Timber use, timber trade and dendrochronological data in Denmark and Sweden in the medieval and early modern era
Hansson, Anton LU and Hansson, Martin LU
(2025)
In Fornvännen
120(4).
p.260-274
- Abstract
- Large amounts of dendrochronological data sets exported from the SEAD database have in this study been used to analyze timber trade and provenance from the three Scandinavian towns of Copenhagen, Stockholm and Nya Lödöse/Gothenburg during the medieval and early modern era. In total, 964 dendrochronological samples with a dating and provenance description were compiled in this study and compared with written historical sources regarding timber trade in order to investigate their coherence and discuss possible deviations. The results indicate that Copenhagen and Nya Lödöse/Gothenburg used oak timber up until the 1600s, with a later shift towards coniferous timber, whereas Stockholm relied on coniferous timber since its founding around 1250.... (More)
- Large amounts of dendrochronological data sets exported from the SEAD database have in this study been used to analyze timber trade and provenance from the three Scandinavian towns of Copenhagen, Stockholm and Nya Lödöse/Gothenburg during the medieval and early modern era. In total, 964 dendrochronological samples with a dating and provenance description were compiled in this study and compared with written historical sources regarding timber trade in order to investigate their coherence and discuss possible deviations. The results indicate that Copenhagen and Nya Lödöse/Gothenburg used oak timber up until the 1600s, with a later shift towards coniferous timber, whereas Stockholm relied on coniferous timber since its founding around 1250. More or less consistent for all three investigated towns is the early reliance on more local wood that later shifted into more distant wood sources as the local areas became depleted. However, the Swedish towns relied on imports from within the kingdom, whereas Copenhagen saw timber imports from other countries. This historical records and dendrochronological data are largely coherent, but we see that extrapolation of historical data back in time is often not in accordance with the dendrochronological records. This case study show the potential of dendrochronological big data analysis and importance of researchfocused databases such as SEAD for maximizing research output. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Large amounts of dendrochronological data sets exported from the SEAD database
have in this study been used to analyze timber trade and provenance from the
three Scandinavian towns of Copenhagen, Stockholm and Nya Lödöse/Gothenburg
during the medieval and early modern era. In total, 964 dendrochronological
samples with a dating and provenance description were compiled in this study
and compared with written historical sources regarding timber trade in order to
investigate their coherence and discuss possible deviations. The results indicate
that Copenhagen and Nya Lödöse/Gothenburg used oak timber up until the
1600s, with a later shift towards coniferous timber, whereas Stockholm relied
on coniferous... (More) - Large amounts of dendrochronological data sets exported from the SEAD database
have in this study been used to analyze timber trade and provenance from the
three Scandinavian towns of Copenhagen, Stockholm and Nya Lödöse/Gothenburg
during the medieval and early modern era. In total, 964 dendrochronological
samples with a dating and provenance description were compiled in this study
and compared with written historical sources regarding timber trade in order to
investigate their coherence and discuss possible deviations. The results indicate
that Copenhagen and Nya Lödöse/Gothenburg used oak timber up until the
1600s, with a later shift towards coniferous timber, whereas Stockholm relied
on coniferous timber since its founding around 1250. More or less consistent for
all three investigated towns is the early reliance on more local wood that later
shifted into more distant wood sources as the local areas became depleted. However,
the Swedish towns relied on imports from within the kingdom, whereas
Copenhagen saw timber imports from other countries. This historical records
and dendrochronological data are largely coherent, but we see that extrapolation
of historical data back in time is often not in accordance with the dendrochronological
records. This case study show the potential of dendrochronological big
data analysis and importance of researchfocused
databases such as SEAD for
maximizing research output. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/41cfb178-f560-44e1-a46b-0adceaa61b25
- author
- Hansson, Anton
LU
and Hansson, Martin
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-12-09
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Dendrochronology, Scandinavia, Timber trade, Historical sources
- in
- Fornvännen
- volume
- 120
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 260 - 274
- publisher
- Kungliga Vitterhets- historie- och antikvitetsakademien
- ISSN
- 1404-9430
- project
- Old Wood in a New Light
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 41cfb178-f560-44e1-a46b-0adceaa61b25
- alternative location
- https://raa.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:2019645/FULLTEXT01.pdf
- date added to LUP
- 2025-12-15 15:42:38
- date last changed
- 2025-12-16 09:22:26
@article{41cfb178-f560-44e1-a46b-0adceaa61b25,
abstract = {{Large amounts of dendrochronological data sets exported from the SEAD database have in this study been used to analyze timber trade and provenance from the three Scandinavian towns of Copenhagen, Stockholm and Nya Lödöse/Gothenburg during the medieval and early modern era. In total, 964 dendrochronological samples with a dating and provenance description were compiled in this study and compared with written historical sources regarding timber trade in order to investigate their coherence and discuss possible deviations. The results indicate that Copenhagen and Nya Lödöse/Gothenburg used oak timber up until the 1600s, with a later shift towards coniferous timber, whereas Stockholm relied on coniferous timber since its founding around 1250. More or less consistent for all three investigated towns is the early reliance on more local wood that later shifted into more distant wood sources as the local areas became depleted. However, the Swedish towns relied on imports from within the kingdom, whereas Copenhagen saw timber imports from other countries. This historical records and dendrochronological data are largely coherent, but we see that extrapolation of historical data back in time is often not in accordance with the dendrochronological records. This case study show the potential of dendrochronological big data analysis and importance of researchfocused databases such as SEAD for maximizing research output.}},
author = {{Hansson, Anton and Hansson, Martin}},
issn = {{1404-9430}},
keywords = {{Dendrochronology; Scandinavia; Timber trade; Historical sources}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{12}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{260--274}},
publisher = {{Kungliga Vitterhets- historie- och antikvitetsakademien}},
series = {{Fornvännen}},
title = {{Timber use, timber trade and dendrochronological data in Denmark and Sweden in the medieval and early modern era}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/235931138/Hansson_Hansson_2025_4_Fv.pdf}},
volume = {{120}},
year = {{2025}},
}