WOODLAND MANAGEMENT STUDIES FROM CARLISLE: CASTLE STREET 1981.
Author(s): J P Huntley
Non-structural wood samples from the Roman period were identified from Castle Street, Carlisle. Four species were present, predominantly oak and alder, with a little birch and hazel. Age/diameter measurements demonstrate that wood of a particular size was chosen in preference to age or species although there is some evidence that alder may have been coppiced. Much of the oak was branch wood whereas the alder was from both branches and stems. Little oak was used during the early phases of occupation, more in the middle ones but very little during the later phases. Alder was abundant throughout. It is suggested that the wood samples reflect the woodland in the area in that initially alder was used, probably from the immediate vicinity, both to produce timber and to clear the area; that oak was preferred during the more stable period of occupation (2nd CenturyA.D.) but that it was probably collected from several miles away; and that this supply was exhausted by the 3rd Century whilst the alder in the immediate vicinity had re-grown or been managed on a coppice cycle.
- Report Number:
- 119/1987
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 37
- Keywords:
- Plant Remains Wood
