Annet Nieuwhof
(retired but still active) postdoctoral fellow of the Groningen Institute of Archaeology (University of Groningen), member of the Terp Research Group
Other activities:
Member of the board of the Vereniging voor Terpenonderzoek (www.terpenonderzoek.nl)
Chief editor of the Jaarverslagen van de Vereniging voor Terpenonderzoek
I studied theology and religious studies, and later archaeology.
In 1998, I participated in an excavation in a terp (an artificial dwelling mound) in Dongjum in the province of Friesland. Terp archaeology has been my main archaeological interest since then. My terp-related research includes occupation history, palaeo-ecology and landscape, pottery research and ritual and funerary practice.
In 2011, an NWO-grant gave me and several other researchers the opportunity to study the finds from the famous terp of Ezinge, excavated in the 1920s and 1930s by prof. A.E. van Giffen. The results of this research project were published in 2014 (in Dutch) and 2020 (Ezinge revisited Volume 1). A second volume is in preparation.
In 2015, I defended my PhD-thesis titled 'Eight human skulls in a dung heap and more. Ritual practice in the terp region of the northern-Netherlands, 600 BC - AD 300', the result of a long-term research project. The book was also published as a monograph.
For a review, see Melanie Giles in Antiquity, August 2016 (http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0003598X16001137
Address: Groningen Institute of Archaeology
Poststraat 6
9712 ER
Groningen
The Netherlands
Other activities:
Member of the board of the Vereniging voor Terpenonderzoek (www.terpenonderzoek.nl)
Chief editor of the Jaarverslagen van de Vereniging voor Terpenonderzoek
I studied theology and religious studies, and later archaeology.
In 1998, I participated in an excavation in a terp (an artificial dwelling mound) in Dongjum in the province of Friesland. Terp archaeology has been my main archaeological interest since then. My terp-related research includes occupation history, palaeo-ecology and landscape, pottery research and ritual and funerary practice.
In 2011, an NWO-grant gave me and several other researchers the opportunity to study the finds from the famous terp of Ezinge, excavated in the 1920s and 1930s by prof. A.E. van Giffen. The results of this research project were published in 2014 (in Dutch) and 2020 (Ezinge revisited Volume 1). A second volume is in preparation.
In 2015, I defended my PhD-thesis titled 'Eight human skulls in a dung heap and more. Ritual practice in the terp region of the northern-Netherlands, 600 BC - AD 300', the result of a long-term research project. The book was also published as a monograph.
For a review, see Melanie Giles in Antiquity, August 2016 (http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0003598X16001137
Address: Groningen Institute of Archaeology
Poststraat 6
9712 ER
Groningen
The Netherlands
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Three phases can be distinguished in this material: Phase 1, dated between 12 BC and AD 47 when the Northern Netherlands were formally part of the Roman Empire, is represented by only a few fragments. Most TS finds belong to Phase 2, the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Phase 3, the 4th and 5th centuries, is characterised by Late Argonne ware and African Red Slip ware, which is virtually absent elsewhere in the Netherlands. Nearly all the finds from this phase are from Ezinge, one of the few inhabited terps in the Northern Netherlands during the 4th century.
Approximately 80% of the TS from Phases 1 and 2 shows traces of a particular form of secondary use. This use must be related to a symbolic meaning ascribed to this material, probably because of its colour. The paper discusses the meaning of this secondary use of TS.
Abstract: 185 pairs of δ13C and δ15N values for aurochs, cattle and sheep bones from the northern Netherlands were studied to establish the influence of salt marsh grazing on bone δ13C and δ15N values. The observed values proved significantly increased compared to livestock that grazed inland. The δ13C and δ15N values of animals grazing former salt marshes were significantly less increased than those grazing the unembanked salt marsh. Absent regular salt marsh flooding may explain the reduced δ13C increase in bones of animals grazing there. The δ15N values of ruminants grazing the embanked salt marshes continued to be increased, presumably due to persisting saline water at shallow depths. The δ13C values of the salt marsh grazing ruminants correspond with a δ13C increase of 5‰ compared to eleven modern salt marsh plants from Schiermonnikoog studied in this paper. The δ15N values of the eleven Schiermonnikoog salt marsh plants proved variable, on average too low to explain the observed 3.5‰ increase in δ15N values. This suggests that vegetation δ15N values cannot be the only cause of the high δ15N values observed in salt marsh ruminants. Other processes may be responsible for the high δ15N values of salt marsh grazing ruminants as well.
Papers by Annet Nieuwhof
It is traditionally interpreted as luxury tableware of the local elites, who acquired it through their contacts with Romans, or who
were able to buy it from traders who came to this area with their merchandise. This paper questions that interpretation. The
reason is that the far majority of TS is found as sherds, which, despite their good recognisability, only rarely fit other sherds.
Moreover, many of these sherds are worked or used in some way. They were made into pendants, spindle whorls and playing
counters, or show traces of deliberate breakage and of use for unknown purposes. Such traces are found on 70–80% of the sherds.
The meaning of TS hence seems to have been symbolic rather than functional. Rather than as luxury tableware, TS may have
been valued for the sake of the material itself, and may have been imported as sherds rather than as complete vessels. A symbolic
value also shows from its long-term use. Used or worked TS sherds from the 2nd and 3rd century AD are often found in finds
assemblages that may be interpreted as ritual deposits, not only from the Roman Period but also from the early Middle Ages.
