Papers by stijn arnoldussen
Grondsporen 75, 2024
Het onderhavige archeologische onderzoek heeft aangetoond dat de op hoogtekaarten zichtbare morfo... more Het onderhavige archeologische onderzoek heeft aangetoond dat de op hoogtekaarten zichtbare morfologische structuur inderdaad een raatakkercomplex betreft. Niet alleen is de vorm en grootte van de door wallen omsloten velden passend bij raatakkers elders, maar zowel de bodemopbouw als het aangetroffen cultureel materiaal wijzen op een gebruik als raatakker in de late prehistorie. Het aantreffen van mogelijke eergetouwkrassen in een wal is hierbij een ondersteunend argument. Verder heeft het veldonderzoek aangetoond dat de aanvankelijke veronderstellingen ten aanzien van de geogenetische context (‘gelegen in een Vechtmeander’) bijgesteld moeten worden. Hoewel in de diepere ondergrond fluviatiele afzettingen van de (paleo)Vecht zijn vastgesteld, wijzen de veldwaarnemingen (lithologie en geochemie) erop dat de raatakkerwallen van Hardenberg - Engelandse bos zijn opgericht in een stuifzandlandschap. Meest plausibel hierbij is dat materiaal uit de direct ten westen gelegen meanders van het oerstroomdal van de Vecht oostwaarts als een serie van paraboolruggen is afgezet. Het is op deze ruggen, dat in de late prehistorie (vermoedelijk vanaf de Late Bronstijd, maar mogelijk al eerder) dat akkers worden aangelegd en ruggen zich ontwikkelen.
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De Spieker, 2024
Tussen half mei en half juni waren 28 eerstejaarsstudenten archeologie weer actief op de leeropgr... more Tussen half mei en half juni waren 28 eerstejaarsstudenten archeologie weer actief op de leeropgraving te Klooster Yesse (Essen, Haren). Op het terrein van het cisterciënzer vrouwenklooster dat bestond tussen 1215 en 1594, leerden zij de veldtechnieken van de archeologie in de praktijk. it jaar werd tussen 13 mei en 9 juni opgegraven, waarbij er op diverse plaatsen in en rond de centrale clausuur (de kloostertuin met aangrenzende pandgangen en werkvertrekken) werd opgegraven. De belangrijkste vragen van dit jaar waren gericht op de vroegste bewoningsperioden van Yesse. In 2022 werd namelijk een houten paal aangetroffen die onder de steenbouwfase tevoorschijn kwam en te dateren was tussen 1047 en 1215 AD. Was dit de enige paal of waren er meer? Zou dit een houtbouwfase kunnen zijn die voorafging aan het klooster? En betreft het dan een boerderij of een houten clausuur?
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Environmental Archaeology, 2024
185 pairs of δ 13 C and δ 15 N values for aurochs, cattle and sheep bones from the northern Nethe... more 185 pairs of δ 13 C and δ 15 N values for aurochs, cattle and sheep bones from the northern Netherlands were studied to establish the influence of salt marsh grazing on bone δ 13 C and δ 15 N values. The observed values proved significantly increased compared to livestock that grazed inland. The δ 13 C and δ 15 N 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 δ 13 C increase in bones of animals grazing there. The δ 15 N values of ruminants grazing the embanked salt marshes continued to be increased, presumably due to persisting saline water at shallow depths. The δ 13 C values of the salt marsh grazing ruminants correspond with a δ 13 C increase of 5‰ compared to eleven modern salt marsh plants from Schiermonnikoog studied in this paper. The δ 15 N values of the eleven Schiermonnikoog salt marsh plants proved variable, on average too low to explain the observed 3.5‰ increase in δ 15 N values. This suggests that vegetation δ 15 N values cannot be the only cause of the high δ 15 N values observed in salt marsh ruminants. Other processes may be responsible for the high δ 15 N values of salt marsh grazing ruminants as well.
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Die Kunde, 2021
In this article we describe the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age deposits from Nieuw-Weerdinge (Net... more In this article we describe the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age deposits from Nieuw-Weerdinge (Netherlands) and Getelo (Germany), each containing two identically shaped knobbed bronze arm rings. These arm rings were already found in the 19th (Getelo) and early 20th (Nieuw-Weerdinge) centuries. The bracelets from Nieuw-Weerdinge have a dark brown patina, those from Getelo a glossy dark green patina. In this contribution their find conditions are stated and parallels discussed. Zusammenfassung In diesem Artikel werden die spätbronzezeitlichen/früheisenzeitlichen Fundstellen von Nieuw-Weerdinge (Niederlande) und Getelo (Deutschland) beschrieben, die jeweils zwei identisch geformte Armringe aus Bronze mit Knauf enthalten. Diese Armringe wurden bereits im 19. (Getelo) und frühen 20. Jahrhundert (Nieuw-Weerdinge) gefunden. Die Armringe aus Nieuw-Weerdinge haben eine dunkelbraune Patina, die aus Getelo eine glänzende dunkelgrüne Patina. In diesem Beitrag werden die Fundbedingungen genannt und Parallelen diskutiert.
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Tijdschrift van de Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, 2024
De naam zegt het al. Onze voorouders in de bronstijd gebruikten van alles dat van brons vervaardi... more De naam zegt het al. Onze voorouders in de bronstijd gebruikten van alles dat van brons vervaardigd is, bijlen, zwaarden, armbanden. Maar in Nederland zit er geen koper in en tin in de grond, waar je dit metaal van maakt. Hoe kwamen deze prehistorische mensen aan hun brons? Dat wordt nu uitgezocht.
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Paleohistoria 63/64 , 2022
In this contribution, we discuss the nearly two hundred later prehistoric pins from bronze and ir... more In this contribution, we discuss the nearly two hundred later prehistoric pins from bronze and iron that were found in the Netherlands, and range in date between the Late Neolithic and the Late Iron Age (2200-250 BCE). For all these pins, we provide information on form, dimensions and decoration, that help to identify local and supra-regional styles in dress-fasteners. Production techniques and compositions of the bronze alloys used are-where available-also discussed. The diachronic and systematic review of their contexts of recovery and object associations, allow to identify diachronic trends in pin use and pin deposition, which means that both local and supra-regional traditions in identity expression using pins can be identified.
