Log Transport in the Limestone Alps, Austria

Wood is one of the most important sustainable natural resources. Throughout centuries, large cities as well as regions of very high wood demand (for example, areas of salt production and iron processing) had to be supplied with wood for building and burning. One of the largest forests in Austria can be found in the National Park covering the range of mountains called “Limestone Alps.” Within this region, a wide network of dams was set up to transport single logs (“Holztrift”). Due to the dendrochronological dating of the surviving dams, regional chronologies spanning a length of almost 600 years for Norway spruce, Silver fir and European larch were set up. These chronologies serve as the background for dendro-provenancing timber. Dendro-provenancing checks the similarities between samples and different regional chronologies. The highest statistical figures give hints of the origins of the wood. Archival analyses show that many logs were transported to Vienna as rafts. For example, in 1865, more than 1504 rafts arrived in Vienna, all from different origins. The logs were used as building material as well as for burning. Further archival analyses showed that logs from this region were also used for building the roof of the Hofburg Castle in Vienna. Several hundred samples from the roof construction were dendrochronologically dated and used for dendro-provenancing. The origin of the logs was confirmed to be the wider region of the Northern alpine foothills. This meant that rafts from the rivers Alm and Traun as well as from the rivers Steyr and Enns had floated down to Vienna

Archaeology · Cartography · Foothills · Geography · Larch · Physical geography · Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies · Forest Insect Ecology and Management · Tree-ring climate responses · Ecology · Forestry · Geology

• Traces of Transport at the Vienna Hofburg Roof Constructions

  Open Access•Elisabeth Wächter, Michael Grabner•International Journal of Wood…•2021

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