Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
under embargo until 2025-08-31
2025-08-31T00:00:00Z
Northern Gaul in Merovingian times (450-650 CE) is well known for its characteristic pottery assemblages in settlement- and burial sites consisting of wheel-thrown ceramics. Rooted in Roman...Show moreNorthern Gaul in Merovingian times (450-650 CE) is well known for its characteristic pottery assemblages in settlement- and burial sites consisting of wheel-thrown ceramics. Rooted in Roman traditions, these ceramics were produced in specialized potters workshops of which the majority was located along the rivers Rhine and Meuse. Another group of pottery, the handmade ceramics, however, are often given less attention. These handmade pots have often been perceived and described by archaeologists as rudimentary, poorly made and of low quality. In addition, they have been associated with Germanic culture. This is often followed by the assumption that this type of pottery is, in stark contrast to the wheel-thrown ceramics, made by unskilled potters, and therefore made locally on an occasional level in a household setting by woman and children. These claims are however based on modern assumptions only, since the production aspects of these handmade ceramics have hardly been studied. Furthermore, they show a strong bias that is rooted in our history with the industrial revolution and capitalism, and in value-associations and preconceptions regarding Roman and Germanic culture. The way archaeologists perceive and value these handmade ceramics should therefore not be mistaken for the perception and valuation of these ceramics by the early medieval societies that created and used them. By using an integrated chaîne opératoire approach that considers the technological, social and symbolic dimension of the production of ceramic vessels, this thesis attempts to gain insights on the production, perception and value of these handmade ceramics in the early medieval societies of Northern-Gaul. The ceramic assemblage of the recently excavated Merovingian cemetery of Nijmegen-Lentseveld (The Netherlands) was chosen as a case-study. At this site, roughly dating to the 6th century, an notably high concentration of handmade ceramics was found, together with well-known wheel-thrown vessels. This provided the unique opportunity to study both handmade and wheel-thrown ceramics together. A technological analysis, using a combination of macroscopic-, petrographic- and chemical techniques, was performed on the Lentseveld assemblage as well as on several local reference ceramics and clay samples. The results show that the production of the handmade ceramics found at the cemetery of Nijmegen-Lentseveld, was more complex than the assumed local household production. It is demonstrated that a large majority of the handmade ceramics from the site were made with a clay with very similar properties, that does not match with the clay samples collected in the vicinity of the site, nor with the known local ceramic productions. Although it was not possible to conclude with certainty whether the exact same clay source was used to create all ceramics and determine the location of such clay source, it can be concluded that the clay most likely was collected further away from the site and should be sought at a more regional level. The fact that there appears to be a consensus on the type of clay deemed suitable to create these ceramics and a similar or the same clay source was used for a large group of handmade ceramics, suggest the clay collection was rather well organized. This contradicts the previous assumptions of local household production whereby each household collects their own clay at a source near their house. The integrated chaîne opératoire approach used in this thesis has furthermore shown that production entails more than just technological actions, and also has a strong social and symbolic dimension. It uncovered the many material-, social – and imagined values that could have been associated with (the production of) handmade ceramics, such as the act of crafting itself, the transformation by fire and the value of materials. This shows that the perception and values attributed handmade ceramics by the early medieval societies of Northern Gaul who created and used them were mostly likely very different from negative perception and values projected onto these ceramics by archaeologists. This thesis therefore shows that there is a strong need for a re-evaluation and foremost a re-valuation of these handmade ceramics, and has taken the first step in doing so by taking a different approach to analysing them with the help of a case-study.Show less