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Beyond Urnfields. New Perspectives on Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age Funerary Practices in Northwest Europe, (Schriften des Museums für Archäologie Schloss Gottorf, Ergänzungsreihe 16),, 2023
For a series of 13 urnfields from the northern Netherlands, the roles of 'accessory vessels' in t... more For a series of 13 urnfields from the northern Netherlands, the roles of 'accessory vessels' in the urnfield funerary rites are studied. We propose that these accessory vessels were most likely used as drinking cups. While in some cases the fact that these drinking cups were interred with the human remains (in or without an urn) could suggest that these were personal items of the deceased, we argue that most cups recovered belonged to people attending the funeral. Based on the numbers (often more than one), the contexts in which these were recovered (often in the monuments' ditches or in pits beyond these) and their state (deliberately destroyed or placed inverted), we see these cups as reflecting rites offarewell or commemoration by the mourners. With handled cups, frequently the handle was removed prior to deposition, and the destruction of the vessel's base was common with cups of all types. These acts suggest a deliberate decommissioning ofdrinking cups as part ofthe urnfieldfunerary rites in the northern Netherlands.
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Arnoldussen, S., Huisman, D.J., Geer, P. van de, Kleijne, J.P. & Os, B. van 2023. Shiny and strange: the introduction of glass in Dutch Later Prehistory in: Arnoldussen, S., Leije, J. van & Vries, K.M. de (eds.), Metaaltijden 10. Leiden: Sidestone, 115-140. Metaaltijden 10. Bijdragen in de studie van de Metaaltijden, 2023
Dutch ornament traditions in the Neolithic period focused on strung beads of amber, jet, stone an... more Dutch ornament traditions in the Neolithic period focused on strung beads of amber, jet, stone and bone (e.g. Piena & Drenth 2001; Van Gijn 2006; Verschoof 2011; DeVriendt 2013, 118-121). These materials remained in use for ornaments during the Bronze Age (2000-800 BCE) in the Netherlands, as is clear from finds of amber (Butler 1990, 48-68), jet (Van der Wal & Vermeulen 2021, 64-65) and bone ornaments (e.g. Glasbergen 1954, 103; Verwers 1966, 29; Lanting et al. 2000, 82) in funerary contexts. In the course of the Bronze Age, settlement finds indicate that the selection of raw materials used for ornaments is expanded with for example beads of copper, tin and lead (e.g. Butler & Hielkema 2002, 541-544: Van der Sanden & van Os 2021, 46), albeit that ornaments in both bone (e.g. Van Dijk et al. 2002, 593-595) and amber (e.g. Vons 1970; Kleijne 2015, 67) continued to be crafted as well.
In addition to new metals being incorporated into ornament traditions, other new materials are introduced as well. Amongst these, segmented beads of faience already get added to the repertoire around the 17th century BCE (cf. Van Heeringen 1978; Haverman & Sheridan 2006; Bulten & Boonstra 2013), presumably as part of the North Sea maritory exchange network (cf. Sheridan & Shortland 2004, esp. 369-270; Needham 2009). Presumably several centuries later, glass gets added as well. While glass (pyro)technology - used for ornaments - is extant in the Near East since final 3rd millennium BCE (e.g. Willvonseder 1937, 91; Nicholson & Henderson 2000; Shortland 2009; Henderson 2013, 3), it is produced in a regular and controlled manner in Egypt from the 16th century onwards (Shortland 2007, 261) with historic sources for both production (cf. Oppenheim et al. 1970) and consumption (in elite networks; Moran 1992, 235; 293; 347; 351-352; 355).
It is interesting to query at which point in time glass ornaments were introduced to north-west Europe Bronze Age communities. Rare Early Bronze Age associations may be the green glass bead reported by Piggott (1939, 193) found with three bronze daggers and a cremation in the Kerguevarec Breton tumulus. A well-furnished Aunjetitz grave at Wachberg (Melk, Austria) yielded a blue glass bead (Beninger 1935, 144; Willvonseder 1937, 91). By the 15th-14th century BCE, glass finds are known from different parts of Germany (Varberg et al. 2015, 174), as shown by the 15th century blue glass and amber beads from Schwarza (Ebner 2001, 99) and the 13th century Neustrelitz hoard (comprising 20 amber and 180 blue glass beads; Mildner et al. 2010, 44-45). As Varberg (et al. 2015, 175) could list at least seven examples of Per. II (1500-1300 BCE) blue glass beads from Danish funerary contexts, it is reasonable to assume that Dutch Bronze Age communities could have access to glass ornaments by the second half of the Dutch Middle Bronze Age (1500-1100 BCE).
In what follows, we will contextualize glass ornaments from Dutch later prehistory (2000-12 BCE; Bronze Age up to Late Iron Age) in the light of these wider European trends, with special attention to the chronology, the (functional) ways in which glass used in ornament traditions, the state and context of their deposition and (shifts in) composition and glass technology. In this, we decidedly not strive to present or discuss complete corpora, but rather provide and discuss a representative sample of glass ornaments that allows discussion of the aforementioned topics. First, a period-by-period overview is offered of representative glass ornaments for the temporal scope proposed, after which an integrated and diachronic synthesis of their composition is presented.
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Archaeological Prospection, 2022
This paper discusses how the use of AI (artificial intelligence) detected later prehistoric field... more This paper discusses how the use of AI (artificial intelligence) detected later prehistoric field systems provides a more reliable base for reconstructing palaeodemographic trends, using the Netherlands as a case study. Despite its long tradition of settlement excavations, models that could be used to reconstruct (changes in) prehistoric land use have been few and often relied on (insufficiently mapped) nodal data points such as settlements and barrows. We argue that prehistoric field systems of field plots beset on all sides by earthen banks—known as Celtic fields—are a more suitable (i.e. less nodal) proxy for reconstructing later prehistoric land use.
For four 32.25 km2 case study areas in different geogenetic regions of the Netherlands, prehistoric land use surface areas are modelled based on conventional methods and the results are compared to the results we obtained by using AI-assisted detection of prehistoric field systems. The nationally available LiDAR data were used for automated detection. Geotiff DTM images were fed into an object detection algorithm (based on the YOLOv4 framework and trained with known Dutch sites), and resultant geospatial vectors were imported into GIS.
