Ancient Wood Research Articles

Interpretation of Hand Tool Movement's Trajectories by Spatial Analysis of Bronze Age Tool Marks

The Bronze Age timber construction methods and carpentry techniques can only be studied in unique cases as the ancient wooden artefacts are rarely preserved in good conditions. On the other hand, few archaeological finds as the sluice box from Mitterberg, Austria offer novel interpretation opportunities since the spatial analysis of hand tool impressions results additional information about the utilized hand tool characteristics and about the woodworking processes. An experimental survey was carried out for the better understanding of the tool mark based impact angle investigations of various hand tool strikes. The fine longitudinal morphological parameters of the unknown hand tool heads have also been studied through additional materials as e.g. technical drawings. The combination of the different slope values at the facet outsets and at the adze heads describe the geometry attributes of the unknown impact strikes and these values must be between 25–30 degrees. The trajectory calculations could be achieved by the results of the experimental survey as synchronized stereo pairs were oriented and used to reconstruct the steps of the hand tool movements. Furthermore, the potential trajectories of the Bronze Age adze were interpreted from the impact angles and these results were simulated and visualized with the suggested hand tool handle positions in CAD environment.

Selected mechanical properties of Scots pine wood from antique churches of Central Poland

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood is the most frequently used building material in old churches of Central Poland. In the article, the density and compressive strength of Scots pine heartwood samples taken from old churches from the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century were examined. The properties of the old wood were compared with contemporary wood of similar density. The results showed better quality of the ancient wood as compared to modern wood.

Characterization of Decay in the Wooden Roof of the S. Agata Church of Ragusa Ibla (Southeastern Sicily) by Means of Sonic Tomography and Resistograph Penetration Tests

This article describes the results of a sonic tomography survey and penetration tests carried out inside the S. Agata Church of Ragusa Ibla, in southeastern Sicily (Italy). The purpose of this work was to evaluate the extent of decay in some of the ancient wooden trusses of the nave's roof, in view of possible strengthening interventions. Sonic tomography is entirely noninvasive and is suitable to investigate large portions of a structure, although qualitatively, whereas penetration tests are slighlty invasive as point measurements that enable high-resolution detection of wood decay and cracks. This study combined the two techniques to investigate the internal condition of four trusses that looked most deteriorated at a preliminary visual inspection. Results showed that decays occur mainly next to the walls, due to rainwater infiltration, and on the side of the timbers facing the rear of the nave, possibly for the higher level of moisture caused by lack of ventilation from that direction. In general, chords have worse mechanical properties than rafters.

Material Properties Test of Wooden Architecture and its Mechanical Properties

Ancient Chinese architecture is the most representative in Chinese ancient civilization. Now preserved ancient ruins are extremely valuable in historical and cultural value, artistic value and scientific value, so the research on the characteristics of ancient building structures in China and its seismic performance have important realistic significance. On the basis of the existing Chinese ancient wooden buildings, the paper discusses the structure performance of Chinese Ancient Timbering Buildings. According to the existing theoretical knowledge, the paper elaborates the reasons for using the wood of Chinese ancient architecture and analyses the basic characteristics of the ancient wood as building materials. We take the experiment of wooden mechanical property test to study the characteristics of material better, and emphasis narrates the whole process of wood bending strength test, then get the results of wood mechanical characteristics.

A Historical Large Span Timber Construction - Refurbishment of the Main Cupola of Vienna University of Technology

We present the refurbishment work on a 200-year-old timber structure the principal cupola on top of the main building of the Vienna University of Technology (VUT). Retrofitting plans for this structure included a different use of the space underneath the cupola and leaving the ancient timber construction visible. This called for an examination of the quality of the ancient wood material, the development of modern safety concepts for fire and earthquake incidents within the modified use scenario, additional constructional measures to fulfil the requirements of these new concepts and doing an up-to-date structural analysis following the regulations given by the Eurocodes.