In this research the location of Merovingian cemeteries in the landscape of Northern Gaul is studied using GIS. While Merovingian cemeteries have been studied for over a century, most studies have...Show moreIn this research the location of Merovingian cemeteries in the landscape of Northern Gaul is studied using GIS. While Merovingian cemeteries have been studied for over a century, most studies have focused on the grave goods found in the graves, while little research has been done on the location of the cemeteries. The locations of cemeteries are often explained by very rational or economic reasonings, which state that cemeteries were located on land that was unsuitable for agriculture. However, the locations of cemeteries were likely the result of deliberate choices. The grave goods in graves and other parts of the burial ritual indicate the importance of the ritual, and the burial location will have been just as important as the other parts of the ritual, if not even more important. In this thesis, the locations of 190 Merovingian cemeteries are analysed in Geographical Information Systems (GIS), using three different variables: slope, aspect and (relative) elevation. The comparison of these variables for each cemetery gives a general idea of the location characteristics of Merovingian cemeteries. By using accurately dated cemeteries for the analyses, it is also possible to see changes in the location characteristics through time and between different parts of the Merovingian period. The results of the analyses are in line with earlier research on the locations of Merovingian cemeteries. They show that Merovingian cemeteries are generally located on gentle slopes, with no clear preference for a certain direction. However, the cemeteries that are located on steeper slopes, are more often found on south-facing slopes. Furthermore, most cemeteries are found at medium elevations, neither at the highest, nor at the lowest elevations in their surroundings. Through time, lower elevations seem to have become more suitable for cemeteries, as a larger proportion of the cemeteries is located at low elevations during the later periods. The research presented in this thesis shows the potential of using GIS-based methods to analyse the location of Merovingian cemeteries. The results are coherent with the findings from earlier studies, while also showing indications for the changes that took place during the Merovingian Period. All in all, this study can form a starting point for further GIS-based analyses of Merovingian cemetery locations, which could be improved by including more cemetery sites, and incorporating many more additional variables into the analyses.Show less
The central question of this thesis was whether the occurrence of stoneware on different sites in the Netherlands could be caused by membership of the Hanseatic league. This idea was proposed by...Show moreThe central question of this thesis was whether the occurrence of stoneware on different sites in the Netherlands could be caused by membership of the Hanseatic league. This idea was proposed by Prof. Gaimster in many of his articles. He argues that the stoneware can be seen as a ‘Kulturträger’, an object one, as member of the large multiregional trading confederation called Hansa, could identify with. So according to this theory, towns that were part of the Hanseatic league should receive more stoneware than towns that were not. To test this idea, the model was shaped into executable research using data from 280 different Dutch complexes. To make fair comparisons, the amount of stoneware was noted as a relative percentage, opposed to other contemporary ceramic wares. It was shown that Hanseatic towns indeed gained more stoneware, but their location to Cologne, the source, was also closer. Therefore, the idea of a link between distance from source and occurrence of stoneware was proposed. The percentage of stoneware was compared to the distance from source, Cologne. This resulted in scatterplots per century. The scatterplots showed that the alternative theory indeed worked both for the Hansa and for the non-Hanseatic towns. Nevertheless, the amount of stoneware for Hansa towns is still higher than the amount of stoneware in non-Hansa towns, who were more or less located at the same distance from Cologne. The idea of an identity of Hansa linked to stoneware could thus not completely be rejected. Rather, urbanism seems to be the main driving mechanism behind the spread of stoneware.Show less
This thesis analyses ‘odd deposits’ from the early medieval Low Lands coastal area (modern Netherlands and Belgium) and Anglo-Saxon England. ‘Odd deposits’ are deliberately placed in settlement...Show moreThis thesis analyses ‘odd deposits’ from the early medieval Low Lands coastal area (modern Netherlands and Belgium) and Anglo-Saxon England. ‘Odd deposits’ are deliberately placed in settlement context. They can be ritual or religious, but mundane as well. The deposits played a role in the several processes that sustained the early medieval settlement. The data for this thesis originates from official published archaeological reports and grey literature. This is ordered by material, date and context feature, to create a comparable overview. A variety of materials were used for ‘odd deposits’. Material categories include animal burials, animal skulls, human inhumations, pottery, stone artefacts, building material and plants/ wooden material. ‘Odd de-posits’ were placed at several settlement features. They are found within or in close association with earthfast buildings, enclosure ditches, sunken-featured buildings, wells and water