Roman Egyptian Wood Database

This database was developed as part of a postdoctoral fellowship between 2021 and 2025 for the “Egypt Roman Laboratory” research project funded by the SNSF (No. 192176). One subproject aimed to establish dendrochronological reference frameworks for Egypt and, more broadly, the Middle East during the Roman period based on preserved wooden artifacts. A large portion of archaeological collections, particularly those made of wood, is housed in numerous museums. Some collections are old and were mostly acquired in the 19th or early 20th century, periods when numerous excavations took place in Egypt. The fact that these collections are housed in numerous museums around the world presents a dual benefit: these institutions have enabled the long-term preservation of the wooden collections and provide access to and visibility of the many Egyptian artifacts. However, access to them is often subject to specific conditions due to the fragile nature of the material, which is difficult to handle, and varying analysis policies across institutions. Since the objective is to identify wood species and determine tree-ring widths, the collections selected or analyzed are those with dendrochronological potential, characterized by a large number of clearly visible, wide rings, and based on their accessibility. In rare cases, full access to an entire collection was possible, allowing for the creation of a comprehensive inventory of a highly varied set of objects from Roman Egypt. In other cases, the selection of objects considered or accessible pertains only to a small portion of a larger original collection. Data collection was carried out in two different ways: directly in museums with on-site analysis and observation of each selected object whenever possible, or through online collections, using metadata specific to each object and photographs that were generally of good quality. Nevertheless, data collection varied from one museum to another. The data compiled in this database has been standardized as much as possible, but many gaps in information could not be filled. Certain data that was too detailed or precise (typological approaches, tool marks, assembly methods, etc.) in some collections compared to others was removed from the inventory to avoid highlighting overly significant differences. Finally, some of the data concerning the Kesley Museum collection will not be included here due to a potential publication project. The database includes an inventory of each object observed and/or analyzed, where possible. It includes various types of information: administrative, such as inventory number and location of storage descriptive, such as the type of object inventoried, its presumed date, and its provenance morphological, such as dimensions, and where possible, its method of shaping and the identification of its wood species by genus, class, and in rare cases, species. bibliographic information, including abbreviations of the main bibliographic references concerning the inventoried objects. Another section of the inventory presents all dendrological information: presence of pith, sapwood, and bark; and dendrochronological data: number of growth rings. Finally, a last section compiles all the main complete bibliographic references dealing with the inventoried woods. In total, the inventory includes 3,700 wood specimens from 24 museums or conservation institutions worldwide. Although a large number of specimens relate to funerary contexts—such as mummy tags and portraits, coffins, etc.—some items also pertain to domestic and artisanal contexts. The provenance data is derived from museum documentation or bibliographic research. Geographic coordinates were obtained from the website: Trismegistos.org. Species are not identified with the same level of detail. Only the genus is most often specified; the family or species applies to only a portion of the corpus due to collection analysis permissions and the specific collection management practices of each institution. The number of growth rings, their legibility, and the genus were the prerequisites for conducting dendrochronological measurements; only a small portion of the inventoried wood samples had their ring widths measured, totaling 369 samples. This sub-inventory derived from the main inventory is titled: Roman Egyptian Wood Database. There are no specific keycodes for this database. Nevertheless, each entry in the inventory includes a brief description.