Wood inventory
The inventory of individual wood finds from Dorestad consists of three parts (table 2): (a) an inventory of wooden finds from Dorestad; (b) an overview of dendrochronological data from Dorestad-De Geer and Dorestad-Veilingterrein developed at RCE and the RING Foundation in the Netherlands (subset); (c) an overview of dendrochronological data developed at the Institute for Wood Biology at Hamburg University in Germany (subset). At the Institute for Wood Biology, 647 samples derived from fifty-three individual water wells and at least one jetty were analysed (Jansma & Van Lanen 2016), with the majority of these samples having been taken from staves (619). This research resulted in the dating of 235 samples. Since the Institute for Wood Biology did not grant access to the actual measurement series we could not include these in the subsequent analyses[1]. At RCE and the RING Foundation, 251 oak samples had been analysed of which 156 samples had been dated[2].
The basic Dorestad inventory was imported into TRiDaBASE, which was used to add metadata such as object type, exact find location and calendar dates. It should be noted that limited metadata were available from the Institute for Wood Biology (table 2, lower part). After conversion to XML, the Dorestad inventory was stored in the DCCD under project identifier P:2012501 with the default access level set at ‘Value (download)’.[3]
Table 2: Fields used in the inventory of wooden finds from Dorestad.
| (a) Wooden finds from Dorestad | |
|---|---|
| Storage box | The number of the box in which the described element is stored at RMO |
| Excavation trench | The number of the archaeological excavation trench from which the element is derived |
| Find number | The archaeological find number of the element or of the structure in which the element was used |
| Sample number | The archaeological sample number of the element |
| Dendrochronological identifier | The digital code of the dendrochronological measurement series derived from the element |
| Organisation (dendrochronology) | The organisation responsible for the dendrochronological study of this element |
| Suitability for dendrochronology | The suitability of the existing sample for dendrochronological research (based on preservation state, wood species, the estimated number of growth rings and the presence/absence of growth anomalies) |
| Preservation state | Judgement about the degree of deterioration of the sample |
| Hydrological situation | Stored wet/dry |
| Element type | The type of element from which the sample was taken (e.g. stave, plank, pile) |
| Coordinates | The exact coordinates of the element in situ |
| Location comment | Details about the accuracy of and manner in which the coordinates were derived |
| (b) Dendrochronological data from Dorestad managed in The Netherlands | |
| DCCD project identifier | The DCCD-identifier of the study containing dendrochronological information about an element |
| DCCD site code | The dendrochronological research identifier linked to this element (e.g. ‘WYK’, ‘C6D’) |
| DCCD element code | The name under which the measurement series of the element is stored in the DCCD (e.g. WYK0001, C6D0212) |
| Element type | The type of element from which the sample was taken (e.g. ‘stave’, ‘plank’, ‘pile’) |
| Find number | The archaeological find number of the element, or of the structure in which the element was used |
| No. of rings | The number of rings measured on the sample |
| (c) Dendrochronological data from Dorestad managed at Hamburg University | |
| Stave no. | The number of the studied stave (assigned by the Institute for Wood Biology) |
| Description | Element type and structure, e.g.: ‘stave (water well)’ |
| No. of rings | The number of rings measured on the sample |
| Sapwood | If present: number of sapwood rings |
| Dated/undated | Yes if dated |
| Date | Felling-date estimation based on presence/absence of sapwood rings |
| Taxon | Tree species |
[1] S. Wröbel of the Institute for Wood Biology in 2011 provided us with a digital list of structures and samples plus their dendrochronological end dates.
[2] This research at the RING Foundation for a large part was executed by students under supervision of E. Jansma and M. Domínguez-Delmás (De Natris 2009; Zandbergen 2010; Pedro Pinto Andrade 2011).
