A microfossil-based object biogeography of a set of stocks from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam

In 2019 the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam acquired a set of oak stocks about which little was known. Radiocarbon wiggle-matching revealed that the tree used to make the stocks was likely felled around 1800 C.E., while ancient DNA indicated the tree's growing zone to be Central Europe. The question remained where and how these stocks were used. To answer these questions, traces of former use at the surface of the stocks were studied and sediment from cracks and holes in the stocks was analyzed for pollen, fungal spores, diatoms and other algae, phytoliths, and insects. The biogeographical information of the recorded taxa shows that the stocks had been used in the western Iberian Peninsula. Although the sediments could have entered in various ways and at various moments, a dungeon seems the most likely context in which these stocks have been used. •Microfossil-based object biogeography can reveal the origin and use of museum objects.•A 19th century set of stocks was studied for pollen, spores, diatoms and insects.•Pollen analysis showed that the stocks were used in the Iberian Peninsula.•A stay of the stocks in overseas former Dutch colonies could be excluded.