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WoodNDame - Reconstructing the climate and medieval woodland management strategies from the charred woods of Notre-Dame de Paris: contribution of dendrochronology, wood anatomy and carbon isotope data

Project description

Uncovering Mediaeval climate secrets

The devastating fire that engulfed the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral in 2019 not only struck a cultural blow, but it also left behind a pressing scientific challenge. The charred oak wood pieces from the cathedral’s roof structure, dating from the 11th to the 13th centuries, offer a unique glimpse into the Medieval Climate Anomaly, an era defined by warm and dry summers that had a profound impact on the High Middle Ages in Europe. Now, the MSCA-funded WoodNDame project takes on the challenge, pioneering an interdisciplinary methodology that combines dendro-anatomical features and advanced isotopic analysis to unlock the secrets of how climate, forest systems, and woodland management interacted during this pivotal period. The project will provide insights into history’s environmental secrets.

Objective

The unfortunate event of April 15th 2019, the Notre-Dame de Paris’s cathedral (NDP) fire, brought a unique and extraordinary opportunity to study past environmental conditions prevailing in the Paris Basin through charred oak wood pieces. Partly dated between the 11th and 13th centuries, the charred woods from the roof structure of the NDP open a unique window into the Medieval Climate Anomaly (≈ 950–1250 CE), a period characterised by warm and dry summers that profoundly influenced society during the High Middle Ages (HMA), especially in Europe. Furthermore, the major pieces of the roof framework correspond to trees of ca 20-25 m in height with small diameters (30-50 cm), which suggest specific woodland management. By investigating uncharred and charred tree growth rings from NDP, the WoodNDame project will aim to provide an annual and seasonal high temporal resolution reconstruction of the interaction(s) between climate–forest–woodland management systems during the HMA. To reach this goal, the project will first develop a pioneering and interdisciplinary methodology - combining dendro-anatomical features and state-of-the-art isotopic (δ13C) analysis – to provide (i) a comprehensive picture of the impact of carbonisation on oak wood anatomical and chemical properties at inter- and intra-ring scales and (ii) a modern reference using these multiproxy approach based on 15 wood stands in the Paris Basin for disentangling dendroclimatological and woodland management signals.

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01

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Coordinator

MUSEUM NATIONAL D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 211 754,88
Address
RUE CUVIER 57
75005 Paris
France

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Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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