Our analysis shows that AI-assisted detection of prehistoric embanked field systems on average leads to a factor 1.84 increase in known surface areas of Celtic fields. Modelling the numbers of occupants from this spatial coverage, yields population sizes of 37–135 persons for the case study regions (i.e. 1.15 to 4.19 p/km2). This range aligns well with previous estimates and offers a more robust and representative proxy for palaeodemographic reconstructions. Variations in land use coverage between the regions could be explained by differences in present-day land use and research intensity. Particularly the regionally different extent of forestlands and heathlands (ideal for the (a) preservation and (b) automated LiDAR detection of embanked field systems) explains minor variations between the four case study regions.
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De l'Escaut au Nil. Bric-a-brac en hommage à Eugène Warmenbol à l'occasion de son 65e anniversaire, 2022
Gold is a rarity in archaeological research, and its prehistoric presence is often used to infer ... more Gold is a rarity in archaeological research, and its prehistoric presence is often used to infer the existence of persons of extraordinary standing (Warmenbol 2004: 208 & 219). It therefore is a fitting topic to congratulate a colleague that we hold in extraordinary regard; our questions to Eugène on the Later Prehistoric archaeology and bronze artefacts of Belgium were never posed in vain and his constructive comments on our publications never missed their mark. In his honor, we present an overview of the prehistoric gold from the Late Neolithic up to the Early Iron Age from the Netherlands – another case in point of how we could build on foundations put in place by Eugène (esp. Warmenbol 1989: 509; Warmenbol 2004). An open access dataset comprising the full descriptions for the individual objects can be found here: https://doi.org/10.34894/8SQK5F.
In this contribution we have discussed the few but notable gold finds datable from the Late Neolithic up to Early Iron Age from the Netherlands. Despite being low in numbers, a few trends come to the fore: both around 2300-2000 BCE and 1600-1400 BCE, gold ornaments are used in funerary context as markers of a special social standing, possibly related to interregional contacts and/or martial identities. The position of gold ornaments in both horizon 1 and 2 suggest that these are head-decorations, possible wrapped around locks or breads of hair, with the possible exception of the diadem (or neckring?) of Ede – Bennekom. In horizon 3, gold ornaments are no longer placed solely in graves, but – akin to their bronze counterparts – also deposited in wetland locations in the landscape. In this period, their association to weaponry (apart obviously of the gold inlay of the Oss sword; Van der Vaart-Verschoof 2017a: 122-124) appears to be lost, and small-diameter gold and gilded rings of unknown original usage (nose? ear? hair?) are added to cremated remains in urnfield period ceramic vessels. Their scarce occurrence in such contexts, suggests that gold had lost nothing of its exclusivity over the ages.
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Terra Westerwolda. Tijdschrift voor de geschiedenis van Westerwolde, 2022
Grondradaronderzoek rond
Museum Klooster Ter Apel
Historische kring Ter Apel
Bij de afronding v... more Grondradaronderzoek rond
Museum Klooster Ter Apel
Historische kring Ter Apel
Bij de afronding van de restauratie van het klooster in Ter Apel in 1933
werden ten noordoosten van de huidige ingang onverwachts funderingsresten
gevonden van een bouwwerk van 15 x 20 meter. Op dat moment was die
vondst een onaangename verrassing, want het beschikbare restauratiebudget
was reeds verbruikt. Bovendien moest restauratie versneld afgerond worden
opdat de minister van Onderwijs, Kunst en Wetenschappen het gerestaureerde
klooster hoogstpersoonlijk zou kunnen openen. Zeer waarschijnlijk zijn
daarom de funderingsresten vlot weer uit het zicht gewerkt en werd daarna
nimmer archeologisch en/of bouwhistorisch onderzoek verricht.
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Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2022
Using a corpus of over 370 compositional analyses of Dutch Bronze Age and Iron Age (c. 2000 BCE A... more Using a corpus of over 370 compositional analyses of Dutch Bronze Age and Iron Age (c. 2000 BCE AD 0) copper alloy artefacts, long-term patterns in the types of alloys used for specific bronze objects are identified. As the Low Countries are devoid of copper ores and alloying elements, a combination of typo(chrono)logical and compositional analysis is used to identify through which European contact networks (such as Atlantic, Central European or Nordic exchange networks) these alloys were obtained. We employ a methodology that (following Bray et al., 2015) defines alloy groups by presence of As, Sb, Ag and Ni over 0.1 %wt, but expanded this classification to include Pb and to track high-impurity (>1%wt) alloys. Due to interfering soil-derived iron hydroxides, and preferent dissolution of copper from the objects' surface, the determination of tin is in most cases overestimated when using p-XRF, so Sn was not systematically reviewed. Objects were assigned a calendar age in years BCE to facilitate chronological sorting. Using this classification, we could show how different alloys (using different base ores) were used in different periods, and in different combinations. Moreover, particular alloys were used for different groups of functional types of objects. Also, we show diachronic differences in the influx of new (or less frequently mixed) alloys and chronological trends in the substitution of As by Sn as main alloying element in the Early Bronze Age as well as the rise of leaded alloys at the close of the Bronze Age. Combining information on the composition of the objects with their typological traits, allowed us to reconstruct the scales and geographic scopes of the European contact networks in which the copper alloys used throughout later prehistory were obtained.
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Arnoldussen, S., J.E. Fries, H. Groenendijk, M. Heumüller, H. Peeters & W. Vuijk, 2022, De verdwenen Eems, een participatieproject in het grensgebied, Palaeo-aktueel 32, 101-107. Paleo-AKtueel 32, 2022
The lost Ems, a participatory project in the border region
Since 2017, the GIA and NLD have condu... more The lost Ems, a participatory project in the border region
Since 2017, the GIA and NLD have conducted joint research into a fossil branch of the river Ems between Landegge (Ldkr. Emsland) and Sellingen (prov. Groningen), where this branch merged with the Runde system as the Ruiten Aa/Westerwoldsche Aa. As its flanking river dunes were intensively exploited by farming communities up to the middle/late Iron Age, this string of settlements became an umbilical cord linking the Westerwolde region with the Ems bank, especially after accelerated peat growth intensified the barrier posed by the Bourtanger Moor.
Mapping the fossil river, its regime and riverbank occupation as well as its abandonment
goes hand-in-hand with involving today’s landowners and local residents, explaining to them that there is more to the supposedly poor cultural history of this hinterland zone than the era of peatbog exploitation and the Emslandlager during WWII.
