Koen Deforce

Koen Deforce is a senior researcher studying human – environment interactions, plant use and environmental dynamics in the past, based on the analysis of botanical remains recovered from archaeological features and natural sedimentary archives. The focus of his research is on past anthropogenic woodland exploitation, the taphonomy of plant remains in archaeological contexts and Holocene vegetation dynamics in NW-Europe.

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Function

Koen Deforce holds a FED-tWIN position combining an appointment as a senior researcher in archaeobotany and palaeoecology at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) and as a research professor at the Department of Archaeology of Ghent University.

Research team: Quaternary Environments and Humans
Research theme: Past interactions between humans and nature

Current Project(s)

WOODAN - Woodland Dynamics in the Anthropocene 
LEAP – Learning from the Past 
ORG-ID - Identification and 14C Dating of Organic Materials in Archaeological Ceramics 
ArBoReaL – Archaeobotany Research Laboratory 

Full list of projects : https://research.flw.ugent.be/nl/koen.deforce

Area of Expertise

Environmental archaeology, archaeobotany, palynology, anthracology, wood anatomy.

Publication highlights

2500 years of charcoal production in the Low Countries: the chronology and typology of charcoal kilns and their relation with early iron production.
Wood use in a growing medieval city. The overexploitation of woody resources in Ghent (Belgium) between the 10th and 12th century AD.
The interpretation of pollen assemblages from medieval and post-medieval cesspits.
Tree-ring analysis of archaeological charcoal as a tool to identify past woodland management
Tracking ancient ship routes through the analysis of caulking material from shipwrecks? The case study of two 14th century cogs from Doel (northern Belgium)

full list of publications: https://biblio.ugent.be/person/801001168909