There are striking parallels for such use in early modern colonial contexts. TS sherds may have been part of the diplomatic gifts
by which the Romans attempted to keep peace north of the limes, or may even have been payments for local products. These
sherds might thus be comparable to the trade beads of early-modern European colonial traders.
The present study shows that, with the help of Bayesian modelling, it is possible to substantiate these patterns, which is of utmost importance for understanding migration patterns, contacts and exchange along the southern North Sea coastal regions during this period.
the remains of ritual practice in the past. One of the most extensively excavated terps is the terp settlement of Ezinge, which has its origins
around 500 BC. An inventory of find assemblages that can be interpreted as ritual deposits, resulted in the identification of 142 deposits from the Iron Age alone, many of which are associated with houses. This contribution is concerned with the deposits associated with the life-cycle of houses or performed during inhabitation for the benefit of the inhabitants. Several of these deposits include human remains, either inhumation burials or single, sometimes modified human bones. It is argued that these ritual practices were concerned with the identity, prosperity and continuity of the household, and that the house can be considered a representation of the household.
group, weighing over 210 kg.1 From these figures it can be inferred that this pottery was fragmented more than the handmade pottery from earlier periods.
The handmade pottery of the Merovingian and Carolingian periods largely consists of Kugeltopf or globu- lar pots, and of ovoid pots with flat, lenticular or ‘wobbly’ bases. The ovoid pot belongs to the Merovingian period, and to the group of Hessens-Schortens or A3/A4 ware that was described by Taayke in Chapter 4, while globular pots occur from the Carolingian period onwards. Globular
pots are thought to have developed in the coastal area of the Netherlands, where they replaced the earlier Hessens- Schortens ware in the early 8th century. Globular pots were also adopted in the coastal areas of northwestern Germany, but here they replaced the earlier types in the course of the 8th century, so slightly later than in in the Netherlands.
In habitation period V (AD 650-750), the percentage of imported pottery sees a dramatic decline, dropping to just 1.2% of the ceramic assemblage. The reasons behind the decline are not entirely clear. Period IV coincides with the heyday of Wijnaldum and its surroundings as the centre of a regional kingdom that probably encompassed the present provinces of Friesland and Groningen. The import of Merovingian pottery decreased well before Friesland was annexed by the Franks in 734; still, imported glass vessels from this period at Wijnaldum show that the exchange of goods with the Frankish world had not come to a standstill, despite possibly less-than-friendly relations during the period of the Frankish conquest.
Period IV is also the ‘Golden Age’ of the northern Netherlands, with a large number of gold objects.6 The famous Wijnaldum brooch is the most striking example of this gold horizon (see also Chapter 1). The peak in the im-portation of Frankish pottery coincides with this Golden Age. Just like gold objects, imported pottery seems to concentrate at Wijnaldum and in northern Westergo, and from there seems to have been distributed in stages from this centre to the periphery of this regional kingdom. This explains the concentrations of imported pottery and gold in northern Westergo, and the much occurrences of gold and of Merovingian coarse and fine wares in settlements further from it; apparently these settlements depended on the centre in northern Westergo for their imported goods.
The purpose of this chapter is threefold. First, it aims at underpinning the chronology of the imported pottery presented and discussed in the previous chapter. Secondly, it investigates the proportional amounts of imported and locally made pottery. And thirdly, it discusses the start of the importation of Merovingian pottery. The contexts that were selected also give us some insight into the deposi-tional practices and processes in the Merovingian period at Wijnaldum. They are presented in chronological order.
82 kg of sherds, is impressive. Within the total ceramic assemblage of Wijnaldum, however, only 7.8% by number of fragments are Merovingian wheel-thrown pottery (n= 5,564; Chapter 2, table 2.1). By weight, 10.3% belongsto this group. Most of these fragments are body and base fragments from unidentified pots: at least 4,042 fragments, weighing almost 55 kg. The remaining 1,522 rim frag- ments belong to a minimum number of 598 individual pots (MNI), 13.5% of the total number of pots from Wijnaldum. Within the total pottery assemblage, 5% of the number of fragments (n = 3,510) are of Carolingian wheel-thrown ware. By weight, 3.9% or just over 30 kg belongs to this group. Most of these sherds are body and base fragments which only in some cases could be attributed to a specific type of pot, but in most cases come from unidentified pots: at least 3,035 fragments, weighing almost 23 kg.
The remaining 360 rim fragments belong to a minimum number of 264 individuals (MNI), 6% of the total number of pots from Wijnaldum.
a large group of volunteers. This publication is a very late recognition of their painstaking work. Thanks to their efforts, specialists could start with the analysis of the huge amount of find material immediately after the excavation ended. Priority was given to the identification and dating of pottery types, because that information (providing termini ante and post quem) was needed for establishing the chronology and phasing of the settlement, and continuity or discontinuity in habitation. Pottery dates combined with the stratigraphy of the features resulted in the chronology of the settlement of Wijnaldum-Tjitsma that was presented in Volume 1 of “The excavations at Wijnaldum“.1
All the pottery was analysed during the years between the end of the fieldwork and the beginning of 1996 (Figure 2.1). Ernst Taayke was responsible for the handmade pottery of the Roman Iron Age, so-called ‘terp ware’, for the pottery of the of the 5th and 6th centuries also known as Anglo-Saxon-style pottery, and for the grass-tempered2 ovoid pots, so-called Tritsum ware. Danny Gerrets and Jan de Koning analysed the pottery of the Early Middle Ages: the ovoid pots with grit temper, also known as Hessens-Schortens ware4 or (in Germany), weiche Grauware; the globular pots of the later Early Middle Ages; and imported, wheel-thrown pottery, starting with coarse-ware late-Roman-type pottery; and ending somewhere in the 10th century with Pingsdorf-type pottery. Some chapters on relatively small categories were already published in the first volume: terra sigillata by Tineke Volkers and Roman wheel-thrown pottery by Marjan Galestin.The large majority of the pottery that played an important role in the chronology, however, still awaited publication in the second volume. After a delay of more than twenty years after the appearance of Volume 1, it is finally presented in this book.
