We have identified archaeological wet wood from an archaeological site in Ljubljana. Archaeologists had previously divided the wood into 3 groups according to its presumable origin from the prehistory, late Iron Age (La Tène) or ancient Roman age. We inspected all the samples, oriented them and prepared microscopic slides for observation under the light microscope. We used the computer identification key Intkey for wood identification. We identified wood of 12 prehistoric samples and found that they belonged to the following genera or species: 3 of them were oak (Quercus sp.), 2 fir (Abies alba), 1 alder (Alnus glutinosa), 1 ash wood (Fraxinus sp.), 1 yew (Taxus baccata) and 1 willow (Salix sp.). 3 samples could not be identified because they were poorly preserved. We also identified 83 samples from the Iron Age. The results showed that 2 samples were beech (Fagus sylvatica), 2 hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), 24 oak (Quercus sp.), 10 fir (Abies alba), 9 alder (Alnus glutinosa), 1 ash (Fraxinus sp.), 2 hazel (Corylus avellana), 1 spruce (Picea abies), 1 yew (Taxus baccata), 9 poplar (Populus sp.) and 17 willow (Salix sp.) samples. 2 wood specimens belonged to Rosaceae family; the other 2 remained unidentified. The selection of wood species used in different periods was also compared.
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