会议名称：第二届木文化国际研讨会
会议时间：2007年5月28日-31日
会议地点：中国·南京
 
报告嘉宾：Sangeeta Gupta

报告简介： Wood has been part of Indian culture since time immemorial. Most religious and domestic architecture in India, from its very inception, was wood-based. Wood remains are of special significance in unraveling the past and throws interesting light on past civilizations and vegetation. The presentation shall deal with wood remains of various archaeological sites belonging to different cultural periods.

The establishment of Archaeological Survey of India in 1861 and Forest Research Institute in 1906 gave impetus to studies on woods used by the ancient men of pre-historic India with oldest record being of a Neolithic site-Burzahom (2375 - 1535 B.C.), followed by Chalcolithic sites - Prakash & Maski (1700 B.C. - 300 A.D.), Bronze age sites (Indus Valley Civilization)- Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Lothal & Rangpur (2350 - 1750 B.C.), Iron age site - Hastinapur (1100-300 B.C.), Mauryan site – Pataliputra (400 - 300 B.C.), pre-medieval site in South India - Arikamedu (100 B.C. - 100 A.D.) & historic site - Jagatgram (300 A.D.). The species used at most of these sites suggests use of most suitable woods from among the locally available ones reflecting the ancient man making best use of their environment. Most of the studies of pre-historic sites suggest a very good knowledge of wood properties prevailing in the ancient India. Examples quoted from Indus Valley Civilization reflect use of scented, ornamental and durable woods like Cedrus deodara and Dalbergia latifolia for coffin. Wooden mortar of Zizyphus sp. for pounding rice and use of Acacia sp. for dock work are of great significance. This is followed by historic period wherein written records suggest a well-developed wood culture in India. Examples of various sites reflect use of Shorea robusta and Madhuca latifolia for structural purposes, timbers now well known for their great strength and durability.

Few examples of wood species used in temples, shipbuilding, furniture, musical instruments, toys etc. shall be mentioned reflecting on well-developed wood culture in India. Well-known timbers were used in most of the cases like Santalum album, Tectona grandis, Dalbergia sissoo, Dalbergia latifolia, Cedrus deodara, Shorea robusta, Juglans regia, Diospyros sp., Swietenia sp. etc. Besides these woods, Bamboos and Coconut wood also find several uses in Indian culture.

In India presently the demand of wood is much more than the supply, therefore wood substitutes and imported woods are extensively utilized. Indian standards have been formulated that specifies most suitable woods for different end uses.  The anatomical database for wood identification has been developed under ‘Wood Anatomy Information System (WAIS)’ wherein several uses of almost all the Indian Woods have been documented.

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