会议时间：2018年3月21-23日
会议地点：柬埔寨 · 暹粒
演讲嘉宾：Michael GRABNER, University of Natural Resources and Life Science, Austria

摘要：Wood was, and still is, one of the most important multi-purpose and sustainable natural raw materials. It surrounds us from the cradle to the grave. The products vary from toys, tools, housing and firewood to works of art and religious objects. However, the cultural history of wood utilization has not been completely written yet, but it is evident that the cultural activity of human beings was strongly linked to wood.

As an organic material, wood can be easily degraded. Findings of wooden goods are only possible in completely dry as well as in entirely wet (underwater) environments. Therefore, these findings are rare. The oldest known wooden artefacts date back about 400,000 years – the spears from Schöningen, Germany, which were preserved in airtight mud.

The goal was to set up a list of the oldest wooden goods – worldwide.

Therefore a database connected with an interactive map was set up and presented at the webpage: http://www.oldestwoodenobjects.net/. Eight different categories (buildings/constructions, infrastructure, means of transport, tools, art/ritual/musical instrument, container, furniture, fuel/lighting) and various sub-categories were defined. Dating is related to dendrochronology, radiocarbon or related methods. Contributors were asked to add the name of the object, wood species, location and images to the database.

The results are displayed on an interactive world-wide map. Here a selection of category and/or date as well as dating method is possible. It is intended to find the oldest representatives for each kind of object (categories / object types) in as many regions of the world as possible. The entered data is freely available and can be used by the community for educational and scientific applications.

The request to contribute data was posted at the international network of dendrochronologists (ITRDB-forum). Further laboratories and persons of interest were contacted personally (wood scientists, archaeologists, folklorists). Data found in literature was added to the data base, too.

Up to now the number of objects is still small. Unfortunately, it is hard to encourage colleagues to add their data. Anyway, continuous support of the database will be provided, hoping for much more entries in near future.