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PALEO-AKTUEEL 32, 2022
A Bronze Age palstave found at Emmen
In 2019, a Bronze Age palstave was found in a field west of ... more A Bronze Age palstave found at Emmen
In 2019, a Bronze Age palstave was found in a field west of Emmen by a father-and-son team of metal detectorists. In agreement with the landowner, the find was reported to PAN. During the process of conservation, the opportunity presented itself to study the alloy using pXRF analysis. This suggested that the copper ores used in the bronze alloy ultimately derived from Swiss or Slovakian mines, but that the metal was cast locally into a form well-known in the sandy regions of the Low Countries. A review of the find in its topographical and cultural context indicated that it – like various other items in the Bronze Age – had been deposited in (the margin of) wetland parts of the landscape, not far from a contemporaneous settlement.
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Arnoldussen, S., C.van der Veer, B. van Os, N Bottema-Mac Gillavry, G.J.M. van Oortmerssen & H. Steegstra, 2022, The broken beauty of Benschop: A Late Bronze Age spearhead with wooden shaft and peg, in: Metaaltijden 9. Bijdragen in de studie van de metaaltijden, Leiden: Sidestone press, 25-36. Metaaltijden 9, 2022
Arnoldussen, S., C.van der Veer, B. van Os, N Bottema-Mac Gillavry, G.J.M. van Oortmerssen & H. S... more Arnoldussen, S., C.van der Veer, B. van Os, N Bottema-Mac Gillavry, G.J.M. van Oortmerssen & H. Steegstra, 2022, The broken beauty of Benschop: A Late Bronze Age spearhead with wooden shaft and peg, in: J. van der Leije, E.H.L.D. Norde, B.J.W. Steffens & N. de Vries (eds.), Metaaltijden 9. Bijdragen in de studie van de metaaltijden, Leiden: Sidestone press, 25-36.
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Bronze Age artefacts in PAN: numbers and contexts Amongst the over fifty-thousand finds registere... more Bronze Age artefacts in PAN: numbers and contexts Amongst the over fifty-thousand finds registered, 113 Bronze Age bronze items have been documented. After weeding out a few cases that were attributed to the Bronze Age erroneously or whose date range was too wide, a total of 93 items is discussed here.
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Sinds de start van de PAN-projecten zijn bijna twee-honderd bronstijdvoorwerpen ontsloten geraakt... more Sinds de start van de PAN-projecten zijn bijna twee-honderd bronstijdvoorwerpen ontsloten geraakt. Het grootste deel hiervan omvat metaaldetector-vondsten die in recente jaren zijn gedaan. De diver-siteit aan vondsten in PAN is opvallend. Zowel sie-raden, wapens als werktuigen zijn goed vertegen-woordigd. Het is opvallend maar begrijpelijk dat bijlen vrijwel de helft van de dataset beslaan. Ener-zijds heeft dat te maken met hun grootte en volume aan brons, waardoor deze voorwerpen relatief makkelijk door moderne metaaldetectoren worden opgepikt. Anderzijds wijzen de vele bijlvondsten erop dat ook in het verleden dit het meest voorko-mende type bronzen werktuig moet zijn geweest. De veelzijdige toepasbaarheid van de bijl – te ge-bruiken voor bosbeheer, timmerwerk, haardhout hakken, huisbouw en zo nodig als wapen – leidde ertoe dat in de loop van de tijd vele uitvoeringen en verbeteringen van dit werktuigtype zijn ont-wikkeld. Het is dan ook niet toevallig dat de basis-indeling van de prehistorie – in een steentijd, een bronstijd en een ijzertijd – vooral gestoeld is op de grondstof voor bijlen!
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Paleo-Aktueel, 2020
On the shoulders of giants: the archaeology of northwestern Europe From its founding in 1918, the... more On the shoulders of giants: the archaeology of northwestern Europe From its founding in 1918, the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut has carried out research on stone-age hunter-gatherers, the start and the development of prehistoric farming communities, burial mounds and settlements on the sandy soils, and the occupation of the terp-mound district. This article presents the highlights of a century-long research history and identifies current developments.
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Scottish Archaeological Journal, 2016
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Papers by stijn arnoldussen
In addition to new metals being incorporated into ornament traditions, other new materials are introduced as well. Amongst these, segmented beads of faience already get added to the repertoire around the 17th century BCE (cf. Van Heeringen 1978; Haverman & Sheridan 2006; Bulten & Boonstra 2013), presumably as part of the North Sea maritory exchange network (cf. Sheridan & Shortland 2004, esp. 369-270; Needham 2009). Presumably several centuries later, glass gets added as well. While glass (pyro)technology - used for ornaments - is extant in the Near East since final 3rd millennium BCE (e.g. Willvonseder 1937, 91; Nicholson & Henderson 2000; Shortland 2009; Henderson 2013, 3), it is produced in a regular and controlled manner in Egypt from the 16th century onwards (Shortland 2007, 261) with historic sources for both production (cf. Oppenheim et al. 1970) and consumption (in elite networks; Moran 1992, 235; 293; 347; 351-352; 355).
It is interesting to query at which point in time glass ornaments were introduced to north-west Europe Bronze Age communities. Rare Early Bronze Age associations may be the green glass bead reported by Piggott (1939, 193) found with three bronze daggers and a cremation in the Kerguevarec Breton tumulus. A well-furnished Aunjetitz grave at Wachberg (Melk, Austria) yielded a blue glass bead (Beninger 1935, 144; Willvonseder 1937, 91). By the 15th-14th century BCE, glass finds are known from different parts of Germany (Varberg et al. 2015, 174), as shown by the 15th century blue glass and amber beads from Schwarza (Ebner 2001, 99) and the 13th century Neustrelitz hoard (comprising 20 amber and 180 blue glass beads; Mildner et al. 2010, 44-45). As Varberg (et al. 2015, 175) could list at least seven examples of Per. II (1500-1300 BCE) blue glass beads from Danish funerary contexts, it is reasonable to assume that Dutch Bronze Age communities could have access to glass ornaments by the second half of the Dutch Middle Bronze Age (1500-1100 BCE).
