TY - JOUR

T1 - Regional Patterns of Late Medieval and Early Modern European Building Activity Revealed by Felling Dates

AU - Ljungqvist, Fredrik Charpentier

AU - Seim, Andrea

AU - Tegel, Willy

AU - Krusic, Paul J.

AU - Baittinger, Claudia

AU - Belingard, Christelle

AU - Bernabei, Mauro

AU - Borghaerts, Paul

AU - Couturier, Yann

AU - Crone, Anne

AU - van Daalen, Sjoerd

AU - Daly, Aoife

AU - Doeve, Petra

AU - Domínguez-Delmás, Marta

AU - Edouard, Jean Louis

AU - Frank, Thomas

AU - Ginzler, Christian

AU - Grabner, Michael

AU - Gschwind, Friederike M.

AU - Haneca, Kristof

AU - Hansson, Anton

AU - Herzig, Franz

AU - Heussner, Karl Uwe

AU - Hofmann, Jutta

AU - Houbrechts, David

AU - Kaczka, Ryszard J.

AU - Kolář, Tomáš

AU - Kontic, Raymond

AU - Kyncl, Tomáš

AU - Labbas, Vincent

AU - Lagerås, Per

AU - Le Digol, Yannick

AU - Le Roy, Melaine

AU - Leuschner, Hanns Hubert

AU - Linderson, Hans

AU - Ludlow, Francis

AU - Marais, Axel

AU - Mills, Coralie M.

AU - Neyses-Eiden, Mechthild

AU - Nicolussi, Kurt

AU - Perrault, Christophe

AU - Pfeifer, Klaus

AU - Rybníček, Michal

AU - Rzepecki, Andreas

AU - Schmidhalter, Martin

AU - Seifert, Mathias

AU - Shindo, Lisa

AU - Spyt, Barbara

AU - Susperregi, Josué

AU - Svarva, Helene Løvstrand

AU - Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist

N1 - Funding Information: FCL and AS were supported by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet, grant no. 2018-01272). FCL conducted the work with this article as a Pro Futura Scientia XIII Fellow funded by the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study through Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. WT was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG, TE 613/3-1). AD received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 677152). AH was supported by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (grant no. IN20-0026). MD-D was funded by the Dutch Research Council (Nederlandse organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, grant no. 016.Veni.195.502). TK, MR, and UB were supported the SustES project – “Adaptation strategies for sustainable ecosystem services and food security under adverse environmental conditions” (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000797). LS was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC 2150 ROOTS – 390870439. FL was supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant (4-OCEANS; grant agreement no. 951649) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Ljungqvist, Seim, Tegel, Krusic, Baittinger, Belingard, Bernabei, Bonde, Borghaerts, Couturier, Crone, van Daalen, Daly, Doeve, Domínguez-Delmás, Edouard, Frank, Ginzler, Grabner, Gschwind, Haneca, Hansson, Herzig, Heussner, Hofmann, Houbrechts, Kaczka, Kolář, Kontic, Kyncl, Labbas, Lagerås, Le Digol, Le Roy, Leuschner, Linderson, Ludlow, Marais, Mills, Neyses-Eiden, Nicolussi, Perrault, Pfeifer, Rybníček, Rzepecki, Schmidhalter, Seifert, Shindo, Spyt, Susperregi, Svarva, Thun, Walder, Ważny, Werthe, Westphal, Wilson and Büntgen.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Although variations in building activity are a useful indicator of societal well-being and demographic development, historical datasets for larger regions and longer periods are still rare. Here, we present 54,045 annually precise dendrochronological felling dates from historical construction timber from across most of Europe between 1250 and 1699 CE to infer variations in building activity. We use geostatistical techniques to compare spatiotemporal dynamics in past European building activity against independent demographic, economic, social and climatic data. We show that the felling dates capture major geographical patterns of demographic trends, especially in regions with dense data coverage. A particularly strong negative association is found between grain prices and the number of felling dates. In addition, a significant positive association is found between the number of felling dates and mining activity. These strong associations, with well-known macro-economic indicators from pre-industrial Europe, corroborate the use of felling dates as an independent source for exploring large-scale fluctuations of societal well-being and demographic development. Three prominent examples are the building boom in the Hanseatic League region of northeastern Germany during the 13th century, the onset of the Late Medieval Crisis in much of Europe c. 1300, and the cessation of building activity in large parts of central Europe during armed conflicts such as the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648 CE). Despite new insights gained from our European-wide felling date inventory, further studies are needed to investigate changes in construction activity of high versus low status buildings, and of urban versus rural buildings, and to compare those results with a variety of historical documentary sources and natural proxy archives.

AB - Although variations in building activity are a useful indicator of societal well-being and demographic development, historical datasets for larger regions and longer periods are still rare. Here, we present 54,045 annually precise dendrochronological felling dates from historical construction timber from across most of Europe between 1250 and 1699 CE to infer variations in building activity. We use geostatistical techniques to compare spatiotemporal dynamics in past European building activity against independent demographic, economic, social and climatic data. We show that the felling dates capture major geographical patterns of demographic trends, especially in regions with dense data coverage. A particularly strong negative association is found between grain prices and the number of felling dates. In addition, a significant positive association is found between the number of felling dates and mining activity. These strong associations, with well-known macro-economic indicators from pre-industrial Europe, corroborate the use of felling dates as an independent source for exploring large-scale fluctuations of societal well-being and demographic development. Three prominent examples are the building boom in the Hanseatic League region of northeastern Germany during the 13th century, the onset of the Late Medieval Crisis in much of Europe c. 1300, and the cessation of building activity in large parts of central Europe during armed conflicts such as the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648 CE). Despite new insights gained from our European-wide felling date inventory, further studies are needed to investigate changes in construction activity of high versus low status buildings, and of urban versus rural buildings, and to compare those results with a variety of historical documentary sources and natural proxy archives.

KW - archeology

KW - cultural heritage

KW - dendroarchaeology

KW - dendrochronology

KW - felling dates

KW - historical demography

KW - history

U2 - 10.3389/fevo.2021.825751

DO - 10.3389/fevo.2021.825751

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85124532055

VL - 9

JO - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2296-701X

M1 - 825751

ER -