pools. The data show us the great variety of objects and contexts used for ‘odd deposits’ in the early medieval Low Lands coastal area. There was a high local preference. Anglo-Saxon England was more homogenous when it concerns the deposition practice. Deposition took place in single or multiple events. Single event deposits were often associated with the construction or demolishing of features. ‘Odd deposits’ associated with the renewal phases of features often happened in multiple episodes. ‘Odd deposits’ could also have been part of a reciprocity system, where the deposition was used as a gift to ask the gods or ancestors for favours. The deposits can be analysed by object in combination with their context of deposition. Animal deposits of cattle, horse and dog had a high domestic value and are mostly found close or on the domestic area of the farmyard. This also counts for infant burials. Deviant burials, on the other hand, are mostly deposited at the edges of the settlements.Show less
Scriptie onderzoek van een middeleeuws ruraal grafveld te Dommelen uit de late 11de tot 14de eeuw, waarbij met name aandacht wordt besteed aan de vroege periode van het grafveld tot aan de bouw van...Show moreScriptie onderzoek van een middeleeuws ruraal grafveld te Dommelen uit de late 11de tot 14de eeuw, waarbij met name aandacht wordt besteed aan de vroege periode van het grafveld tot aan de bouw van de stenen kapel rond de 14de en 15de eeuw. Met als doel om de archeologische gegevens te analyseren en om de chronologische ontwikkeling van het grafveld, de structuur ervan en de verschillende grafvormen in beeld te brengen.Show less
This thesis is a study on Roman remains in Merovingian grave contexts in Northwest Europe. Roman building materials and Roman coins have been found in numerous Merovingian graves throughout Europe....Show moreThis thesis is a study on Roman remains in Merovingian grave contexts in Northwest Europe. Roman building materials and Roman coins have been found in numerous Merovingian graves throughout Europe. The purpose of this study was to find out why the Roman remains were present or deposited in a Merovingian funerary context. Did the remains land there by chance or have they been reused on purpose? Type of objects, type of alterations, position of the objects and the ratio in which the objects occur in the Merovingian cemeteries and between the Merovingian cemeteries have all been taken into consideration. The results show that the majority of Roman remains have been given as a grave gift or have been deliberately deposited into the grave. The Roman building material was deliberately used in the graves’ constructions. Extraordinary efforts have been made to achieve this, as it was not necessary. Grave constructions with a rather simple wooden container or even without container also occur in the same cemetery. The Roman coins in the graves functioned as an amulet or as obol, with a few exceptions. The use as an amulet or as obol in Merovingian grave contexts also occurs in Germany. Furthermore, the Roman sandstone monument that has been deliberately destroyed shows that objects do not necessarily have to be complete to gain a spiritual charge. It should be noted that the reuse of Roman remains in Merovingian grave context does not occur on a regular basis, but they are common throughout Europe. The study of Roman remains is important to understand the transition from the Roman period to the Merovingian period.Show less
Sceattas, a silver currency only produced for approximately less than a century, offer tremendous insights into a multi-regional and relatively unregulated currency. While its short-lived...Show moreSceattas, a silver currency only produced for approximately less than a century, offer tremendous insights into a multi-regional and relatively unregulated currency. While its short-lived production may encourage ideas that it played a relatively unimportant role in post-Roman, early medieval Europe, this is not the case. The coinage quickly became an important part of North Sea trade. Merchants, from Northern France, the Low Countries, parts of Denmark, and England all relied on the coins as a medium of exchange. The modern-day Netherlands is home to numerous production sites of sceattas, indicating its importance in the North Sea trade. Two major types of sceattas were most likely produced here, and are both the most numerous types discovered. They are called Series D and Series E or Continental Runic Type and Porcupine Type. This study aims to examine just how widespread the distribution of these types and the other seventeen series found in the Netherlands was on the basis of the evidence in the Numis database up to 2016. Distribution for the coins will be based on a number of variables, namely overall location, this location examined under a historical context, and an examination of find sites compared to the environment of 800 AD. It appears that the distribution is not random over the country but mainly limited to Domburg, a small part of the Central Dutch River area and the Frisian area of Westergo. This relates the coinage to international trade rather than a widespread use in a ‘moneraty economy’.Show less
