Why was wood so important?
Wood was a source of fuel for light and heat. It was used in the construction of dwellings and other buildings, fences, boats, carts, furniture and tools; every axe, for example, needed a wooden handle. Wood was also required to make charcoal, which was vital to Bronze Age technology. Only a charcoal fire could attain a high enough temperature of over 1,100℃ to smelt the metal ores and then melt the resulting metal for casting bronze. Sometimes, wood also got in the way of working the land. As crop farming and the raising of livestock increased, trees were cleared away to open up space and create fields.
Simply put, wood was in huge demand. In fact, environmental evidence shows that the Bronze Age was a period of large-scale deforestation.
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