Leiden University Student Repository

Klerkx, Laura (2010)

In de put, uit de put. Hout- en zadenonderzoek aan een vroegmiddeleeuwse waterput te Naaldwijk, provincie Zuid-Holland

Bachelor thesis | Archeologie (BA)

This thesis is about an early medieval well, made of sods, from a Roman and medieval site in Naaldwijk, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands. All the wood from this well, including part of a wooden wheel, was examined together with soil samples, one from the bottom filling of the well and one from the sods, for the presence of seeds. The main research question was: “How did the local vegetation look like at the time of the well, based on the examined wood and seeds?” A second complementary question was: “What was the character of the use of wood?” In the well wood of alder, oak, ash, willow, buckthorn and elder was found, possibly all of these have grown in the area near the settlement. Most of the found wood was of poor quality and together with the findings of branches of most of the taxa suggest the use of local wood and therefore the availability was the main factor in the choice of wood. Research of the seeds from the soil sample that was taken from the sods showed that the sods...Show moreThis thesis is about an early medieval well, made of sods, from a Roman and medieval site in Naaldwijk, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands. All the wood from this well, including part of a wooden wheel, was examined together with soil samples, one from the bottom filling of the well and one from the sods, for the presence of seeds. The main research question was: “How did the local vegetation look like at the time of the well, based on the examined wood and seeds?” A second complementary question was: “What was the character of the use of wood?” In the well wood of alder, oak, ash, willow, buckthorn and elder was found, possibly all of these have grown in the area near the settlement. Most of the found wood was of poor quality and together with the findings of branches of most of the taxa suggest the use of local wood and therefore the availability was the main factor in the choice of wood. Research of the seeds from the soil sample that was taken from the sods showed that the sods probably came from a clayey environment that given the amount of foraminifera in the sample, has possibly been under the influence of the sea. The discovered taxa in this sample seem to indicate a moist to wet, moderately brackish to brackish environment. The soil sample from the bottom filling of the well showed many arable weeds that seem to indicate the presence of lime-free, nitrogen-rich and moderate to rich farmland or vegetable gardens. There are indications for frequently entered environments with a rich soil, such as yards and roadsides. Also ample evidence was found of rarely entered brushwood with a reworked rich, humous, lime-free, dry soil, such as waste land and pastures. Some of these taxa are indicators for nitrogen and also occur in fields and can point to manuring of the soil. There are also many indications for the presence of grasslands and/ or pastures with a highly variable humidity and a moderately brackish to brackish soil, such as dune grasslands. However, determining the presence or absence of forests and the degree of openness of the landscape can only be done with additional pollen analysis.Show less

Author

Klerkx, Laura

Faculty

Faculty of Archaeology

Supervisors

Bruin, J. de

ECTS Credits

10

Language

nl