In what follows, we will contextualize glass ornaments from Dutch later prehistory (2000-12 BCE; Bronze Age up to Late Iron Age) in the light of these wider European trends, with special attention to the chronology, the (functional) ways in which glass used in ornament traditions, the state and context of their deposition and (shifts in) composition and glass technology. In this, we decidedly not strive to present or discuss complete corpora, but rather provide and discuss a representative sample of glass ornaments that allows discussion of the aforementioned topics. First, a period-by-period overview is offered of representative glass ornaments for the temporal scope proposed, after which an integrated and diachronic synthesis of their composition is presented.
For four 32.25 km2 case study areas in different geogenetic regions of the Netherlands, prehistoric land use surface areas are modelled based on conventional methods and the results are compared to the results we obtained by using AI-assisted detection of prehistoric field systems. The nationally available LiDAR data were used for automated detection. Geotiff DTM images were fed into an object detection algorithm (based on the YOLOv4 framework and trained with known Dutch sites), and resultant geospatial vectors were imported into GIS.
Our analysis shows that AI-assisted detection of prehistoric embanked field systems on average leads to a factor 1.84 increase in known surface areas of Celtic fields. Modelling the numbers of occupants from this spatial coverage, yields population sizes of 37–135 persons for the case study regions (i.e. 1.15 to 4.19 p/km2). This range aligns well with previous estimates and offers a more robust and representative proxy for palaeodemographic reconstructions. Variations in land use coverage between the regions could be explained by differences in present-day land use and research intensity. Particularly the regionally different extent of forestlands and heathlands (ideal for the (a) preservation and (b) automated LiDAR detection of embanked field systems) explains minor variations between the four case study regions.
In this contribution we have discussed the few but notable gold finds datable from the Late Neolithic up to Early Iron Age from the Netherlands. Despite being low in numbers, a few trends come to the fore: both around 2300-2000 BCE and 1600-1400 BCE, gold ornaments are used in funerary context as markers of a special social standing, possibly related to interregional contacts and/or martial identities. The position of gold ornaments in both horizon 1 and 2 suggest that these are head-decorations, possible wrapped around locks or breads of hair, with the possible exception of the diadem (or neckring?) of Ede – Bennekom. In horizon 3, gold ornaments are no longer placed solely in graves, but – akin to their bronze counterparts – also deposited in wetland locations in the landscape. In this period, their association to weaponry (apart obviously of the gold inlay of the Oss sword; Van der Vaart-Verschoof 2017a: 122-124) appears to be lost, and small-diameter gold and gilded rings of unknown original usage (nose? ear? hair?) are added to cremated remains in urnfield period ceramic vessels. Their scarce occurrence in such contexts, suggests that gold had lost nothing of its exclusivity over the ages.
Museum Klooster Ter Apel
Historische kring Ter Apel
Bij de afronding van de restauratie van het klooster in Ter Apel in 1933
werden ten noordoosten van de huidige ingang onverwachts funderingsresten
gevonden van een bouwwerk van 15 x 20 meter. Op dat moment was die
vondst een onaangename verrassing, want het beschikbare restauratiebudget
was reeds verbruikt. Bovendien moest restauratie versneld afgerond worden
opdat de minister van Onderwijs, Kunst en Wetenschappen het gerestaureerde
klooster hoogstpersoonlijk zou kunnen openen. Zeer waarschijnlijk zijn
daarom de funderingsresten vlot weer uit het zicht gewerkt en werd daarna
nimmer archeologisch en/of bouwhistorisch onderzoek verricht.
Since 2017, the GIA and NLD have conducted joint research into a fossil branch of the river Ems between Landegge (Ldkr. Emsland) and Sellingen (prov. Groningen), where this branch merged with the Runde system as the Ruiten Aa/Westerwoldsche Aa. As its flanking river dunes were intensively exploited by farming communities up to the middle/late Iron Age, this string of settlements became an umbilical cord linking the Westerwolde region with the Ems bank, especially after accelerated peat growth intensified the barrier posed by the Bourtanger Moor.
Mapping the fossil river, its regime and riverbank occupation as well as its abandonment
goes hand-in-hand with involving today’s landowners and local residents, explaining to them that there is more to the supposedly poor cultural history of this hinterland zone than the era of peatbog exploitation and the Emslandlager during WWII.
In 2019, a Bronze Age palstave was found in a field west of Emmen by a father-and-son team of metal detectorists. In agreement with the landowner, the find was reported to PAN. During the process of conservation, the opportunity presented itself to study the alloy using pXRF analysis. This suggested that the copper ores used in the bronze alloy ultimately derived from Swiss or Slovakian mines, but that the metal was cast locally into a form well-known in the sandy regions of the Low Countries. A review of the find in its topographical and cultural context indicated that it – like various other items in the Bronze Age – had been deposited in (the margin of) wetland parts of the landscape, not far from a contemporaneous settlement.
In addition to new metals being incorporated into ornament traditions, other new materials are introduced as well. Amongst these, segmented beads of faience already get added to the repertoire around the 17th century BCE (cf. Van Heeringen 1978; Haverman & Sheridan 2006; Bulten & Boonstra 2013), presumably as part of the North Sea maritory exchange network (cf. Sheridan & Shortland 2004, esp. 369-270; Needham 2009). Presumably several centuries later, glass gets added as well. While glass (pyro)technology - used for ornaments - is extant in the Near East since final 3rd millennium BCE (e.g. Willvonseder 1937, 91; Nicholson & Henderson 2000; Shortland 2009; Henderson 2013, 3), it is produced in a regular and controlled manner in Egypt from the 16th century onwards (Shortland 2007, 261) with historic sources for both production (cf. Oppenheim et al. 1970) and consumption (in elite networks; Moran 1992, 235; 293; 347; 351-352; 355).
It is interesting to query at which point in time glass ornaments were introduced to north-west Europe Bronze Age communities. Rare Early Bronze Age associations may be the green glass bead reported by Piggott (1939, 193) found with three bronze daggers and a cremation in the Kerguevarec Breton tumulus. A well-furnished Aunjetitz grave at Wachberg (Melk, Austria) yielded a blue glass bead (Beninger 1935, 144; Willvonseder 1937, 91). By the 15th-14th century BCE, glass finds are known from different parts of Germany (Varberg et al. 2015, 174), as shown by the 15th century blue glass and amber beads from Schwarza (Ebner 2001, 99) and the 13th century Neustrelitz hoard (comprising 20 amber and 180 blue glass beads; Mildner et al. 2010, 44-45). As Varberg (et al. 2015, 175) could list at least seven examples of Per. II (1500-1300 BCE) blue glass beads from Danish funerary contexts, it is reasonable to assume that Dutch Bronze Age communities could have access to glass ornaments by the second half of the Dutch Middle Bronze Age (1500-1100 BCE).
