Potential biomarkers of provenance of the wood from iberian typology shipwrecks (15th to 17th centuries)

Abstract

Wood is a lignocellulosic and biodegradable material widely used for diverse applications. The complex nature of wood is due to its structure and chemical composition, which are closely related to tree taxonomy and to environmental factors of growing locations. Studies on wood chemical composition are of interest and permit to gain deeper understanding. In this light, the aim of this thesis was to develop tools for identification of species and provenance based on organic chemical parameters of wood used for shipbuilding in the Iberian Peninsula (15th to 17th century). The methodology developed in this thesis, concerned the combination of multivariate data analysis methods, together with wood chemical characterisation techniques (FTIR and Py-GC-MS).