Analyzing the spatial distribution of diagnostic ceramics, this study provides a more detailed insight into the development of the early to central medieval settlement located at Valkenburg De...Show moreAnalyzing the spatial distribution of diagnostic ceramics, this study provides a more detailed insight into the development of the early to central medieval settlement located at Valkenburg De Woerd. To doing so, both ceramics and features such as wells and ditches have been plotted using a Geographical Information System. This research concerning the analysis of pottery from De Woerd is the third in line and specifically focuses on ceramics found in the southern part of the settlement. In this thesis results of quantities of fabrics and vessel types are presented and discussed. All ceramics in a settlement context have been analyzed including those of two previous studies. The development of habitation is presented by both the spatial distribution of diagnostic ceramics as well as the topographical location of dated features. This discussion however also relates to the impact of site formation processes, since they will have had an impact on the spatial distribution of both ceramics and dated features. Especially a combination of ploughing and levelling has affected higher situated levees resulting in the disappearing of the original surface. Despite these site formation processes, both the assemblage of the northern and southern part of the settlement yielded similar ratios in fabrics and vessel types. This is also concluded when the assemblage from the settlement is compared to the overall collection of ceramics found in trench 510 located in a gulley. By combining all three collections and comparing this complete assemblage with other contemporaneous sites, it can be concluded that the ratios concerning fabric and vessel types, De Woerd fit well in the regional image of the use of pottery in the early medieval period. It is argued that habitation started at around AD 575/600 and continued into the Carolingian period. In the first half of the tenth century there may have been a short hiatus in habitation in the excavated part of the settlement. Habitation may have been present further east. The start of habitation linked to this later phase could be placed at around AD 950 and came to an end in the first half of the twelfth century. Based on the spatial distribution of diagnostic ceramics as well as the location of dated ditches and wells, it is concluded that all parcels on site were inhabited during the Merovingian and Carolingian period. During the Carolingian period, habitation shifted further in an eastward direction and the area became in use as agricultural land. In the central medieval period habitation in the excavated area consisted of a single farmstead, located at the southern part of the site.Show less
Archaeological research into the early Middle ages in the southern Dutch province of Noord Brabant is relies on a theory of prof. Dr. Theuws regarding settlement patterns and development. Recent...Show moreArchaeological research into the early Middle ages in the southern Dutch province of Noord Brabant is relies on a theory of prof. Dr. Theuws regarding settlement patterns and development. Recent excavations in the town of Uden challenge this theory however. The aim of this paper is to challenge the theory with the main research-question: Can the excavation of the early medieval settlement and cemetery of Uden-West change the current theory of prof. Theuws on early medieval settlement-patterns and settlement development in eastern Noord Brabant, and if so, how? The theory of prof. Theuws focuses on habitation/cultivation areas (or H/C areas in short). Habitation supposedly started around 575 AD, and the earliest settlements were shifting settlements, whilst the earliest settlers avoided the smaller H/C areas. These settlements clustered during the late Merovingian period, but began to shift once more thanks to a population decline during the Carolingian and Ottonian period. A rise in the population forced settlements to cluster once more, and the settlements were eventually forced of the H/C areas in the Late Middle Ages to maximise the agricultural usage of the areas. Merovingian cemeteries were positioned outside of the H/C area. In Uden, however, the cemetery is positioned close to/towards the middle of the H/C area. Habitation also started about 40 years earlier than prof. Dr. Theuws theorised. The size of the population was also smaller, with a maximum of two families. The local cemetery was only used by the people that lived on the H/C area of Uden-West. Furthermore, there is no evidence for clustering of the settlement until 900 AD, and no indication for a decline in the population during the Carolingian and Ottonian period. Overall, based on the H/C area of Uden-west, a more flexible view should be adopted towards early medieval settlement patterns and settlement development, since a lot of H/C areas are now dismissed for early medieval habitation because they are believed to be too small.Show less