Before medieval dike building, the coastal area of the northern Netherlands was a wide, regularly inundated salt marsh area. Despite the dynamic natural conditions, the area was inhabited already in the Iron Age. The inhabitants adapted to this marine environment by living on artificial dwelling mounds, so-called terps. Terp habitation was a highly successful way of life for over 1500 years, and may be re-introduced as a useful strategy for present and future communities in low-lying coastal regions that are facing accelerated sea-level rise. This already has been recommended in several reports, but detailed knowledge of the technology of terp habitation is usually lacking. The aim of this paper is to present nearly two decades of archaeological research in the coastal
region of the northern Netherlands, in order to inform the current debate on the possibilities of adapting to the effects of climate change in low-lying coastal areas. It presents the multi-disciplinary methods of this research and its results, supplying details of terp construction and other strategies such as the construction of low summer dikes that are still useful today. The results and discussion of the presented research also make it possible to describe the conditions that must be met to make terp habitation possible. Terp habitation could have continued,
were it not for the considerable subsidence of inland areas due to peat reclamation. That made the entire coastal area increasingly vulnerable to the sea. In response to this threat, dike building began in the 11th or 12th
century, but these increasingly higher dikes decreased the water storage capacity and caused impoundment of seawater during storm surges. Moreover, accretion through sedimentation was halted from then on. Unlike terp habitation, the construction of high dikes therefore cannot be considered a sustainable solution for living in lowlying coastal areas in the long term.
Three phases can be distinguished in this material: Phase 1, dated between 12 BC and AD 47 when the Northern Netherlands were formally part of the Roman Empire, is represented by only a few fragments. Most TS finds belong to Phase 2, the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Phase 3, the 4th and 5th centuries, is characterised by Late Argonne ware and African Red Slip ware, which is virtually absent elsewhere in the Netherlands. Nearly all the finds from this phase are from Ezinge, one of the few inhabited terps in the Northern Netherlands during the 4th century.
Approximately 80% of the TS from Phases 1 and 2 shows traces of a particular form of secondary use. This use must be related to a symbolic meaning ascribed to this material, probably because of its colour. The paper discusses the meaning of this secondary use of TS.
Abstract: 185 pairs of δ13C and δ15N values for aurochs, cattle and sheep bones from the northern Netherlands were studied to establish the influence of salt marsh grazing on bone δ13C and δ15N values. The observed values proved significantly increased compared to livestock that grazed inland. The δ13C and δ15N values of animals grazing former salt marshes were significantly less increased than those grazing the unembanked salt marsh. Absent regular salt marsh flooding may explain the reduced δ13C increase in bones of animals grazing there. The δ15N values of ruminants grazing the embanked salt marshes continued to be increased, presumably due to persisting saline water at shallow depths. The δ13C values of the salt marsh grazing ruminants correspond with a δ13C increase of 5‰ compared to eleven modern salt marsh plants from Schiermonnikoog studied in this paper. The δ15N values of the eleven Schiermonnikoog salt marsh plants proved variable, on average too low to explain the observed 3.5‰ increase in δ15N values. This suggests that vegetation δ15N values cannot be the only cause of the high δ15N values observed in salt marsh ruminants. Other processes may be responsible for the high δ15N values of salt marsh grazing ruminants as well.
It is traditionally interpreted as luxury tableware of the local elites, who acquired it through their contacts with Romans, or who
were able to buy it from traders who came to this area with their merchandise. This paper questions that interpretation. The
reason is that the far majority of TS is found as sherds, which, despite their good recognisability, only rarely fit other sherds.
Moreover, many of these sherds are worked or used in some way. They were made into pendants, spindle whorls and playing
counters, or show traces of deliberate breakage and of use for unknown purposes. Such traces are found on 70–80% of the sherds.
The meaning of TS hence seems to have been symbolic rather than functional. Rather than as luxury tableware, TS may have
been valued for the sake of the material itself, and may have been imported as sherds rather than as complete vessels. A symbolic
value also shows from its long-term use. Used or worked TS sherds from the 2nd and 3rd century AD are often found in finds
assemblages that may be interpreted as ritual deposits, not only from the Roman Period but also from the early Middle Ages.
There are striking parallels for such use in early modern colonial contexts. TS sherds may have been part of the diplomatic gifts
by which the Romans attempted to keep peace north of the limes, or may even have been payments for local products. These
sherds might thus be comparable to the trade beads of early-modern European colonial traders.
