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, 269 Bronze Age sherds are being investigated, originating from house ditches of 16 houses from the site of Bovenkarspel-Het Valkje, which was excavated between 1974 and 1978. The...Show moreIn this research, 269 Bronze Age sherds are being investigated, originating from house ditches of 16 houses from the site of Bovenkarspel-Het Valkje, which was excavated between 1974 and 1978. The sherds were investigated based on eleven steps of the chaîne opératoire. All sherds were divided into fabric groups in a ‘category list’ and examined carefully. Although there are differences in aspect like forming, shaping and surface treatment, there are a lot of similarities as well. The conclusion is that the type of temper alone does not determine the differences between the houses, but the size and the amount of temper added do. A set of pottery is visible in multiple houses. This set contains various kind of vessels that have each their own kind of tempering. A lot of houses have vessels that were not seen elsewhere. It was assumed that houses which occupied longer have more sherds. Finally, an XRF analysis found that three different sources of clay were used. Furthermore, the inside and outside of sherds differs, so it is likely that a different clay was used for the inside and the outside of the vessels or that a chalky clay layer was added.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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During the third millennium BC, similar funerary rituals and objects appear throughout Europe. This event is known as the Beaker phenomenon and has sparked a long-standing controversy in...Show moreDuring the third millennium BC, similar funerary rituals and objects appear throughout Europe. This event is known as the Beaker phenomenon and has sparked a long-standing controversy in prehistoric archaeology. This controversy consists of two key questions: what mechanisms resulted in the spread of funerary rituals and objects; and what are the causal factors behind this mechanism? This thesis aims to verify explanatory theories for the first question. These theories fall into three categories based on the mechanisms they propose: migrationist theories, diffusionist theories, and network theories. Regardless of their classifications, all theories share two aspects: 1) they are based on ceramic typology; 2) they equate ceramic types to social entities. Both aspects are controversial in the contemporary archaeological discourse. Nevertheless, there is a continued need to engage with ceramics, because it is the most abundant find category at sites from this period. Moreover, the above-mentioned assumption remains widely-used, despite contradictory evidence. Therefore, this thesis formulates and performs an alternative verification procedure for the above-mentioned explanatory theories. The study area for the application of this procedure is the western coastal area of the Netherlands. The basis for the above-mentioned verification procedure is an ethnoarchaeological study of the relations between ceramic technology and identity that departs from the concepts chaîne opératoire and community of practice. This study enables the formulation of hypotheses for the technological impact of classes of explanatory models on ceramic technology. Subsequently, an integrated technological study of ceramic vessels from three sites in the study area (Hazerswoude-Rijndijk N11, Voorschoten-De Donk, and Zandwerven) maps the technological developments during the Beaker transition. A comparison of the observed and hypothesised developments in ceramic technology points out that the beaker phenomenon was not a uniform process in the study area. Whereas a diffusionist scenario matches the patterns observed at Voorschoten-De Donk and Zandwerven, the technological developments at Hazerswoude-Rijndijk N11 are akin to a network model. Lastly, the results also point at the importance of communication networks and interaction for the conceptualisation of the Middle and Late Neolithic at the western coastal area of the Netherlands.Show less
In Dutch archaeology prehistoric houses are frequently used as sources of information on past societies. There hasn’t been much research on the construction of these houses, however. Even though...Show moreIn Dutch archaeology prehistoric houses are frequently used as sources of information on past societies. There hasn’t been much research on the construction of these houses, however. Even though anthropological studies show that the construction of a house vital is in understanding the links between house and society. This thesis develops a chaîne opératoire-based methodology for studying prehistoric house-construction and applies this methodology to develop an analogy for prehistoric house-construction. The latter goal is achieved by studying the reconstruction of a Late Neolithic house that was built during the Horsterwold-project. This project is an archaeological experiment that aimed to gain insights in prehistoric house-building and tool use by building a reconstruction of a Late Neolithic house with replicas of Neolithic and Mesolithic tools. All the use of tools and building-processes were monitored during the project. The results of this analysis consist of a chaîne opératoire for the Horsterwold House; an overview of traces from production processes which can serve to diagnose these; and quantifications for several of the building-processes. These results can be used as parallels for understanding the construction of the original house, but also as a starting-point for the analysis of prehistoric house-construction. Since the methodology was an essential element of the thesis, it was tested by analysing an Iron Age house from Ezinge, Groningen. This test demonstrated the broad applicability of the model when studying prehistoric house-construction. The most important result of this study is that we should understand prehistoric houses as the end product of a dynamic interaction between a large number of factors in a complex entanglement of processes. This complexity offers opportunities to study the connections between a large number of factors through an analysis of prehistoric house-construction.Show less