In what follows, we will contextualize glass ornaments from Dutch later prehistory (2000-12 BCE; Bronze Age up to Late Iron Age) in the light of these wider European trends, with special attention to the chronology, the (functional) ways in which glass used in ornament traditions, the state and context of their deposition and (shifts in) composition and glass technology. In this, we decidedly not strive to present or discuss complete corpora, but rather provide and discuss a representative sample of glass ornaments that allows discussion of the aforementioned topics. First, a period-by-period overview is offered of representative glass ornaments for the temporal scope proposed, after which an integrated and diachronic synthesis of their composition is presented.
For four 32.25 km2 case study areas in different geogenetic regions of the Netherlands, prehistoric land use surface areas are modelled based on conventional methods and the results are compared to the results we obtained by using AI-assisted detection of prehistoric field systems. The nationally available LiDAR data were used for automated detection. Geotiff DTM images were fed into an object detection algorithm (based on the YOLOv4 framework and trained with known Dutch sites), and resultant geospatial vectors were imported into GIS.
Our analysis shows that AI-assisted detection of prehistoric embanked field systems on average leads to a factor 1.84 increase in known surface areas of Celtic fields. Modelling the numbers of occupants from this spatial coverage, yields population sizes of 37–135 persons for the case study regions (i.e. 1.15 to 4.19 p/km2). This range aligns well with previous estimates and offers a more robust and representative proxy for palaeodemographic reconstructions. Variations in land use coverage between the regions could be explained by differences in present-day land use and research intensity. Particularly the regionally different extent of forestlands and heathlands (ideal for the (a) preservation and (b) automated LiDAR detection of embanked field systems) explains minor variations between the four case study regions.
In this contribution we have discussed the few but notable gold finds datable from the Late Neolithic up to Early Iron Age from the Netherlands. Despite being low in numbers, a few trends come to the fore: both around 2300-2000 BCE and 1600-1400 BCE, gold ornaments are used in funerary context as markers of a special social standing, possibly related to interregional contacts and/or martial identities. The position of gold ornaments in both horizon 1 and 2 suggest that these are head-decorations, possible wrapped around locks or breads of hair, with the possible exception of the diadem (or neckring?) of Ede – Bennekom. In horizon 3, gold ornaments are no longer placed solely in graves, but – akin to their bronze counterparts – also deposited in wetland locations in the landscape. In this period, their association to weaponry (apart obviously of the gold inlay of the Oss sword; Van der Vaart-Verschoof 2017a: 122-124) appears to be lost, and small-diameter gold and gilded rings of unknown original usage (nose? ear? hair?) are added to cremated remains in urnfield period ceramic vessels. Their scarce occurrence in such contexts, suggests that gold had lost nothing of its exclusivity over the ages.
Museum Klooster Ter Apel
Historische kring Ter Apel
Bij de afronding van de restauratie van het klooster in Ter Apel in 1933
werden ten noordoosten van de huidige ingang onverwachts funderingsresten
gevonden van een bouwwerk van 15 x 20 meter. Op dat moment was die
vondst een onaangename verrassing, want het beschikbare restauratiebudget
was reeds verbruikt. Bovendien moest restauratie versneld afgerond worden
opdat de minister van Onderwijs, Kunst en Wetenschappen het gerestaureerde
klooster hoogstpersoonlijk zou kunnen openen. Zeer waarschijnlijk zijn
daarom de funderingsresten vlot weer uit het zicht gewerkt en werd daarna
nimmer archeologisch en/of bouwhistorisch onderzoek verricht.
Since 2017, the GIA and NLD have conducted joint research into a fossil branch of the river Ems between Landegge (Ldkr. Emsland) and Sellingen (prov. Groningen), where this branch merged with the Runde system as the Ruiten Aa/Westerwoldsche Aa. As its flanking river dunes were intensively exploited by farming communities up to the middle/late Iron Age, this string of settlements became an umbilical cord linking the Westerwolde region with the Ems bank, especially after accelerated peat growth intensified the barrier posed by the Bourtanger Moor.
Mapping the fossil river, its regime and riverbank occupation as well as its abandonment
goes hand-in-hand with involving today’s landowners and local residents, explaining to them that there is more to the supposedly poor cultural history of this hinterland zone than the era of peatbog exploitation and the Emslandlager during WWII.
In 2019, a Bronze Age palstave was found in a field west of Emmen by a father-and-son team of metal detectorists. In agreement with the landowner, the find was reported to PAN. During the process of conservation, the opportunity presented itself to study the alloy using pXRF analysis. This suggested that the copper ores used in the bronze alloy ultimately derived from Swiss or Slovakian mines, but that the metal was cast locally into a form well-known in the sandy regions of the Low Countries. A review of the find in its topographical and cultural context indicated that it – like various other items in the Bronze Age – had been deposited in (the margin of) wetland parts of the landscape, not far from a contemporaneous settlement.
Themes addressed in this book include (a) mapping and understanding field system morphologies at various scales, (b) the extraction of information on social processes from field system morphologies, (c) the relations between field systems and cultural and natural features of their environment, (d) time-depths and temporalities of usage, and (e) specifics of the underlying agricultural systems, with special attention to matters of continuity and resilience and relation to changing practices. The case-studies explore how to best approach such landscapes with traditional and novel methodologies and targeted research in order to enhance our knowledge further. The volume offers inspiration and guidance for the heritage management of fieldscapes heritage – not solely for future scholarly research but foremost to stimulate strategic guidance to frame and support improved protection of evidently vulnerable resources for Europe’s future. This volume is of interest to landscape archaeologists, fieldscape heritage managers and historians alike.
Door vigerende de ruimtelijke restricties, al ontstane schade aan het opgravingsvlak en de slechte conservering van de sporen, konden uit de aangetroffen grondsporen geen structuren of gebouwen worden gereconstrueerd. De afwezigheid van samenhangende patronen binnen de grondsporen – evenals de afwezigheid van grondsporen met een duidelijk gebruiksdoel, zoals graven of afvalkuilen – is het moeilijk een interpretatie te verbinden aan het gebruik van de locatie in het Midden-Neolithicum. We moeten volstaan met een typering als activiteitengebied, waarbij in ieder geval huidbewerking een rol speelde.