The present study shows that, with the help of Bayesian modelling, it is possible to substantiate these patterns, which is of utmost importance for understanding migration patterns, contacts and exchange along the southern North Sea coastal regions during this period.
the remains of ritual practice in the past. One of the most extensively excavated terps is the terp settlement of Ezinge, which has its origins
around 500 BC. An inventory of find assemblages that can be interpreted as ritual deposits, resulted in the identification of 142 deposits from the Iron Age alone, many of which are associated with houses. This contribution is concerned with the deposits associated with the life-cycle of houses or performed during inhabitation for the benefit of the inhabitants. Several of these deposits include human remains, either inhumation burials or single, sometimes modified human bones. It is argued that these ritual practices were concerned with the identity, prosperity and continuity of the household, and that the house can be considered a representation of the household.
group, weighing over 210 kg.1 From these figures it can be inferred that this pottery was fragmented more than the handmade pottery from earlier periods.
The handmade pottery of the Merovingian and Carolingian periods largely consists of Kugeltopf or globu- lar pots, and of ovoid pots with flat, lenticular or ‘wobbly’ bases. The ovoid pot belongs to the Merovingian period, and to the group of Hessens-Schortens or A3/A4 ware that was described by Taayke in Chapter 4, while globular pots occur from the Carolingian period onwards. Globular
pots are thought to have developed in the coastal area of the Netherlands, where they replaced the earlier Hessens- Schortens ware in the early 8th century. Globular pots were also adopted in the coastal areas of northwestern Germany, but here they replaced the earlier types in the course of the 8th century, so slightly later than in in the Netherlands.
In habitation period V (AD 650-750), the percentage of imported pottery sees a dramatic decline, dropping to just 1.2% of the ceramic assemblage. The reasons behind the decline are not entirely clear. Period IV coincides with the heyday of Wijnaldum and its surroundings as the centre of a regional kingdom that probably encompassed the present provinces of Friesland and Groningen. The import of Merovingian pottery decreased well before Friesland was annexed by the Franks in 734; still, imported glass vessels from this period at Wijnaldum show that the exchange of goods with the Frankish world had not come to a standstill, despite possibly less-than-friendly relations during the period of the Frankish conquest.
Period IV is also the ‘Golden Age’ of the northern Netherlands, with a large number of gold objects.6 The famous Wijnaldum brooch is the most striking example of this gold horizon (see also Chapter 1). The peak in the im-portation of Frankish pottery coincides with this Golden Age. Just like gold objects, imported pottery seems to concentrate at Wijnaldum and in northern Westergo, and from there seems to have been distributed in stages from this centre to the periphery of this regional kingdom. This explains the concentrations of imported pottery and gold in northern Westergo, and the much occurrences of gold and of Merovingian coarse and fine wares in settlements further from it; apparently these settlements depended on the centre in northern Westergo for their imported goods.
The purpose of this chapter is threefold. First, it aims at underpinning the chronology of the imported pottery presented and discussed in the previous chapter. Secondly, it investigates the proportional amounts of imported and locally made pottery. And thirdly, it discusses the start of the importation of Merovingian pottery. The contexts that were selected also give us some insight into the deposi-tional practices and processes in the Merovingian period at Wijnaldum. They are presented in chronological order.
82 kg of sherds, is impressive. Within the total ceramic assemblage of Wijnaldum, however, only 7.8% by number of fragments are Merovingian wheel-thrown pottery (n= 5,564; Chapter 2, table 2.1). By weight, 10.3% belongsto this group. Most of these fragments are body and base fragments from unidentified pots: at least 4,042 fragments, weighing almost 55 kg. The remaining 1,522 rim frag- ments belong to a minimum number of 598 individual pots (MNI), 13.5% of the total number of pots from Wijnaldum. Within the total pottery assemblage, 5% of the number of fragments (n = 3,510) are of Carolingian wheel-thrown ware. By weight, 3.9% or just over 30 kg belongs to this group. Most of these sherds are body and base fragments which only in some cases could be attributed to a specific type of pot, but in most cases come from unidentified pots: at least 3,035 fragments, weighing almost 23 kg.
The remaining 360 rim fragments belong to a minimum number of 264 individuals (MNI), 6% of the total number of pots from Wijnaldum.
a large group of volunteers. This publication is a very late recognition of their painstaking work. Thanks to their efforts, specialists could start with the analysis of the huge amount of find material immediately after the excavation ended. Priority was given to the identification and dating of pottery types, because that information (providing termini ante and post quem) was needed for establishing the chronology and phasing of the settlement, and continuity or discontinuity in habitation. Pottery dates combined with the stratigraphy of the features resulted in the chronology of the settlement of Wijnaldum-Tjitsma that was presented in Volume 1 of “The excavations at Wijnaldum“.1
All the pottery was analysed during the years between the end of the fieldwork and the beginning of 1996 (Figure 2.1). Ernst Taayke was responsible for the handmade pottery of the Roman Iron Age, so-called ‘terp ware’, for the pottery of the of the 5th and 6th centuries also known as Anglo-Saxon-style pottery, and for the grass-tempered2 ovoid pots, so-called Tritsum ware. Danny Gerrets and Jan de Koning analysed the pottery of the Early Middle Ages: the ovoid pots with grit temper, also known as Hessens-Schortens ware4 or (in Germany), weiche Grauware; the globular pots of the later Early Middle Ages; and imported, wheel-thrown pottery, starting with coarse-ware late-Roman-type pottery; and ending somewhere in the 10th century with Pingsdorf-type pottery. Some chapters on relatively small categories were already published in the first volume: terra sigillata by Tineke Volkers and Roman wheel-thrown pottery by Marjan Galestin.The large majority of the pottery that played an important role in the chronology, however, still awaited publication in the second volume. After a delay of more than twenty years after the appearance of Volume 1, it is finally presented in this book.