This thesis deals with two types of coins minted in Dorestad during the reign of Lothar I (840-855), and with their production and its organisation. The hoards of Tzummarum II, Roermond and...Show moreThis thesis deals with two types of coins minted in Dorestad during the reign of Lothar I (840-855), and with their production and its organisation. The hoards of Tzummarum II, Roermond and Westerklief II, made it possible to do an intensive die-study on both coin types (Type 1 and Type 2). A comparison between the created die-chains of Type 1 showed a change in the metrological aspects and designs of these coins. The hhXRF analysis of the coins of Type 1 showed a degradation of the silver content from around 90 to 60% over time. This is in contrast to the coins of Type 2, of which the silver content remained 90%. The emperor’s name and title were always written incorrectly, unlike the mint name Dorestad. This fact implies deliberate wrongly spelling of the name and title of emperor and may be interpreted as making a statement against Lothar I from the Viking(s) that kept Dorestad as a beneficium. The metrological characteristics and designs of the die-chains of Type 1 strongly suggest that these coins were all struck in the same workshop. A cautious estimation of the coins of Type 1 is 4.2 million and 190,000 coins of Type 2. The extended chaîne opératoire was developed to theorize the steps within the production of coins in an attempt to better understand this process. It shows that the production of a coin consists of three different phases, which can change independently from one another. The four parameters by Costin on the late medieval coin production were applied in order to help to understand how coin production could have been organised in Dorestad.Show less
In this thesis two dams excavated in the Merovingian settlement Oegstgeest-Rijnfrontare discussed. This settlement is located along a former river branch of the Old Rhine river at the place where...Show moreIn this thesis two dams excavated in the Merovingian settlement Oegstgeest-Rijnfrontare discussed. This settlement is located along a former river branch of the Old Rhine river at the place where tributaries enter the river. Water management which is crucial for the continuity of the habitation is discussed. Dam A is located at the mouth of a side creek that flowed out into the Old Rhine river. This dam measured about 45x10 meters and was constructed of about 1000 wooden poles and about 900 cubic meters of sods. The dam could be dated to the first half of the sixth century. Dam B was located 100 meters further to the east and measured about 25x5 meters. It was constructed of about 500 wooden poles and contained at least 125 cubic meters of sods. Both dams were probably constructed in the early Autumn. The construction of the dams implies that it was not an ad hoc construction, some planning had to be involved, because it would have taken some time to fell all trees necessary and to gather all sods needed for the dam body. In addition to the dams more structures related to water management that were dug up in this settlement. Some of them like a bridge are also discussed in this thesis. All these structures show that the people inhabiting the settlement were capable to deal with problems caused by water. The construction of these structures implies that there would have been some sort of communal cooperation within the settlement, since it is impossible for a single family or household to construct, for example, dam A. It is likely that the settlement was divided in ‘districts’ that all put in some effort. Also the future research is discussed, since it is likely that more dams will be discovered in the future.Show less
Abstract. In the winter of 2004 a coin hoard was unearthed during excavation works in the town of Delft. Initially it was not recognized as a coin hoard, because it was ‘just’ a cooking pot. It was...Show moreAbstract. In the winter of 2004 a coin hoard was unearthed during excavation works in the town of Delft. Initially it was not recognized as a coin hoard, because it was ‘just’ a cooking pot. It was also treated that way. When the content was checked for food rests, the coins appeared. 95 coins were retrieved from the pot. It was striking that only one denomination was represented in the hoard: the Leeuwengroot. The coins were struck in the 14th century in Holland, Brabant and Flanders. The aim of this thesis is to compare the Delft hoard with the other coin hoards from the same century in the Netherlands. The outcome of this research was surprising. The Delft hoard appeared to be the only coin hoard that contained just Leeuwengroten. The hoarder had picked these coins deliberately and pulled them out of circulation. The reason why the hoarder picked exclusively this denomination is not clear. The location of the find appeared to be ales wealthier part of the town. The wealthier people lived directly around the Old and New Church. Why these coins were hidden is not sure. Maybe the siege of 1369 was the cause. The hoard is placed on display again for further research and more people can enjoy the beauty of a medieval silver coin hoard.Show less