Het verzamelde vondstmateriaal is geanalyseerd en wijst op gebruik van de locatie in het Midden-Neolithicum door een groep van de Trechterbekercultuur en de (vroege) IJzertijd. Er zijn geen indicaties voor een continuïteit in de gebruikswijze van het terrein tussen het Midden-Neolithicum en de IJzertijd. Spaarzame vondsten wijzen erop dat het terrein in de periode van de Enkelgraf- en Klokbekerfasen alsook de (vroege) Bronstijd wel incidenteel bezocht werd. Celtic fields of andere indicatoren voor agrarisch gebruik van het terrein in de Late Prehistorie zijn niet aangetroffen.
U kunt ook lezen over ontdekkingen van bronstijdbijlen en een dolkkling van brons die mogelijk depositieslocaties in het landschap aanduiden, opgravingen van Belgische en Nederlandse ijzertijdnederzettingen, isotopen-analyses van ijzertijdindividuen en de rol van vaatwerk – maar ook dierlijke resten – als grafgift in de ijzertijd. Ook zijn er bijdragen over vondsten die wijzen op de kleinschalige productie van aardewerk en het bewerken van ijzer. Tezamen bieden deze bijdragen een kijkje in de keuken van het onderzoek naar huishoudens uit de brons- en ijzertijd.
De Metaaltijdendag is een initiatief van de Stichting Metaaltijdenonderzoek Nederland (SMON), die zo een breed platform wil bieden aan een ieder met belangstelling voor de laat-prehistorische samenlevingen. Om de verhalen zoveel mogelijk toegankelijk te maken, biedt de Stichting de gelegenheid de gehouden lezingen te publiceren in een bundel. In die zin vormt deze publicatie de verslaglegging van het jaarlijkse congres, maar ook andere bijdragen over de metaaltijden zijn welkom. Samengebracht in deze bundel raken de verhalen over, en interpretaties van, laat-prehistorische samenlevingen verbonden.
You are now holding the first issue of the series ‘Metaaltijden’, in which studies on later prehistoric communities from the Netherlands between 2000 BC and the Roman era are published. At this point, we want to briefly introduce the backgrounds to this publication, which will hopefully form the starting-point of an extensive set of issues within the series Metaaltijden.
In 2012, a diverse group of archaeologists employed in commercial units, municipalities, universities and the national heritage agency communally felt that a platform for presenting, discussing and disseminating knowledge on Bronze Age (c. 2000-800 BC) and Iron Age (c. 800-12 BC) communities was lacking. In contrast, annual conferences for Dutch stone age archaeology (Steentijddag, Leiden University) and the Roman Period (Romeinendag, Free University Amsterdam) have long-standing traditions. Those interested in Bronze- or Iron Age archaeology, however, had to travel south to the Belgian annual conference Lunula (CAM). It was decided that we would try to fill this void and organise a Dutch Bronze- and Iron age conference (Metaaltijdendag).
To this end, a foundation called ‘Stichting Metaaltijdenonderzoek Nederland’ was created whose primary objectives are to promote and support research of Bronze- and Iron Age communities in the Netherlands – and the primary means would be to organize an annual conference for the sharing and dissemination of research. The 18th of October 2013, the first Metaaltijdendag conference was organised at the National Heritage Agency in Amersfoort, with 140 people attending to present, listen to, or discuss narratives on later prehistoric communities. The organizers decided not just to schedule a kaleidoscope of presentations, but to set-apart the morning session for thematically related presentations. This way, a thematically more close-knit morning session could be followed by an afternoon with presentations on a wider variety of topics.
The theme of the 2013 Metaaltijdendag session was ‘Urnfields’. Urnfields are an appealing and widespread later prehistoric type of site, but they moreover testify to the major social transformations of that period, in which different means of expressing ideas of collectiveness and individuality came into play and in which the position of cemeteries within the wider cultural landscape was also subject to changes (Roymans 1995; Fontijn 1996; Fokkens 1997; Roymans & Kortlang 1999; Hessing & Kooi 2005). Since the start of the research into urnfields, much attention has been devoted to typochronological studies of grave forms and pottery types (Willems 1935; Kooi 1979; Verlinde 1987) and such typological approaches have retained relevance for more recent studies.
Nevertheless, there is growing awareness that other aspects of urnfields merit more detailed study as well. The previous years have, for example, seen increased attention to not strictly funerary structures such as post-alignments and ‘mortuary houses’ (e.g. Fokkens et al. 2009; Jansen et al 2011; De Vries 2012; Valentijn & Fontijn 2012; Bourgeois 2013, 194) and new ways of modelling urnfield development have been put forward (e.g. Bloemers 1988; Kooi 1979; De Vries 2012; Hissel et al. 2012, 142-145; De Mulder & Deweirdt 2012). Studies of the cremated remains in relation to funerary types and locations tentatively suggest that different parts of urnfields may have been reserved for different age-groups (e.g. De Mulder & Deweirdt 2012, 143). Crucial to any new approaches remains the attentive and critical study of the ever increasing data-set of radiocarbon dates, that provide the much needed foundations underpinning crucial typochronological analyses of grave- and pottery types (Lanting & Van der Plicht 2003; Van Beek 2005; De Mulder et al. 2007; De Mulder 2011).
By opting for new urnfield research as the main theme of the Metaaltijdendag 2013, the possibility did rise to bring together a wide range of researchers working on similar problems, whilst at the same time assuring interaction between researchers of different backgrounds (retired academics, young PhD students and field archaeologists). Not only the high numbers of visitors, but also the programme reflects that we have successfully achieved this aim: the commercial excavations of Oosterhout (Koopmanschap, this volume) and Maastricht-Ambyerveld (Dyselinck 2013; 2014) were presented, but also the results of urnfield excavations at Uden-Slabroek (Van Wijk & Jansen 2008; Jansen et al. 2011) and Epse. Additionally, there was ample attention to modelling the ways in which urnfields developed in the Eastern Netherlands (Van Beek & Louwen 2012; 2013) and Southern Netherlands (Valentijn 2011).
