During an excavation in West Frisia, around the Westfrisiawg, many Bronze Age sites were found, containing a wealth of information about this region in the period. Among the finds were pound...Show moreDuring an excavation in West Frisia, around the Westfrisiawg, many Bronze Age sites were found, containing a wealth of information about this region in the period. Among the finds were pound/polishing ground stones showing use-wear traces of hide processing, likely done during leather making. In which step of the process these stones were used was still unclear however. Firstly the landscape, vegetation and fauna are discussed to get an idea of the region. Subsequently the sites where the finds were made are elaborated upon, showing life in the period. Both the house plans and settlement are discussed, as well as separate artifact categories that were found. The rest of the thesis is concerned with experimental archaeology, using similar pound/polishing stones to assess the practicality, prehistoric alternatives and macroscopic recognition of these pound/polishing stones. These ground stones are used to tan a cow hide to turn it into a fur. In three steps of this process the stones are used, with membraning, rubbing the fat tanning mixture (dressing) in, and lastly in the softening and stretching step. After this use-wear analysis is done, and the problems with the experiment are discussed, such as the age of the skin being too old, along with two out of the three pound/polishing stones not being useful, as they were more destructive than expected and wanted, especially while softening. The questions about practicality, usefulness and macroscopic recognition of these stones are answered.Show less
This research paper explores migration and dietary patterns during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age at the Gomolava site in northern Serbia. The strontium and oxygen isotopes were used to...Show moreThis research paper explores migration and dietary patterns during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age at the Gomolava site in northern Serbia. The strontium and oxygen isotopes were used to study mobility, while carbon isotopes offered insights into dietary habits. The study focuses on 24 individuals from Gomolava, mainly females and juveniles. Additionally, eight modern plant samples were analysed. The site itself is a mass grave primarily consisting of female and juvenile remains. Two individuals in particular, SK53 and SK18, displayed distinct strontium values, indicating different places of origin. Comparative analysis of the Carpathian Basin further suggests that SK53 may not be indigenous to the region. However, further research is necessary to accurately determine the precise origins of these individuals. On the other hand, oxygen isotopes provide limited information in differentiating between local and non-local individuals. The dietary patterns of the Gomolava individuals were also examined through stable carbon isotope analysis. It was discovered that their diet consisted of a combination of C3 and C4 plants, with millet probably playing a significant role during this period. Two outliers, SK53 and SK42, displayed distinct dietary paths, with SK53 relying more heavily on C4 plants compared to SK42, which primarily consumed C3 plants. SK18 had a mixed diet, incorporating both types of plants. The heightened levels of mobility witnessed during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in the Pannonian Basin can be plausibly linked to various factors, including climate fluctuations and societal upheavals. Additionally, the increased mobility observed among females may be attributed to the cultural practice of patrilocality, whereby women relocate to their husband's familial dwelling upon marriage. To attain a more comprehensive comprehension of the patterns of mobility, social dynamics, and dietary practices prevalent in ancient populations, further research incorporating a wide array of archaeological methodologies is necessary.Show less
Pollen grains and spores have a highly resistant wall than can preserve over thousands of years. Using this characteristic, palynologist research the past environments and human-environment...Show morePollen grains and spores have a highly resistant wall than can preserve over thousands of years. Using this characteristic, palynologist research the past environments and human-environment relations. For archaeology this is crucial information and often a general part of research on a site. As was the case at the Bronze Age burial landscape at Oss-Gewandeweg. At this site, only remains of burial mounds were left due to agricultural levelling. The remaining features, circular ditch fills were sampled for palynological analysis. However, the samples were taken from a sandy depositional context which is unideal for pollen and spore preservation. In this thesis, the reliability of these samples is assessed. If the samples are not reliable they will portray an false vegetational reconstruction. This has scientific and social implications. Palynology is plays a role in the climate change debate and should be used wrongly because of this societal value. Two research questions have been formulated in order to fulfil this goal. The first research question was aimed to study the taphonomy of the palynomorphs and the effect the sandy depositional context had on the preservation. Besides the typical production bias and dispersal bias, the preservation context increases the differential degradation bias. The sand grains provide gaps through which water can leach and oxidize the pollen. The more oxidized the pollen are, the more susceptible to micro-organism attack. Biological degradation is thus also increased. The preservation states of the pollen in the samples also illustrated the poor preservation. The second research question included a comparative analysis between the ecological reconstruction based on the samples form Oss-Gewandeweg and Oss-Mettegeul, just five kilometres apart. The lower taxa diversity, absence of certain taxa and lower proportionality of certain taxa all point to a worse preservation context compared to the samples at Oss-Mettegeul. Recommendations for future research is to sample sediment which is dark-coloured and fine-grained. If samples from the Bronze Age ditch fill are required, phytolith analysis would be a great alternative. Phytoliths are inorganic and preserve better than pollen, spores and macrofossils.