Wood for Building: Woodland Exploitation for Timber Procurement in the Prehistoric and Protohistoric Balearic Islands (Mallorca and Menorca; Western Mediterranean)

Abstract

Woodlands provide human societies with a wide range of plant materials that are crucial to social life. Wood fulfils different kinds of needs, from energy supply to timber; so its use in a large variety of socio-economic activities makes it an essential plant material. This continued material interaction between people and trees in the past left behind an archaeological record that constitutes a primary source of information with which to study human-environment interactions. In this article we investigate wood supplies used as timber in prehistoric and protohistoric Mallorca and Menorca. Both direct and indirect timber evidence from Bronze and Iron Age sites are analysed. Timber remains were found at seven sites and were taxonomically identified and, when possible, their morphological characteristics were recorded and analysed. Moreover, we conduct a dendro-anthracological study of Pinus halepensis charcoal fragments from two different buildings in order to (i) infer the diameters of the pine wood used and (ii) characterise and compare the two basic uses of pine - firewood and timber. The sites considered are of a varied nature and include monumental architecture (navetiforms and talaiots), thus offering a good context from which to approach timber procurement and humanwoodland interactions.