The ‘Harvest of Malta’ report by Cleijne analysed the foundation methods of late-medieval buildings in ten cities in The Netherlands. Excavations in Kampen between 1987 and 2014 have revealed...Show moreThe ‘Harvest of Malta’ report by Cleijne analysed the foundation methods of late-medieval buildings in ten cities in The Netherlands. Excavations in Kampen between 1987 and 2014 have revealed sixteen timber foundations of late-medieval timber and timber-framed buildings, some of which appeared to be fairly uncommon. Kampen was not part of the ten selected cities in the ‘Harvest of Malta’ report, therefore the uncommon foundation methods found in Kampen did not undergo an extensive analysis. The research in this thesis analyses the sixteen timber foundations in Kampen. This will be done by studying the date, dimensions, foundation type and foundation methods, interior layout and characteristics of the superstructure of the timber and timber-framed buildings of Kampen. Furthermore, the research will analyse how the sixteen timber foundations of Kampen associate with soil type and building size. Brick foundations are left out of the dataset deliberately. All the results of the analysis are put into a table. Seven foundation types could be distinguished in the archaeological dataset of Kampen. These foundation types were categorized as KFT1 – KFT7. The foundation types included earthfast pile foundations (KFT1), pad foundations (KFT2, KFT3 and KFT6), strip foundations (KFT7) and the uncommon ‘strip and pad’ foundation (KFT4 and KFT5). This foundation type consisted of multiple layers of long horizontally placed sapling poles with stacks of wooden blocks on top. KFT3 was the most prevalent in Kampen and dated from 1300-1375. No relation between a particular foundation type and soil type could be established out of the archaeological dataset of Kampen. Furthermore, the sample size of the timber foundations was too small to establish a relation between timber foundations and building size. Narrow-fronted buildings were the most prevalent building shape in Kampen. Only townhouses were found in Kampen. Most buildings of the archaeological dataset of Kampen were free-standing at the time of construction. One-aisled buildings were the most prevalent in the archaeological dataset of Kampen. 25% of the buildings from the archaeological dataset of Kampen had hearths in comparison with the 5% of the ten cities studied in the ‘Harvest of Malta’ report. Lastly, Cleijne states in the ‘Harvest of Malta’ report that the order of steps of the ‘verstening’ process is not fixed. The archaeological dataset of Kampen shows that the first step in the ‘verstening’ process can also be the hearth instead of the foundation. It is clear that the timber buildings and timber-framed buildings in Kampen have uncommon characteristics and subsequent research could contribute more to our understanding of the ‘verstening’ process in Kampen. Show less
