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This research presents for the first time a comprehensive study of charcoal directly related to the multiple burials interred in Tomb 2 of El Caño (Coclé province, Panama). This funerary context, which dates to between AD 880 to AD 1020, contained three different burial levels accompanied by substantial ceramic offerings and rich mortuary assemblages. The challenge of taxonomically identifying charcoal from tropical areas was addressed by combining standard procedures in tandem with chemical analysis (Py-GC-MS) of archaeological charcoal and fresh wood from the reference collection. Nine charcoal types were identified at the genus level: Avicennia spp., Rhizophora spp., Handranthus/Tabebuia, cf. Copaifera spp., Inga spp., Guettarda spp., Roupala spp., Allophylus spp. and cf. Ryania spp. Charcoal of cf. Copaifera spp., Roupala spp., Guettarda spp., and probably Handroanthus/Tabebuia might be related to their use as firewood for producing smoke. The presence of Copaifera and Roupala indicates the selection of odorous woods for burning in the sahumerios. Diverse habitats, such as coastal mangroves, riverine and dry forests, were exploited to obtain wood, highlighting the complex management of wild plant resources developed by the hierarchical societies of the Isthmo-Colombian area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being a perishable material, wood can nonetheless show in its full complexity the materiality of daily life activities, identity construction, economic exploitation, and adaptation in colonial processes. The study of two sets of wood samples in well-defined archaeological colonial contexts from the site of Heping Dao, on the northern coast of Taiwan, has unveiled otherwise unknown aspects of native exchange, adoption of indigenous practices, and differences and similarities between early European colonialism and Japanese imperialism in Asia-Pacific. Despite the constraints of taxonomic identification in subtropical (and tropical) areas, the use of different coniferous wood types has been recorded: C upressaceae, cf. C hamaecyparis spp., cf. C ryptomeria japonica and cf. C unninghamia spp. The paper highlights the close relationship between wooden objects and diachronic historical processes and stresses the complexity of their study in colonial contexts, with implications toward the prehistoric period. • Long histories of wood and forest exploitation in Taiwan start to emerge. • Insights into European and Japanese colonialism and new inferences into the Taiwanese prehistory are obtained from the analysis of worked wood. • The archaeometrical study of wooden crafts offers new historical insights as well as a productive approach to the field of tropical wood analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]