Before medieval dike building, the coastal area of the northern Netherlands was a wide, regularly inundated salt marsh area. Despite the dynamic natural conditions, the area was inhabited already in the Iron Age. The inhabitants adapted to this marine environment by living on artificial dwelling mounds, so-called terps. Terp habitation was a highly successful way of life for over 1500 years, and may be re-introduced as a useful strategy for present and future communities in low-lying coastal regions that are facing accelerated sea-level rise. This already has been recommended in several reports, but detailed knowledge of the technology of terp habitation is usually lacking. The aim of this paper is to present nearly two decades of archaeological research in the coastal
region of the northern Netherlands, in order to inform the current debate on the possibilities of adapting to the effects of climate change in low-lying coastal areas. It presents the multi-disciplinary methods of this research and its results, supplying details of terp construction and other strategies such as the construction of low summer dikes that are still useful today. The results and discussion of the presented research also make it possible to describe the conditions that must be met to make terp habitation possible. Terp habitation could have continued,
were it not for the considerable subsidence of inland areas due to peat reclamation. That made the entire coastal area increasingly vulnerable to the sea. In response to this threat, dike building began in the 11th or 12th
century, but these increasingly higher dikes decreased the water storage capacity and caused impoundment of seawater during storm surges. Moreover, accretion through sedimentation was halted from then on. Unlike terp habitation, the construction of high dikes therefore cannot be considered a sustainable solution for living in lowlying coastal areas in the long term.
describes in qualitative terms how the cultural landscape of the Wadden Sea region came about through
the complex interaction of people and nature. Human impact on this region has occurred in stages, with
changes in the way of life, technology, the organisation of labour and the use of natural and fossil fuels
playing a key role. With each stage, the impact of people on the natural environment increased exponentially,
bringing with it each time a combination of intended and unintended outcomes. Although
technological or organisational innovations meant that people were sometimes successful at overcoming
these effects, at other times they were not.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/72A9BA6A452E5614FAED95CA8FEB7AF1/S0003598X16001137a.pdf/death_burial_and_ritual_in_iron_age_britain_and_the_netherlands.pdf
and: https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/germania/article/view/65919
This book is available at:
http://www.barkhuis.nl/product_info.php?products_id=199
Abstract:
The study of past ritual practices is an accepted part of archaeological research these days. Yet, its theoretical basis is still not fully mature. This book aims to contribute to the study of ritual practices in the past by firstly assembling a theoretical framework, which is tailored to the needs of archaeology, and which helps to identify and interpret the remains of rituals in the past.
This framework is then applied in a specific archaeological case study: the coastal area of the northern Netherlands, a former salt marsh area. People lived here on artificial dwelling mounds, so-called terps. Preservation conditions are excellent in this wetland area. This study makes use of the well-preserved remains of rituals in terps, in particular the terps of Englum and Ezinge, to examine the role of ritual practice in the societies of the pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age in this area. One of the conclusions is that human remains played an important part in ritual practice. Therefore, an important part of this study is devoted to the variable mortuary rituals that were practiced here.
The large number of finds, especially from Ezinge, makes it possible to trace changes in ritual practice, in relation to changes in the habitation history and the social organization throughout the research period.
house of Ezinge
Preservation conditions differ considerably
from one part of the northern Netherlands
to another. In the province of Drenthe, faint
traces of settlements with houses of a few
generations have been found on the acidic
sandy soils together with only potsherds and
stones, whereas the bogs and moors have
yielded many excellently preserved organic
remains. Thanks to the work of Wijnand van der
Sanden we know much about ritual practices
associated with the liminal bogs and moors.
However, as organic materials often played an
important role in ritual deposition, we know
hardly anything about ritual practices in the
settlements on the sandy soils.
The northern coastal area is entirely different
in this respect. In this former salt marsh,
settlements were built on artificial dwelling
mounds known as terpen that were inhabited
for many centuries or even millennia. Owing
to the excellent preservation conditions of
wet clay and dung, organic remains, including
the lower parts of houses, are usually well
preserved, making it possible to identify
evidence of rituals and learn more about ritual
practice in these settlements (Nieuwhof 2015).
But as the focus of research has always been
on the terpen, we are less well informed about
ritual practice outside the settlements, in the
liminal zones of this landscape. The sand and
peat landscapes of the interior and the clay
district of the northern coastal area may be
considered complementary: ritual deposits
in the bogs and moors give an idea of what
may be expected in liminal zones outside the
terp settlements of the north, while evidence
of rituals in the terp settlements shows what
kind of rituals may have been performed in
contemporaneous settlements in inland sandy
areas.
The most extensively excavated terp settlement
is Ezinge in the province of Groningen. This
settlement, which was first occupied around
500 BC, yielded a lot of evidence of rituals
showing the diversity of ritual practice
in settlements. Many of the deposits are
associated with houses. The oldest excavated
house was a longhouse incorporating a byre.
The house’s building phase and as many as
three consecutive occupation phases, each
with a separate hearth, could be identified.
