Reconstructing firewood procurement through anthracological evidence: The Roman and Late Antique sites of Can Ring and Vilauba (Girona, Spain)

This study investigates long-term wood procurement strategies in northeastern Iberia through the anthracological analysis of two rural settlements, Vilauba (Camós, Girona) and Can Ring (Besalú, Girona), whose occupational sequences span almost nine centuries (first century BCE–seventh century CE). The charcoal analysis provides insights into woodland exploitation, resources management and changes in fuel selection through time. The results indicate that wood acquisition relied primarily on local mixed Mediterranean woodlands dominated by deciduous and evergreen Quercus species, complemented by the exploitation of Mediterranean shrubs and riparian vegetation. Differences between the two settlements reflect local environmental conditions, while the recurrent presence of high-altitude conifers suggests occasional procurement of timber from more distant forested areas, likely associated with construction and other specialised uses. Cultivated taxa, including sp. Prunus , Olea europaea and Vitis vinifera , point to the integration of arboriculture by-products into fuel supply systems. Diachronic trends reveal significant changes in woodland exploitation linked to transformations in settlement function and economic organisation. While local woodland resources consistently formed the basis of fuel procurement, shifts in taxonomic composition indicate adaptive responses to changing productive activities and resource demands. These results provide new evidence for the relationship between woodland management and rural economies in Roman and Late Antique northeastern Iberia and broadly support palaeoenvironmental reconstructions derived from regional palynological records.