CHARCOAL AND WOOD WORKGROUP MEETING
Environment Department: University of York
Sunday 4th October 2015
Organisers:
Dana Challinor (Oxford), Lauren Shotter (Edinburgh), Maria Gehrels and Colin Courtney-Mustaphi (York)
Programme:
10am Arrival and coffee
10.30 – 12.30am Presentations/Discussion
Colin Courtney-Mustaphi (University of York):
- The REAL project; an overview of how we build, analyse and use charcoal records in palaeoenvironmental studies and ongoing projects.
- Emerging palaeoecological methods for charcoal analysis
Zoe Hazell (Historic England):
- Update on the 6th Anthracology Conference in Freiburg 2015.
- Archaeological excavation and wood charcoal analysis of charcoal burning platforms, Cumbria, NW England.
Gill Campbell (Historic England):
- Update on the EAA 2015 session ‘Scientific techniques to examine human interaction with woodlands (Lorna O’Donnell and Scott Timpany)’.
- Evergreens in Wiltshire: an early prehistory. The historic ecology of pine in southern England and impact of Mesolithic and Neolithic populations.
General discussion topics.
12.30 – 1.30pm Lunch
Workshops
1.30 – 3.30pm Workshop with Steve Allen (York Archaeological Trust)
Steve will be bringing some teaching materials to discuss aspects of waterlogged wood recording (and application to charcoal) including: toolmark signatures, growth rates etc.
There will also be an opportunity for a general microscope session. Everyone is welcome to bring any material they would like to discuss or get a second opinion on.
A wood slide reference collection will be available.
3.30 – 4pm Tea will be available for anyone wishing to stay for further discussion or microscope use.
2025: Charcoal and Wood Work Group
Published 29 October 2012, Updated 29 July 2025
The Charcoal and Wood Work Group (CWWG) is aimed primarily at British specialists, working on British or international material. The group aims to foster communication and dissemination of ideas between specialists engaged in different studies of historical wood utilisation, such as wood-working technologists and wood anatomists, and also between those employed as freelancers or in commercial units and universities, as well as students.
https://historicengland.org.uk/research/current/heritage-science/charcoal-wood-work-group/ [PDF copy]