How far did wood travel in late Antiquity & the Middle Ages? Was it all very local? My house in the Western U.S. (& much of the stuff in it) includes wood from Brazil, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, etc.

by screwyoushadowban

Fancy and/or conveniently cheap lumber of specific from all over the world types is fairly easy to acquire in the modern day (post-2020 lumber woes aside), although the majority of U.S. lumber is domestic, not imported. But wood is heavy and there weren't diesel engines in the 10th century. What was the wood trade in Europe and the Near East in late Antiquity/the Middle Ages like?

I'm aware of things like viking trips to Canada to acquire lumber for the Greenland colony (and possibly Iceland?), but that seems like one of those desperate necessity things given how near-complete the deforestation of both Iceland and southern Greenland were by the Scandinavians. Would that state of affairs be unusual or pretty common, even outside of that specific geographic context?

Thanks!

y_sengaku

While more can always be said, you can check /u/Asinus_Docet and my previous answer found in: How did people in medieval Europe move logs and other big loads without paved roads?