About
In 2007, realising the need for comparison and collaboration of results, wood specialists working in the archaeological sector joined together to form the IWAA (Irish Wood Anatomists Association). The group has bi-annual meetings and is planning a conference in Dublin in November to discuss wood and charcoal research agendas in Ireland. This group has close links with the Irish Archaeobotanical Discussion Group.
The need to store wood and charcoal data generated from the archaeological sites in a standardized manner was discussed within the IWAA. It is envisaged that this would take place over three years:
- Year 1 - the design and feasibility phase
- Year 2 - the creation of the database
- Year 3 - maintaining and updating the database
Funding was received for the first phase of work from the Heritage Council under the INSTAR programme (Grant 16679). The database, when complete, will store published and unpublished material (when accessible) and will be updated annually by incorporating new data. Funding was received for the second phase of work from the Heritage Council under the INSTAR programme (Grant 16705).
One of the fundamental aims of the database is to be a springboard to facilitate scientific research as well as optimise future sampling strategies. It will help to identify key research agendas for environmental archaeology. This will feed back to other aspects of archaeology thus facilitating fully integrated archaeological reports.
At the moment, the creation of a wood database is being discussed in several institutions in Europe. For example, the formation of a charcoal database is on the agenda of the World Anthracological Conference in September 2008 in Brussels. In the Netherlands, the need for a pollen and a wood database was identified as one of the key needs in Dutch archaeology. Brinkkemper, along with members of the private company BIAX, are currently investigating the creation of a wood database (WODAN). A database for macro-remains has been developed by Dr. Allan Hall in York that may well include Irish data in the future.