The Repair of Timber Beams with Controlled-Debonding Steel Plates

In this paper a non-invasive technique for the repair of ancient wooden floors is presented. Steel plates are glued on one side only by epoxy-adhesive into longitudinal grooves in order to allow the free swelling and shrinkage of the wood in the direction transversal to the plate glueing surface, thus reducing the risk of plates’ delamination. A set of high strength steel nails guarantees the transmission of the load from the steel plates to the wooden beam in case of loss of adhesion due to fire or delamination. This technique was used to repair a precious beam in a wooden floor of the 15th century in Palazzo Calini (Brescia, Italy). The presented technique requires particular attention because it might be affected by the delamination of the glued reinforcement due to the stress concentration, which occurs at the end of the repairing element or at the cracks of the repaired beam.The main results of experimental and numerical studies focusing on the delamination phenomenon are also presented and discussed. They have shown that the risk of plate debonding can be markedly reduced by the capability of the sapwood to develop plastic strain. The wooden floor has been monitored for more than eleven years, confirming the effectiveness of the adopted technique. The monitoring has also shownthe importance of limiting the wooden moisture content variation to reduce the floor’s creep deflection.

Aseismic Constitution Problems and Strengthening Methods of Chinese Ancient Wooden Buildings

Chinese ancient wooden buildings have good aseismic constitutions to survive sorts of natural disasters. However, under earthquakes damages still occur on some of them. To protect Chinese ancient wooden buildings, typical aseismic constitution problems as well as strengthening methods of their members were studied by classification and statistical methods. Based on survey results on large number of Chinese ancient wooden buildings, typical aseismic constitution problems were summed up, causes for the problems were analyzed and the corresponding strengthening methods were proposed. By 2 compared examples, typical strengthening methods were further demonstrated. Results show that typical aseismic constitution problems of Chinese ancient wooden buildings include decay of column root, slack of Tou-Kung, tenon pulled out of mortise, cracks of beam and column and so on; to solve these problems, methods such as replacement, wrap, connection, ensemble and so on are feasible.

Ancient Commercial Buildings Seismic Performance Analysis and Study of Protection

Ancient wood structure usually has good anti-seismic performance because of structural characteristics. Mortise joint and tenon joint of wood structure component parts of the node can be very good energy dissipation and mitigate the effects of earthquake damage at the time of seismic action. Column foot and foundation can effectively reduce the seismic response with friction-sliding. It can give clear status evaluation from the perspective of applicability to protecting the ancient timber structures which is of great importance to protection.

AUTOMATIC TOOL MARK IDENTIFICATION AND COMPARISON WITH KNOWN BRONZE AGE HAND TOOL REPLICAS

Abstract. The acquisition of high-resolution surface information by advanced documentation methods as short-range laser scanning or closerange photogrammetry can provide novel tool mark research perspectives in the field of archaeological sciences. For this reason, altogether eight different Bronze Age hand tool replicas and their tool marks were surveyed and analysed in this study. The automatic identification of sliding tool marks was carried out in a GIS environment. Based on hydrological and aspect parameters, the various hand tool impressions as watershed boundaries of the surface model could be determined in the developed workflow. After the segmentation of the single tool marks, slope and width values of the patterns were compared with the cutting edges of their replicas and the most used regions of the hand tool heads could be defined by these tool mark characteristics. The variation of midline parameters along the sliding tool marks resulted in significant conclusions about the mounting techniques of the hand tool heads on the handles. A smaller angular value between the replica and the handle produced different hand tool impressions which had a major influence on the woodworking efficiency as well. Furthermore, in this paper presented methods should also help to understand other ancient wood manufacture processes.

The Effect of Driving Method and Crank Arrangements on the Performance of a Reconstructed Ancient Chinese Wooden Horse Carriage

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of driving method and crank arrangements on the performance of a reconstructed ancient Chinese wooden horse carriage. The results demonstrate better transmission efficiency when the driving torque of wooden horse carriage acts on the crank shaft. The analysis of crank arrangements shows that the phase angle between front and rear legs on the same side should be 0 deg or 90 deg and the one between the legs on the different sides should be 180 deg. These results are beneficial to the future reconstruction of the ancient Chinese wooden horse carriage.

