Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
closed access
The concept of abandonment is often framed within a biographical perspective where the house has the possibility to be understood in different ways throughout its use-life. Previous studies of...Show moreThe concept of abandonment is often framed within a biographical perspective where the house has the possibility to be understood in different ways throughout its use-life. Previous studies of abandonment mostly problematized how abandonment depositions were indicative of how abandonment itself was conducted, but hardly engaged with how the house-site was re-used afterwards. This results in a view of settlements where the abandonment of almost all houses is something that cannot be commented upon. Consequently, continuity and change in the use of settled landscapes cannot be viewed in relation to how people dealt with their own pasts. In contrast with this approach, the central problem discussed here revolves around how the structured analysis of abandonment practices can help to define the house during and past its abandonment in order to add temporality to our interpretations of the settled landscape. This means that the ability of past places to be of influence on future actions is investigated, particularly pertaining to the prehistoric house-site. The resulting study dealt with abandonment from a practice-theory perspective, and attempted to highlight changes in use of the house-site between the house’s use-phase, abandonment phase and post-abandonment phase. Specific attention is awarded to how the house itself was treated through the detailed study of soil features. The case-study employed to demonstrate this approach is focussed at the Westfrisian Bronze Age.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
open access
2017-12-31T00:00:00Z
This research focuses on understanding the influences of taphonomic processes on the interpretations of human-animal relations through the analysis of taphonomic markers on osteological remains...Show moreThis research focuses on understanding the influences of taphonomic processes on the interpretations of human-animal relations through the analysis of taphonomic markers on osteological remains from two Middle Bronze Age sites. The results of the archaeological, osteological and taphonomic aspects of this dataset are integrated and discussed. Four main research questions are proposed: 1) What types of Bronze Age features are present at the Andijk sites and how are these connected in their relative chronological framework? 2) Are there zones in the settlements signalling a heightened level of human-animal related practices and how can these be characterised? 3) What kind of activities are shown via the taphonomic markers on the osteological remains? 4) In what way(s) can the improved knowledge on taphonomic processes benefit the interpretations of Bronze Age subsistence and other human-animal related activities? Answering these different types of research questions will not only profoundly improve our current understanding of past human-animal related activities and the cultural mechanics behind these activities within Bronze Age settlements. Furthermore, the data contributes to comprehend to what extent taphonomic processes induced by various agents might alter the archaeological record.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
closed access
The purpose of this research is to get more insight into the social significance of Late Bronze Age -Early Iron crescent shaped sickles from the Netherlands. This is done by reexamination of...Show moreThe purpose of this research is to get more insight into the social significance of Late Bronze Age -Early Iron crescent shaped sickles from the Netherlands. This is done by reexamination of several physical characteristics of the sickles, their distribution and their archaeological context. It has turned out that albeit the sickles have many different appearances and they are hard to categorize, they are made out of the same exotic flint type and by proficient flint knappers. In addition, they are all used to cut sods. The sickles mostly occur in landscapes which in the Late Bronze Age -Early Iron age were threatened by water. They seem closely related with the construction of artificial dwelling mounds. Since the sickles are made from non-local flint by excellent craftspeople, people presumably perceived the sickles as special objects. Moreover, the sickles were used to cut sods and sods were used for various purposes that helped people survive in the same region for a longer period. So the sickles made it possible for people to 'confirm their roots'. The absence of complete sickles in settlements and the selective deposition of several collections of sickles, which often have different use lives, support the idea that people were well aware of the sickles special cultural biographies. So albeit the sickles have been perceived as mainly functional objects, this thesis proves that they have several social connotations which can be derived from their cultural biography.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
closed access
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