Rituals were performed during the dwelling’s
construction and after each phase, before
the floor was raised with a new layer and
repairs were made to the house. During the
construction work three animals (a horse, a
cow and a sheep) were killed and parts of them
were probably eaten; the remainder was placed
against the outer wall and covered with the first
build-up layer. When the occupants abandoned
the house they arranged large wooden objects
such as parts of disc wheels on the floor. Other
items, in particular cube-shaped stones, were
deposited in the consecutive hearths. These
deposits demonstrate that the house was of
paramount importance to its inhabitants, and
they also imply continuity of the household.
Things were undoubtedly no different on the
inland sandy soils. Although any evidence of
them is hard to identify, similar rituals must
have been performed in settlements in those
areas too.
In 1906, a boat, or at least ship’s timbers, were unearthed during commercial quarrying of the terp (dwelling mound) of Britsum (province of Fryslân/Friesland). It was recently found that a number of fragments have survived; they are stored in the Northern
Archaeological Depot at Nuis. Since finds of vessels and ship’s timbers in the formerly maritime landscape of the northern Netherlands are extremely rare, and knowledge about ships and seafaring in this area is limited, these fragments have been thoroughly examined. A sample was radiocarbon-dated, with an outcome of 1246 ± 15BP, 685-778 calAD, a period with hardly any finds of ship’s timbers in the Netherlands.
The two fragments that were examined were frames: a knee and a v-shaped floor timber of a flat-bottomed vessel. Their shape shows that this may have been a boat with two pointed ends, in Dutch a punter. Since part of this boat may still be hidden in the remainder of the terp of Britsum, further investigation of this site is recommended.
broken deliberately, but deliberate breakage is difficult to distinguish
from accidental breakage. This paper describes an
experiment with fifteen handmade sherds without context information
from the excavation in the terp of Ezinge (northern
Netherlands). The sherds dated from between the 5th century
BC and the 5th century AD. They were broken with the aid of
various implements, similar to objects found during the excavation.
Breaking the sherds demands considerable force. The usual
damage is a single, Y-shaped or, rarely, a more complex break
with some damage at the point of impact. At the back, only
breaks and rarely surface damage can be established. The use
of an iron awl can be identified if the awl was placed obliquely
on the surface. This position comes naturally if an awl was used
to break a complete pot from above or from the inside. Exerting
pressure, combined with a rotating movement, usually will
cause a break. This method leaves characteristic indentations,
which are regularly observed on the excavated pottery from
Ezinge. The use of other implements leaves less clearly identifiable
traces of deliberate breakage.
Vuursteenvindplaatsen op de dekzand rug Sumar 118 nabij Burgum, gemeente Tytsjerksteradiel (= Antea Group Archeologie 2016/126)
[Heerenveen], 2018.
The skeleton of a moderately tall (height at the
withers ca. 137 cm) mare from a presumably
Frisian terp, now in the collection of the Fries
Landbouwmuseum in Eernewoude (province of
Friesland), was a part of an exhibition in the
Groninger Museum in 2013-2014. The horse was
14C-dated, with the calibrated result of 187 BC -
AD 25. The age of death of the mare was between
22-23 years. She was not butchered, nor had the
skin been removed. A special relationship obviously
existed between the mare and her owner(s),
which is evident due to the careful manner in
which she was buried. The same manner of burial
may be observed at two separate terp sites in the
province of Groningen for two other mares: an
undated mare from De Wierhuizen and a Middle-
Roman phase mare from Ezinge. The δ15N of the
terp horse in the Fries Landbouwmuseum and
those of two other terp horses are not enriched as
is the case in general for aurochs, cattle and sheep
bones from terp sites.
With English summary:
The hiatus of the 4th century AD in the terp region
During the 20th century, the population history of the terp region
of the northern Netherlands during the Migration Period
was hotly debated. The new idea that the different material
culture of the 5th century, compared to the Roman Iron Age,
indicates immigration by Anglo-Saxons was not accepted by
everyone, on nationalistic but also on theoretical grounds, since
there is no one-to-one relation between material culture and
ethnic identity.
This article summarizes and examines arguments and evidence.
Pottery research supports the idea that most of the terp
region was not inhabited during the 4th century, with some
exceptions such as Ezinge in the province of Groningen, and
Jelsum and Marssum in the province of Friesland. The hiatus is
especially clear when we compare coastal pottery to the pottery
of the inland Pleistocene region, where habitation and the development
of pottery style continued without interruption.
Overseeing all the evidence, it seems that the terp region,
especially the eastern part, the province of Groningen, was part
of a socio-cultural network that extended far into northwestern
Germany. Where habitation was uninterrupted within this
network, in northwestern Germany, northern Drenthe, and in
a small number of settlements in the terp region, pottery style
developed in largely the same way, often with decoration and
shapes in the style that is traditionally called Anglo-Saxon.
Newcomers from the Anglo-Saxon regions brought their own
pottery and other objects in the 5th century, but their pottery
resembled local pottery.
The socio-cultural network also appears from burial ritual.
The isolated burials and single bones from before the 4th century
clearly differ from the cemeteries with inhumations and
cremations that appear in the 5th century. However, already
in the 3rd century, there are indications of changing traditions.
Small cemeteries from that period are found near houses
in several settlements in the northern Netherlands and northwestern
Germany. In the course of the Migration Period, these
develop into mixed cemeteries that belong to settlements.
It can be concluded that the material culture and burial customs
of the northern Netherlands in the 5th century would not
have been very different if habitation had been continuous.