Socio-Economic Demands, Ecological Conditions and the Power of Tradition: Past Woodland Management Decisions in a Central European Landscape

Humans have managed European landscapes, including woodlands, for millennia. Prior to the birth of modern forestry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there existed two basic management forms for lowland broadleaved woods: coppicing and wood pasture. While the existence and characteristics of these two basic management types are well-known, the reasons why particular woods were coppiced while others pastured are little investigated. As a case-study, we chose two large ancient woods in the southern Moravian region of Central Europe. One was managed as coppice, while the other as wood pasture for most of their histories. The woods are similar in size, location, climate and vegetation. We examined several potential explanations (terrain morphology, soil productivity, abundance of woodland, ownership and economy) for past management decisions in these woods. We found that the links between soil productivity, economic demands and ownership were of key importance. Other factors were less significant, for example woodland abundance played no detectable role in spite of the decreasing availability of woodland resources. We also found that tradition mattered; it took a major shift in ideology to change entire management strategies. In sum, management decisions were driven by a complex network of multiple interactions among the individual factors.

Indirect Detection of Internal Defects in Wooden Rafter with Ultrasound

The purpose of this research was development of quantitative ultrasonic test methodology for detecting internal defects in members of ancient wooden building. Connection part between wooden members and/or contacted or hidden part by wall of ceiling or other construction materials make it hard to apply direct way of ultrasonic test. So indirect way of ultrasonic test needed to be applied. Test methodology with newly developed prototype of ultrasonic system was proposed. Homogeneous material with polypropylene was also tested for establishing the criterion. Results showed that TOF(time of flight)-energy and pulse length were found out to be proper ultrasonic parameters for predicting depth of defect in wood different from polypropylene. It was not possible to directly apply prediction equation derived from polypropylene. Newly established prediction equation shows coefficient of determination of 0.73 for wood. Finally, defect of replaced rafter members was predicted with the coefficient of determination of 0.32. Various aspects of ultrasound propagation in wood including anisotropy need to be carefully considered to raise up the prediction accuracy.

Evaluation of cell wall reinforcement in feather keratin-treated waterlogged wood as imaged by synchrotron X-ray microtomography (μXRT) and TEM

Abstract Archaeological waterlogged woods (WLW) become considerably fragile over time because of chemical hydrolysis and the deterioration by microorganisms in the wet buried environment. The methods are sought for the dimensional stabilization of such woods. In the present article, the conservation of archaeological WLW of Chamaecyparis pisifera (Sieb. et Zucc.) Endl. by means of a commercially available feather keratin was in focus. The impregnation of an ancient wood from the 9th century A.D. was examined by the noninvasive synchrotron X-ray microtomography, which is well suited for imaging fragile samples. The thickness of the cell walls of keratin-treated wood was preserved and was comparable with that of recent wood. Notably, the middle lamella (ML) of keratin-treated wood appeared to be electron dense as indicated by transmission electron microscopy. Thus, it can be concluded that feather keratin is predominantly adsorbed on the ML and it prevents wood cell walls from collapsing and provides reinforcement.

Design of Tables and Cabinet Door Panels by Means of Utilizing Salvaged Ancient Wooden Materials

Design of Tables and Cabinet Door Panels by Means of Utilizing Salvaged Ancient Wooden Materials

A study of the Chinese organic–inorganic hybrid sealing material used in “Huaguang No.1” ancient wooden ship

► The composition of ancient sealing material was analyzed. ► The excellent performance of this sealing material comes from the compact structure. ► This structure is established through coordination and oxidative polymerization. ► Conservation of ancient relies to a knowledge on their materials and crafts. Chu-nam putty is a special organic–inorganic hybrid material invented by ancient Chinese people. It was prepared by mixing tung-oil, lime and oakum (plant fibers like jute, ramie and so on) with excellent sealing performance. The invention and application of Chu-nam putty in wooden ship lead to improvement in sailing technology and ship safety issue. In this paper, the analytical results of a piece of chu-nam putty which was discovered in “Huaguang No.1” ancient ship are presented. The results show that the components of chu-nam putty are calcite, carboxylate and unsaturated esters by means of FT-IR, XRD and TGA/DSC. And the FT-IR and cross-section microscopic analysis confirm that the oakum was from jute. Comparing with the modeling putty samples it is found that the outstanding sealing performance of chu-nam putty comes from the coordination reaction of Ca 2+ from the Ca(OH) 2 and the oxidation aggregation reaction of C C double bonds in unsaturated fatty acid.

