In 1992 the European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage, also known as the Malta Convention, was held. The treaty was signed by The Netherlands the same day. However, it...Show moreIn 1992 the European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage, also known as the Malta Convention, was held. The treaty was signed by The Netherlands the same day. However, it was not ratified until 2007, and implemented in a new set of laws known as the revised Monument Act of 2007. This act ensured that the principles behind Malta, mainly aimed at preservation of archaeology for the future, were now legal boundaries through which archaeology was practiced. The developments in archaeology had started before the Convention 1992, at least for The Netherlands. And at the point of ratification in 2007, a lot of changes in regards to archaeological process had taken place. Archis, the database for registering all archaeological research, started in the beginning of the 90’s, followed by quality regulations for reports set up by the KNA at the turn of the millenium, and since the last decade a system of regulated private companies has been working alongside the previous monopolists: the government and the universities. These changes have caused archaeologists to approach excavations in a different way. But the question of how these changes have impacted archaeology are still being answered. It is believed that the amount of excavations has risen in the last decades, but that the size in excavations has decreased. Trying to touch on the subject of excavation size, this thesis is aimed at answering the question: Has the ratification of the Malta Convention, in 2007, and the revised monument act, which followed the ratification, caused a decrease in the size of excavations between the years 1999 and 2008? This thesis is based on excavation reports from the years 1999 and 2008. These reports have all necessary data pertaining to the size of excavations. The two years also give a good overview of the difference between the data in reports before and after the ratification of the Malta Convention. The data shows that there is an increase in excavation size between 1999 and 2008. In both urban and rural settings. Where the main discussion was leaning towards the impression that large-scale excavations are a thing of the past, nothing seems less likely. It is however very interesting to see the time needed to excavate these larger areas. And the assumption that excavations are becoming smaller seems to be more related to the difference in temporal factors, than in actual square meters.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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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...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
