Dosia

Staff

Dosia Laeyendecker, archeobotanist

The combination of Archeology and the natural sciences always interested me and this has served me well with my work at the Arctic Studies Center. The analysis of wood remains that are excavated from archeological sites, involves identification of the species, tracing the origin of the wood and the study of ancient wood technology. Sometimes it is possible to detect changes in the environment of ancient people, as they use different woods through time. Different woods have different mechanical properties. It is important to find out if people selected certain wood species for specific functions, and if those woods were available to them or if they had to trade for these needs.

Frozen conditions of arctic soil are very favorable for the preservation of wooden artifacts, which under temperate circumstances do not last more than a couple of hundred years. Charcoal, which preserves better than wood, is useful for dating a site. We collect charcoal remains from ancient hearths and sent these samples to a radiocarbon laboratory. Through chemical processes they are able to date the moment when the living tree that provided the fuel in this hearth died, or in other words, when the people who made the fire cut or collected the wood.

The Arctic Studies Center has several projects which involve the study of wood and charcoal. These projects are mainly in the eastern Canadian Arctic and Subarctic, in Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island and along the coast of Labrador. The study of wood is especially interesting in the arctic environment, because there is only tundra vegetation, which consist of grasses, heather and low shrubs. The people that are studied have to collect driftwood, or travel south to the tree-line, or look for contact and trade with other groups who live below the tree-line, to accommodate their need for wood.

Education

1957-1964 University of Leiden bachelor of science degree in geology; graduate school major in Palynology (Pollen analysis). Field work in Spain, Surinam and Colombia.

1987-1990 University of Amsterdam masters degree in Ecological Prehistory.