timberhistory
Timber history is the study of how wood has been produced, processed, traded, and used across human societies. It considers forests as resources, technologies for converting raw timber into usable products, and the institutions that regulate harvest and trade. Wood has been a primary material since the Stone Age, used for shelter, tools, weapons, fuel, and later for ships, bridges, and architecture. Throughout antiquity and the medieval period, large-scale timber supply shaped landscapes and economies. Royal forests, coppicing, and forest laws governed access, while shipbuilding drove demand for long, straight timbers and specialized species.
With the rise of urbanization and mercantile economies in early modern Europe, mechanized sawing, improved milling,
In the 20th and 21st centuries, sustainable forestry and forest management emerged as responses to resource