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
open access
Towards the end of prehistory, the landscapes of Northwestern Europe developed into carefully organized places that feel more akin to those of historical and modern times. According to Mette...Show moreTowards the end of prehistory, the landscapes of Northwestern Europe developed into carefully organized places that feel more akin to those of historical and modern times. According to Mette Løvschal (2014), these landscapes saw the emergence of lines and boundaries with specific functions and meanings, especially in the Urnfield period (Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age). This thesis focuses on a number of micro-regions in the Netherlands: Epe-Niersen, Oss and Boxmeer-Sterckwijck. The aim of this study is to gain a nuanced, inter-regional understanding on how these organized landscapes developed in the long term, and what influence older, visual features from the past had on the way people dealt with them in the Urnfield period. Especially barrow alignments are notable. They clearly impacted the way people dealt with these ‘ancestral landscapes’, but in significantly different ways. At Epe-Niersen, the urnfields and Celtic field emerged solely near ancestral mounds outside of the barrow alignment. At Boxmeer-Sterckwijck, the opposite happened: The barrow line itself transformed into a dense urnfield. Thirdly, the barrow line of Oss-Zevenbergen was completely re-structured with the construction of large, monumental burial mounds, scattered urnfield-graves and post alignments. A close association between the funerary landscape and settlements is observed at Boxmeer-Sterckwijck. On the other hand, Oss-North and Oss-Ussen are a striking example of a landscape that lacked any older, visual features before the emergence of settlements in the Middle Bronze Age. Therefore, in the absence of pre-existing lines and boundaries, people ended up creating them themselves, after which they were referred to in similar ways during subsequent occupation phases. This study demonstrates that the past was unavoidable in the organization of landscapes in the Urnfield period. Furthermore, the general succession in which barrow lines, urnfields, Celtic fields and organized settlements emerged was time-transgressive in nature, meaning that they developed at different point in time at each site. Nonetheless, is seems that each region reached a certain ‘tipping point’ were the landscapes inevitably developed into highly organized areas in line with the past.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
closed access
During the Bronze Age (BA), in the Southern Netherlands, swords have been systematically surrendered into main rivers for hundreds of years while they are completely absent in coeval burials. Such...Show moreDuring the Bronze Age (BA), in the Southern Netherlands, swords have been systematically surrendered into main rivers for hundreds of years while they are completely absent in coeval burials. Such a sharp pattern was extensively used as a platform to develop hypotheses on the social organization of the communities that performed the rite both at regional and at European level. Being a warrior is considered to have been a threat for the social cohesion of the small and egalitarian BA communities of the Low Countries: therefore, warriorhood must have been a temporary identity which was ‘worn’ when necessary, and then dismissed through the ritual deposition of certain martial paraphernalia (the swords). However, the above-mentioned model does not explain entirely why not all the swords in circulation, but only a few specimens (roughly one every 10 years), were deposited. In order to better understand the selection mechanics, I propose to analyze the possible value-giving events in which these selected items might have been through. Given the nature of the objects, combat constitutes a probable factor governing the selection of these tools for deposition. This thesis aims to illustrate a methodology for the investigation of combat practices, as well as to propose an interpretative framework suitable for gaining insights about socio-cultural aspects drawing upon data on objects’use. Through a combined approach which envisaged an experimental investigation of combat that conciliates realism and control over the variables, and an in-depth analysis of usewear traces on ancient specimens, it was possible to assess the use in combat of archaeological swords. The presence of fresh combat marks together with possible signs of ancient repairs on the swords analyzed suggests that swords have been through more than one cycles of use before being deposited. Furthermore, the incidence and the type of combat traces documented on the archaeological swords analyzed support the thesis of a skillful use of these objects in the past. By interpreting the data through a framework based on practice theory and the related conception of value-through-action, it has been possible to gain alternative perspectives on the phenomenon of deposition and on the social identity of the warrior. Drawing upon the evidence of skillful and continued use of the deposited swords, a multidisciplinary exploration of warriorhood as a practice resulted in a more fixed and socially-structuring picture of this social identity than the one proposed by previous literature providing points of discussion which question the current discourses regarding European Bronze Age society.Show less
