Deep-in-Heritage
Since the 1980s and the beginning of dendrochronology research in Belgium, several laboratories have accumulated considerable amounts of dendrochronological data and metadata, in a more or less organised way. These have been assembled into regional chronologies with dating as main purpose. The Deep in Heritage project aims to share these Belgian dendrochronological databases and develop their potential for PROVENANCE and PERFORMANCE-oriented work. Regarding PROVENANCE, Belgian regional chronologies should be disassembled, and the hundreds of components that they group individually re-evaluated to identify local specificities and address issues of the provenance on a large scale (for example when identifying imported oak from the Baltic areas) and micro-provenance (i.e., discrimination of geographical sub-areas in Belgium, its direct surroundings or further afield). Data from building timbers is essential in such an approach, as it usually comes from the immediate neighboring of the building, unlike wood used for works of art which was often obtained from a more various trade. The exploitation of dendrochronological databases of building timbers will therefore bring answers to the questions of the geographical origin and the geopolitical context of production of wooden works of art. This dendro-provenance research would require rethinking the current databases with new ergonomics (including the precise location of each site). These developments, which go beyond the framework of the fundamental dating, would at the same time improve its PERFORMANCES. Dendrochronology of oak is not always easy, especially when studying wood from the Belgian plains, with rapid or disturbed growth from highly anthropized environments. With this kind of material (as is often the case for sculptures in the round), the multiplication of site chronologies with very local specificities would reduce dating failures.
This national scale project also bears an international point of view, because the two main themes – dendro-provenance and dating performance – are among the main concerns of current dendro-archeology. Deep in Heritage has the potential to federate a real collaboration between institutions from different levels of public authorities (federal, community, regional) for an exemplary 'national dendrochronology' on the international scene. This project would also have the considerable advantage of perpetuating university teaching in dendrodatation/dendroarchaeology and supporting long-term research in dendrochronology in Belgium.
Contacts
Vincent Labbas, Patrick Hoffsummer
Partners
Projet financé par la Politique scientifique Fédérale (Belspo) dans le cadre de l’appel Fed-tWin
