Crafted Landscapes: The Uggurwala Tree (Ochroma pyramidale) as a Potential Cultural Keystone Species for Gunadule Communities

Abstract

Wooden material culture has traditionally been overshadowed in ethnographic and archaeological collections. However, its study has great potential to further our understanding of human–plant interactions. Carvings and crafts store information related to the trees and woodlands of provenance as well as about the people who shaped them. This article discusses the possibilities and difficulties of reconstructing the path from the museum’s objects to the trees by applying a multidisciplinary approach. One specific tree, the uggurwala tree (Ochroma pyramidale), is repeatedly selected by Gunadule people for particular carvings. The use of Ochroma has been observed in objects deposited in ethnographic collections and it was probably a Cultural Keystone Species for Gunadule communities and a potential one for the Isthmo-Colombian area. By exploring this concept and applying it to the study of these types of objects, new reflections on the role of wood material culture in past and present societies are raised.