CALL. 31.08.2019: [PANEL 3] Defining Forests: Forest Management in Long Late Antiquity and the Early
FECHA LÍMITE/DEADLINE/SCADENZA: 31/08/2019
FECHA CONGRESO/CONGRESS DATE/DATA CONGRESSO: 06-07-08-09/07/2020
LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: University of Leeds (Leeds, England)
ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: Bernhard Muigg (Institute of Forest Sciences, Chair of Forest History University of Freiburg); David Wallace-Hare (Department of Classics, University of Toronto).
INFO: definingforestsimc2020@gmail.com
CALL:
Spurred on by the success of Marco Panato and Lukas Werther's quartet of sessions on water transport and riverine economies in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages at IMC 2019, we propose a related four-part panel series dealing with forest management in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. This panel series attempts to get at the numerous borders inherent in medieval forests in various ways.
With the first regulations of elites on protected forest during the early middle ages, areas for hunting and exclusive timber use became realities and new borders appeared in nature. Limited fuel-wood and timber resources lead to crossing borders by accessing new forest areas and solutions (floating/rafting) or augmenting them through newer methods like coppicing. Newer types of forest became legally enshrined, with sources delineating forests for their products (e.g. for swine fodder) rather than their wood, emphasising the importance of non-timber forest products.
The proposed session will comprise four panels of three papers each on the following themes: Forest Definitions 1: Defining by Designing: This session examines creation or expansion of forested areas, their exploitation, or deforestation by anthropogenic means such as coppicing and pollarding or other invasive means during Late Antiquity/Early Middle Ages Forest Definitions 2: Policing the Forest: This session examines the range of forest management personnel we encounter in this period and hopes to gain a sense of the organization of this industry on a wider level. The session also examines legal definitions of forests. Forest Definitions 3: Non-Timber Forest Products: The session will explore forests exploited for non-timber uses such as masting (acorn) forests, game preserves, forest beekeeping (vel sim.). Forest Definitions 4: Forest Technology: The session explores new means of managing forests and the instruments used to do this and takes a close look at the archaeology of forest management. Proposals for 20-minute papers of approximately 250 words should be sent to the organisers at: definingforestsimc2020@gmail.com by August 31st.