Der Wald im Haus. Zum Wechselspiel von Holzressourcen und Hausbau

Abstract

This paper is dealing with the analyses of timbers implemented in historical buildings in the foreland of the Swabian Alb. Wood samples have been botanically determined down to species level and have been dendrochronologically dated. The aim was to gather information on the local population development of tree species used as construction timber. The results demonstrate the selection and use of the specific species according to their qualities as building material. Medieval times show a clear dominance of oak trees, whereas since the end of the Late Middle Ages a constantly increasing use of coniferous wood species can be observed. Using the city of Filderstadt as an example, a correlation can be drawn between the changing selection of building timbers and the deterioration of the availability of certain species in the Schönbuch Forest nearby. The shortage reached its peak shortly before the beginning of the Thirty Years′ War. The composition of timbers in the sampled buildings illustrate this crisis through an increased use of inferior wood species and an increasing share of coniferous wood which had been imported from the woodlands of the Black Forest over a distance of more than 60 km. After the Thirty Years′ War the composition of the construction timbers implemented in the buildings changed again. The main reason was the recovery of the tree population in the Schönbuch Forest. It can be assumed also from written sources that reforestation of some parts of the fallow land in the Schönbuch Forest had begun already in the early 16th century.