Wood has always been around. During the Dark Ages, there were good and bad things about wood carvings. Wood carvings were mostly confined to monasteries which was the only place safe enough to practice the art. Since there were many wars in Europe from 700 A.D to 900 A.D., making wood carvings and even paintings were forbidden. Wood carvers were needed at monasteries so wood carvers would go to Europe where monasteries employed wood carvers to make relief carvings done in doors and wooden panels. Artists began to be more creative in how they used wood after the year 1000. Wood carvers were influenced by stone carvings and based some of their work on remains uncovered in parts of Europe. As the years passed, new uses of wood were discovered, including furniture, tools, musical instruments, sculptures, religious artifacts, etc.