In 2013, a box containing archaeological objects (wood, human and animal bones, and potsherds) from the terp Hizzard was donated to the GIA. Analysis of the values of 14C, 13C and 15N in the human bones showed that the individual was a native of the terp region, and lived in the first half of the 2nd century BC. As far as osteological analysis can indicate, this seems to have been a relatively healthy male, between 30 and 50 years old. Most interesting is the presence of gnaw-marks on the bones, probably made by dogs: this might be the result of an excarnation process involving scavengers, as is thought to have been common in the terp area during this period.
The first results and an overview of the habitation phases were published in 1999, in Volume 1 of The Excavations at Wijnaldum. The ceramic assemblage, and its consequences for the habitation history of Wijnaldum, are the main subjects of this second volume of The Excavations at Wijnaldum.
Nieuwe opgravingen leveren nog steeds nieuwe inzichten op, en dat geldt ook voor nieuwe onder-zoeks¬vragen die naar aanleiding van oude vondsten en opgravingsresultaten worden gesteld. Dat laatste heeft de laatste jaren veel nieuws gebracht. De belevings- en denkwereld van mensen in het verleden wordt een steeds belangrijker studie¬terrein. Aan de hand van archeologische resten blijken we daar meer over te weten kunnen komen dan in het verleden ooit voor mogelijk is gehouden.
Dit boek is een van de resultaten van het Waddenfondsproject Terpen- en Wierdenland. Het is gewijd aan de huidige stand van zaken in de moderne terp/wierdearcheologie en landschaps-geschiedenis. Het brengt de laatste inzichten uit het onderzoek naar het ontstaan van het landschap, het dagelijks leven van de terp/wierdebewoners, sociaal-politieke ontwikkelingen, en de veranderingen die plaatsvonden na de middeleeuwse bedijkingen. Zes dorpen fungeren daarbij als case-studies: Wijnaldum, Firdgum en Hallum in Friesland, en Ulrum, Warffum en Godlinze in Groningen. Samen geven ze een prachtig beeld van de archeologie en de landschapsgeschiedenis van het kustgebied van Noord-Nederland.
Verkrijgbaar via www.terpenonderzoek.nl
Deze bundel geeft in vijfentwintig uiteenlopende bijdragen een inkijkje in de wereld van de archeologie zoals die op dit moment wordt beoefend door amateurs en professionele archeologen. De nadruk ligt op de archeologie van Noord-Nederland van paleolithicum tot en met middeleeuwen, maar er zijn ook bijdragen die over de grenzen kijken, naar Zuid-Nederland, Frankrijk, Duitsland en zelfs China. Het boek is opgedragen aan een van de meest invloedrijke archeologen in de Noord-Nederlandse archeologie van dit moment, dr. Ernst Taayke, ter gelegenheid van zijn afscheid als beheerder van het Noordelijk Archeologisch Depot in Nuis.
With English summaries.
ISBN 9789081171489
De Vereniging voor Terpenonderzoek bestaat in 2016 honderd jaar. Ter gelegenheid daarvan verscheen in november van dit jaar een jubileumboek. In deze rijk geïllustreerde uitgave wordt in veertien bijdragen een overzicht gegeven van de archeologie van het terpen- en wierdengebied van Noord-Nederland. In ruime zin, want ook in de Noordoostpolder blijken ooit terpen te hebben gelegen. Aan bod komen onder meer de eerste kolonisten van het kweldergebied, de leegloop van de vierde eeuw, het ontstaan van dorpen in de middeleeuwen, de voedselvoorziening, het onderzoek naar aardewerk, schoenen en goud, en de geschiedenis van het onderzoek.
Abstract: Between 1923 and 1934, a large area of the terp of Ezinge in the Reitdiep area of the province of Groningen was excavated by the Biological-Archaeological Institute (now GIA), led by A.E. van Giffen. The excavation generated a great deal of interest within the Netherlands and abroad. In Ezinge it became clear for the first time that people did not live in primitive huts during the Iron Age and Roman period. Many large farmhouses were found, which could house large numbers of livestock. The finds and new information from the excavations were so extensive that they have never been analysed and published in full. Ezinge is one of many sites in the Netherlands that were excavated in the twentieth century but never fully published. Within the Odyssey programme of The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Groningen Institute of Archaeology was awarded a one-year grant for the purpose of analysing and publishing the Ezinge finds. This research, carried out in 2011, was led by Annet Nieuwhof. The final publication of the research project came out in june 2014. In the book, the hand-shaped pottery and the Roman and early-mediaeval wheel-thrown pottery, the metal and stone objects, the beads, and the human and animal remains are described and interpreted in the context of settlement history. The book is available from the Association for Terp Research, www.terpenonderzoek.nl.
With contributions by: Wil van Bommel-van der Sluijs, Harry Huisman, Lykke Johansen, Egge Knol, Susanne Manuel, Annet Nieuwhof, Mirjam Post, Wietske Prummel, Dick Stapert, Sophie Thasing, Tineke B. Volkers and Inger Woltinge.
Between 1923 and 1934, excavations were carried out in the terp settlement of Ezinge by one of the founding fathers of Dutch archaeology, A.E. van Giffen. Ezinge is located in the coastal area of the northern Netherlands, a former salt marsh area. It is one of many terps that are found in this region: artificial dwelling mounds, which once protected their residents against floods. A terp started with one or several houses built on separate platforms, which clustered as they were heightened, developing into single larger mounds. The terp of Ezinge ultimately reached a height of 5.5 m and covered 16 ha, about 10% of which was archaeologically excavated in 22 levels.
