Despite strong caesura in the settlement, which applies to the result of the Hungarian plundering expeditions from the end of the 9th to the mid-10th century, we observe in the area of most important settlements in the 9th century, were certain non-agrarian central functions where carried out, a continuity of settlement in the second half of the 10th and 11th centuries. As an important factor in the formation of non-agrarian central functions of the 9th century has proven to be a strategic location on major transport corridors.