Conifer forests are widespread throughout the Mediterranean region, and in the past, these forests faced intensive utilization as sources of timber, leading to the overexploitation of woodlands and resulting in various environmental issues such as deforestation, severe flooding, and soil erosion. This environmental degradation was particularly evident in Andalusia, located in Southern Spain, and Morocco. To establish the foundation for future sustainable forest management plans, researchers delved into the historical relationship between human activities and their impact on the environment.
Under the "WoodTime" project, we examined the consequences of this interaction by analysing wood samples sourced from ancient forests that still exist today, as well as archaeological sites, including historic structures constructed using wood. Wood was chosen as the primary subject of study because it holds valuable insights into a range of topics, such as historical forest management practices, shifts in forest dynamics influenced by human activity, climate variations, and logging practices, among others. Furthermore, wood contains information about the ecological conditions of the areas from which the timber originates. Additionally, the historical connections between North Africa and Southern Europe, both socially and administratively, are reflected in the timber used for construction. For instance, the use of Atlantic cedar timber in Andalusia suggests a historical wood trade and transportation network across the Gibraltar Strait. The "WoodTime" project aimed to unlock the wealth of information concealed within timber using non-destructive methods. This endeavour provided an exceptional opportunity to study past relationship between human activities and forest ecosystems, offering high-resolution insights through detailed analyses of timber structure, as well as its chemical and molecular composition.
The main objectives of the research project were:
1. To understand the forest historical exploitation in Southern Spain and Morocco and its relationship with the past and current forest dynamics through tree-ring width analyses in cooperation with human, historical and geographical studies.
2. To explore the potential of deriving post-medieval ecological and societal information from the ample wood evidence preserved in historical timber, with a focus on forest history and environmental changes.
3. Use emerging techniques of wood anatomy, blue intensity, DNA, elemental composition, and stable isotopes to develop novel dendroscapes tools for timber provenancing.
