Dosia Staff Dosia Laeyendecker, archeobotanist The combination of Archeology and the natural sciences always interested me and this has served me well with my work at the Arctic Studies Center. The analysis of wood remains that are excavated from archeological sites, involves identification of the species, tracing the origin of the wood and the study of ancient wood technology. Sometimes it is possible to detect changes in the environment of ancient people, as they use different woods through time.
Different woods have different mechanical properties.
It is important to find out if people selected certain wood species for specific functions, and if those woods were available to them or if they had to trade for these needs. Frozen conditions of arctic soil are very favorable for the preservation of wooden artifacts, which under temperate circumstances do not last more than a couple of hundred years. Charcoal, which preserves better than wood, is useful for dating a site. We collect charcoal remains from ancient hearths and sent these samples to a radiocarbon laboratory. Through chemical processes they are able to date the moment when the living tree that provided the fuel in this hearth died, or in other words, when the people who made the fire cut or collected the wood.