To ensure proper impact of the presentations offered, and subsequent discussions, the Stichting Metaaltijdenonderzoek Nederland decided that it would be valuable if there was a scientifically sound, yet accessible, publication that would not only function as the Metaaltijdendag’s proceedings – but which would be open to other studies targeting the archaeology of the Bronze- and Iron Age in the Low Countries. Due to the financial support of various companies and institutions (BAAC bv, Archol bv, ACVU-hbs, Gemeente Den Haag and the Stichting Nederlands Museum voor Anthropologie en Praehistorie) and the voluntary efforts of the members of the Stichting Metaaltijdenonderzoek Nederland, the volume you are now reading could go to press.
In the current volume, several studies address the main theme of the Metaaltijdendag 2013: Geerts, Koopmanschap and Bulten & Opbroek (all; this volume) report on excavation of cemeteries at Groesbeek, Oosterhout and Den Haag respectively. Also, the ways in which Bronze Age communities remained in contact with each other (Lohof, this volume) and deposited special bronze items (Butler et al., this volume; Arnoldussen & Visser, this volume) are explored. Additionally, the settlement sites (Roessingh, this volume), subsistence base (Van Amerongen, this volume) and use-patterns of pottery (Oudemans & Drenth, this volume) during the Bronze Age are discussed. For the Iron Age, typical settlement patterns are discussed by Dyselinck (this volume), as are patterns of object deposition related to pottery production (Bloo & Mousch, this volume). In their topics addressed, geographical scope and periods under study, these contributions reflect the ambitions of the Stichting Metaaltijdenonderzoek Nederland well.
Publishing in print is not the only way in which the Stichting Metaaltijdenonderzoek Nederland aims to spark and stimulate interaction between those interested in archaeology of the Dutch Bronze- and Iron Ages. Consequently, a website listing general information and videos of previous presentations at the Metaaltijdendag conferences was created (www.metaaltijden.nl) and social media such as Facebook (facebook.com/groups/metaaltijden) are used to invite people to present and discuss relevant topics in between the annual conferences.
We would very much like to invite you as well to use these channels to share your interest in the archaeology of the Bronze- and Iron Age periods, and we hope you enjoy the present volume.
Stijn Arnoldussen & Liesbeth Theunissen
(editors Metaaltijden 1)
OSL dating of the banks has shown that bank formation started at the end of the Middle Bronze Age- B (ca. 1300-900 cal BC) and continued to be formed into (and after?) the Late Iron Age ca. 300 BC – 0 AD). This means that this is an (agri)cultural landscape of unprecedented time-depth (spanning at least 700 years). Remarkably, the banks were shown to be built-up of non-local plants and sediments from the more lower-lying, wet, parts of the landscape, manure and settlement debris. Presumably, wet heathland sods and alder carr plants were brought into the byres (as bedding and/or fodder), were mixed with manure and settlement debris such as small sherds, burnt firewood and manure, and carted back out into the fields to be used as fertilizer. Through the uprooting of field weeds which were tossed to the sides of fields, sediment amassed near the fields’ edges and ever so gradually formed the Celtic fields banks. Palaeobotanical evidence has shown that barley and wheat were grown locally (also Triticum aestivum), and possibly also rye.
Preface; Towards new models (Harry Fokkens and Stijn Arnoldussen)
Bronze Age settlement sites in the Low Countires: An overview (Stijn Arnoldussen and Harry Fokkens)
Bronze Age houses and barrows in the Low Countries (Quentin Bourgeois and David Fontijn)
Bronze Age settlements in Drenthe (Piet Kooi)
Bronze Age occupation on coversand ridges of the Looerenk near Zutphen (Jeroen Bouwmeester)
The Middle Bronze Age farmstead from Rhede (North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany) (Stephan Deiters)
Rhenen-Remmerden revisited: some comments regarding site structure and the visibility of Bronze Age house plans (Leon G L van Hoof and Lucas Meurkens)
Living at Eigenblok. A Bronze Age settlement in the Dutch river area (Peter Jongste)
The Bronze Age cultural landscape at Zijderveld (Sebastiaan Knippenberg)
Bronze Age settlements in Tiel-Medel (Janneke B Hielkema and Tom Hamburg)
The Bronze Age cultural landscape of De Bogen (Bernard Meijlink)
Marking while taking land into use: some indications for long-term traditions within the Oer-IJ estuarine region (Linda L Therkon)
The Early Bronze Age farmstead of Noordwijk (Henk M van der Velde)
Bronze Age neighbours: occupation of three parallel coversand ridges near Breda (Ria Berkvens)
The living and the dead: A Bronze Age barrow and farmyard from Weelde (Rica Annaert)
List of contributors
Lezing over de voorlopige resultaten van het archeologisch veldwerk op Someren-De Hoenderboom
Timescale documentary on the Groningen University research program into Celtic fields (later prehistoric agricultural field systems from the Bronze Age and Iron Age) led by Stijn Arnoldussen.
full data-sets downloadable at:
https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:57727
maps viewable at:
http://archeologieinnederland.nl/bronnen-en-kaarten/verwachtingskaart-uiterwaarden-rivierengebied
Een nieuwe methode om archeologische verwachtingskaarten te compileren voor de uiterwaardgebieden. De methode maakt series verwachtingskaarten voor opeenvolgende archeologische perioden, en gebruikt daarbij zowel vlakdekkende informatie als puntgegevens. Boekrapport behorende bij het project archeologische verwachtingskaart uiterwaarden rivierengebied (‘UIKAV 2014’), uitgevoerd door Deltares, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen en Universiteit Utrecht, in opdracht van Rijkswaterstaat en de Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed. Het rapport en de bijbehorende producten (een archeologische verwachtingskaart, met onderliggende databases, basiskaarten en documentatie op detailniveau in catalogusvorm, en verdere digitale bijlagen) bieden een overzicht van in de uiterwaarden van het Nederlandse riviergebied te verwachten archeologie."
prehistoric pit. This pit comprised a quartzite stone, four tiny fragments
of quarts-tempered Bronze Age pottery and a single flint flake. The remainder of the fill consisted of soil with tiny fragments of natural granite rock and small fragments of charcoal, indicating that soil enriched with settlement debris was used to backfill the pit. In this article, we investigate the deposition of the two as-cast axes.
From its founding in 1918, the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut has carried out research on stone-age hunter-gatherers, the start and the development of prehistoric farming communities, burial mounds and settlements on the sandy soils, and the occupation of the terp-mound district. This article presents the highlights of a century-long research history and identifies current developments.