Exploration of the Strategies in Civil Engineering to the Safety Evaluation and Reinforcement Technique of Wood Structure of Ancient Architecture in Huizhou

According to the field investigation of Huizhou ancient wood structure and statistical analysis of related documents, this paper expounded the main technical status and existing problems of Huizhou ancient wood structure safety evaluation and reinforcement and reconstruction, and put forward the research content of Huizhou ancient wood structure safety evaluation and reinforcement and reconstruction countermeasures, discussed the safety evaluation and reinforcement renovation the feasibility of the method for Huizhou traditional architecture reconstruction and quality improvement to provide technical reference.

A Study on the Signature of Ancient Chinese Wooden tablets

A Study on the Signature of Ancient Chinese Wooden tablets

고대 먹의 특성 분석

In this work, scientific and systematic analysis was conducted for finding out the methods and techniques of ancient ink stick making. Analysis the ancient ink stick on ancient documents and wooden writing as letter or painting, we concluded as followings. From the analysis of ancient wood by dendrochronology, wood was cut at 1899, which provided the information on the year of ink stick`s made on writing on ancient wood. Single particle size for soot of ancient ink stick was 107 nm for ink on the roof-filling timber in Sinsunwonjeon of Changdeok Palace, compared to 38 to 86 nm on the letter on ancient 12 paper document. Aggregate particle size was 370 nm for ink on the roof-filling timber in Sinsunwonjeon of Changdeok Palace, but 206 to 318 nm for aggregate particle size on 12 paper documents. There was similar pattern between single particle size and aggregate particle size of soot, which might provide the information of raw material for ancient ink. From infra-red and Raman spectroscopic analysis of sheet of writing on paper or wood, there was severe interference from background material (paper or wood). From Raman spectroscopic analysis of ancient ink carefully separated from ancient wood, spectrum pattern was closer to ink stick made by the soot from pine burning.

Materials and Trends in the Study of Ancient Korean Wooden Slips

This study analyzes the current state of the Korean ancient wooden slips that have been discovered by 2011 and conducts a summary of the overarching research trends. All in all, some 120 Lelang wooden slips, 150 Baekje wooden slips and shavings, and 330 Silla wooden slips have to date been uncovered. Up until the Three Kingdoms period, wooden slips were widely used, not only for labeling and listing purposes but also as a means of documentation. The widespread use of paper documents during Unified Silla coincided with a significant decline in the use of wooden slips for documentation purposes, with such resources increasingly being used mainly as labels attached to goods. Research on wooden slips has contributed to furthering scholars’ understanding of the ancient document administration system, the ruling structure in the central and local areas, the tax and socio-economic systems, and the everyday lifestyle of ancient people. In this regard, the continued excavation of wooden slips and advent of new interpretations of existing wooden slips is expected to further invigorate the practice of Korean ancient history based on such wooden slips.

Structural Performance of Typical Beam-Column Joints in Yingxian Wood Pagoda - An Experimental Study

Yingxian Wood Pagoda, built in 1056, is located in the town of Yingxian County, Shanxi Province, China. It is the oldest and highest standing ancient wood structure in China. The pagoda is octagon-shaped in plan, with a total height of 67.31m and a base diameter of 30.27m. It appears as a five-storeyed structure, but actually consists of nine storeys, with four shorter but stiffer storeys hidden between the five apparent storeys. Yingxian Wood Pagoda was built without any metal connectors like nail, screw, or bolt. Instead, Tenon-Mortise connections and Dou-Gong brackets were used to connect all posts and beams. Tenon-Mortise connections and Dou-Gong brackets have been playing a vital role for the pagoda to resist severe winds, earthquakes and some human-induced disasters for nearly a thousand years. To evaluate the safety of the pagoda, it is, therefore, useful to investigate the structural performance of the beam-column joints, most important for Yingxian Wood Pagoda to resist lateral load. In this study, two models of typical beam-column joints of the pagoda, MBCJ-I and MBCJ-II, were manufactured following a ratio of 3.4 to the prototype of the joints. Non-destructive cyclic loading test of the models under different vertical load and destructive cyclic test of the models under vertical load of 20kN were conducted. The hysteretic stiffness of MBCJ-I was lager than MBCJ-II, and increased linearly with vertical load N. The relationship between and N was obtained by regression of the test results using the least square method. The stiffness of model joint under vertical load was 70.6kN/mm. The failure modes, energy-dissipation performance, moment resistance and bending stiffness of both model joints were derived and discussed.