Highbourne Cay Shipwreck Excavations – Dendro-archaeology

Summary

Excavation and recovery of the hull remains of a suspected 16th-century Iberian ship provided a rare opportunity to examine the nature of the forest products exploited and the methods of timber selection used in the ship’s construction. Analysis of recovered timbers combined a range of techniques including high magnification digital photographic capture of tree-ring sequences so that larger samples could be reburied with their parent timbers, 3D digital photogrammetry to capture spatial data for reconstruction of tree morphology, and quantitative data collection in the field on annual growth rates and species / genus. Small samples were retained for microscopic wood anatomy identification, and isotopic and geochemical characterisation.

Data analysis focussed on attempts to determine the date, provenance and nature of the timber used in the ship’s construction. The results are contextualised within recent multi-disciplinary research into forest exploitation and shipbuilding in the Iberian Peninsula in the Early Modern Age.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Converging Worlds: Excavation of the Highbourne Cay Shipwreck   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 524