Oldeboorn: A Bell Beaker settlement on a drowned sand dune in Fryslân

This thesis reports on the excavation Oldeboorn, where traces of activity from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age were recoverd. Due to the good preservation of organic material, especially fish bone, and the presence of Veluvian bell beakers, very rare in the northern Netherlands, this site deserves scientific attention. After the excavation by Jan Lanting and Harry Fokkens in 1980 various material categories were subjected to separate analyses. The results of these analyses are collected and contextualized in this thesis. The find material was located at a depth of about 40 cm below the surface, on a Pleistocene sand dune beneath peat deposits. The location of the finds shows no clear separation between the periods. Yet pottery from the Bronze Age is mainly concentrated in the culture layer on the top of the dune. This also suggests that the bulk of the fish bone stems from this period. The high proportion of catadrome fish species and the absence of anadrome fish species...Show moreThis thesis reports on the excavation Oldeboorn, where traces of activity from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age were recoverd. Due to the good preservation of organic material, especially fish bone, and the presence of Veluvian bell beakers, very rare in the northern Netherlands, this site deserves scientific attention. After the excavation by Jan Lanting and Harry Fokkens in 1980 various material categories were subjected to separate analyses. The results of these analyses are collected and contextualized in this thesis. The find material was located at a depth of about 40 cm below the surface, on a Pleistocene sand dune beneath peat deposits. The location of the finds shows no clear separation between the periods. Yet pottery from the Bronze Age is mainly concentrated in the culture layer on the top of the dune. This also suggests that the bulk of the fish bone stems from this period. The high proportion of catadrome fish species and the absence of anadrome fish species indicate that we are dealing here with an extraction camp in the Bronze Age, mainly for catching pike. The presence of Elp-pottery indicates that the site was more connected to sandy Drenthe than to the rest of Holocene Netherlands, especially Holland. 14C dating of charcoal from the cultural layer gives an absolute dating of 1675 ± 43 BC. The pottery from the Neolithic is more evenly distributed across the site. The pottery consists solely of Veluwe bell beakers and pot beakers. Oldeboorn is the most northern location of this type of pottery, while from the nearby Pleistocene Drenthe only beakers of the Epi-Maritime type are known from this period. An unknown proportion of the recovered flint also stems from this period. The find spectrum reflects a full range of activities conducted at this site, and would warrant an interpretation as a normal Bell Beaker settlement. During the Mesolithic the location is also in use. Hearth pits from this period are the only anthropogenic features on the site. The typology of points and the 14C dating of charcoal from the hearth pits places the occupation in the Middle Mesolithic. Whether we are dealing with multiple phases or a single event is impossible to say.Show less

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Oldeboorn: A Bell Beaker settlement on a drowned sand dune in Fryslân