Ezinge became famous because of the well-preserved remains of 85 longhouses, dating from the 5th century BC until the early middle ages. The lower parts of wooden buildings often were still preserved in situ, revealing the structure of these 3-aisled, two-partite houses with built-in byres.
Excellent preservation, also of pottery and bone, enabled not only a thorough investigation of the material culture, but also of ritual practice in this settlement. This investigation was carried out only recently, between 2011 and 2015. This paper will present some of the results of the study of ritual practice. It will discuss the ways in which rituals were related to various stages of the life cycle of a house: raising the house platform, building the house, living in it and finally abandoning the house. A conspicuous element of ritual practice was the burial of human remains in and near houses. It will be argued that burying the remains of deceased family members created ancestral grounds and also made people feel at home. Single inhumations and single bones (probably the remainders of the dead which were collected after a process of excarnation) were both used that way.
Ritual practice associated with houses changed over time. It was influenced by internal developments, especially population growth, which caused changes in the layout of the settlement and competition for the available space on the terp.
Het archeologisch onderzoek naar de bewoningsgeschiedenis van Hogebeintum begon in het begin van de 20ste eeuw, tijdens de afgravingen van de terp. Daarbij ging veel verloren, maar er werden ook veel vondsten verzameld en overgedragen aan het Fries Museum. Conservator P.C.J.A. Boeles registreerde de vondsten in
het vondstenregister, de zogenaamde Terpenboeken. Vanaf het moment dat er een vroegmiddeleeuws graf veld aan het licht kwam, liet Boeles toezicht houden op de afgravingen. Hoewel dat toezicht veel te wensen
overliet, betekende het toch een voor die tijd ongekende toename van vondsten en kennis. De vondsten van Hogebeintum brachten Boeles tot zijn hypothese van de Angelsaksische immigratie, nog altijd een van de hot items van de Noord-Nederlandse archeologie. Veel vragen zijn echter nog onbeantwoord, bijvoorbeeld: waarom is die terp eigenlijk zo hoog, en wanneer bereikte de terp deze hoogte? Die vragen kunnen niet beantwoord worden door de verzamelde vondsten te onderzoeken. Daarvoor is nieuw archeologisch onderzoek nodig. Aangezien het grootste deel van de terp is weggegraven en de restanten overbouwd zijn met wegen en gebouwen, is gravend archeologisch onderzoek
in Hogebeintum praktisch gezien vrijwel onmogelijk. Bovendien is de terp een wettelijk beschermd monument.
De kans om toch onderzoek te doen in het hoogste deel van de terp deed zich voor in 2015, toen de toren werd gestabiliseerd. Op voorstel van de Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed werden de noodzakelijke
ingrepen in de ondergrond gecombineerd met enkele diepe boringen met een doorsnede van 10 centimeter. Daar werd door een team van specialisten zoveel mogelijk onderzoek aan gedaan. Ook de werkzaamheden binnen het kerkgebouw en de toren gingen gepaard met archeologisch onderzoek, met nieuwe gegevens als resultaat.
In dit boek is oud en nieuw onderzoek bij elkaar gebracht. Overlap tussen de hoofdstukken was onvermijdelijk; de afgraving van de terp bijvoorbeeld komt in alle hoofdstukken ter sprake. De volgorde van de verschillende hoofdstukken is in zekere zin chronologisch: ze gaan terug in de tijd, van het recente onderzoek van 2015 naar het oudere onderzoek uit de tijd van de afgravingen. Na een inleidend hoofdstuk over de kerk en de toren, waarin ook de aanleiding en de uitvoering van de werkzaamheden aan de toren in 2015 worden beschreven, volgt het verslag van het onderzoek in het kerkgebouw. Het lange derde hoofdstuk, waaraan maar liefst vijftien auteurs hebben meegeschreven, beschrijft het onderzoek aan de boorkolommen en het geofysisch onderzoek dat tegelijkertijd is uitgevoerd in Hogebeintum, en betrekt daarbij ook eerder uitgevoerd booronderzoek. De hier en daar zeer technische paragrafen monden uit in een synthese, waarin alle
verhaallijnen bij elkaar komen en de ontwikkeling van de terp wordt geschetst.
Hierna gaan we naar de tijd van de afgravingen. In het eerste van twee hoofdstukken daarover wordt de gang van zaken tijdens de afgravingen besproken. Het tweede is gewijd aan het vroegmiddeleeuwse grafveld
dat tijdens de afgravingen aan het licht kwam; in de bijgevoegde catalogus worden eindelijk, na meer dan een eeuw, de vondsten uit grafveld zo volledig mogelijk beschreven, en zodoende gered van de vergetelheid.
Met deze verscheidenheid aan hoofstukken en benaderingen biedt dit boek ook een mooi inkijkje in de keuken van de moderne archeologie. Graven en boren, archiefonderzoek, materiaalstudie, onderzoek naar
het landschap en de resten van planten en dieren, laboratoriumonderzoek, geofysisch onderzoek, archeologische monumentenzorg, berekeningen, statistiek en veel computerwerk horen daar allemaal bij. Dat resulteert in tabellen en grafieken, foto’s, tekeningen en kaarten, en uiteindelijk in op feiten gebaseerde verhalen over het verleden.