The Italian Bronze Age is traditionally pictured as a period of cultural uniformity, which abruptly ends during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age, when numerous regional groups develop...Show moreThe Italian Bronze Age is traditionally pictured as a period of cultural uniformity, which abruptly ends during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age, when numerous regional groups develop distinct material cultures. This traditional view has been questioned and it is proposed that the change from uniformity to diversity developed gradually instead of rapidly. This thesis tests the new model by conducting a comparative analysis on the pottery, exotic goods and metal objects from four Bronze Age settlements in the region that is now known as Molise: Fonte Maggio, Masseria Mammarella, Rocca di Oratino and Monteroduni. Little research has been conducted in this region in the past and could offer fresh insights in the discussion on regionalism versus uniformity. Barker studied two of the selected sites during the 1970s and this thesis uses several of Barker’s theories and methods. However, two central research themes, interconnectivity and social networks, are added to the theoretical framework by discussing Broodbank’s perspective on the Mediterranean Bronze Age. Also, this thesis focuses on differences rather than similarities between the sites, as has been done in previous research on the Italian Bronze Age. The results of the comparative analysis indicate that both pottery assemblages and rare goods at all four sites differ. However, due to methodological problems, these differences are inconclusive to confirm regionalism, as it is known during the later Iron Age. Furthermore, the rare goods at the sites show that all four sites interacted with other regions, which contrasts with Barker’s theories on communication in Molise during the Bronze Age. The differences could indicate local preferences and could be interpreted as an initial phase in a more gradual development of regionalism. This would support the new model to a certain degree and it is evident that uniformity should no longer be the starting point in research on the Italian Bronze Age.Show less
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
The main cause of this thesis is to find out where depositions are found in the coastal area of the western part of the Netherlands during the Bronze Age, 2000-800 BC. Are there depositions in this...Show moreThe main cause of this thesis is to find out where depositions are found in the coastal area of the western part of the Netherlands during the Bronze Age, 2000-800 BC. Are there depositions in this area? which relation do they have to there landscape and are there changes visible over time? First a catalog has been made with all the deposition finds made in North- and South-Holland. In this catalog different features of the objects are added, in total the catalog consists of 91 objects. With the information of the catalog, different distribution maps are created. The maps show how many objects and where the objects are located during different periods of the Bronze Age. Each object has been looked at individually. For some objects there was a description from the patina available, it shows if the object came out of a dry or wet context. If there was no description of the patina, the place of the find on the paleogeographic map was examined to find out if it was found in a dry or wet ground. If an object comes out of a wet context it is typical for a deposition. A dry context is mostly seen as a 'lost' object. More than half of the finds are found in a wet context, this means that the objects are deliberately deposited, maybe because of ritual reasons. During the Early Bronze Age few objects are deposited diffusedly. During the Middle Bronze Age the amount of deposits increased excessive, they are found clustered in the coastal area of North- and South-Holland and in the salt marsh area of West-Frisian. In the Late Bronze Age people were still depositing a lot but not as much as in the Middle Bronze Age, they deposited objects very scattered through the west part of the Netherlands. Compared to earlier research in other parts of the Netherlands, deposits are found more in the coastal dune area then in the peat areas. Wet contexts are at both places the most favorable place to deposit and the axe is the most deposited object.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
During the Late Bronze Age (1100-800 BC) and Early Iron Age (800-500 BC) urnfields are constructed throughout North-Western Europe. In the Middle and Late Iron Age and the Roman period urnfields...Show moreDuring the Late Bronze Age (1100-800 BC) and Early Iron Age (800-500 BC) urnfields are constructed throughout North-Western Europe. In the Middle and Late Iron Age and the Roman period urnfields are occasionally reused. Urnfields are used as a location for settlements and cemeteries. This research aimed to make an inventory of the different forms of reuse in Noord-Brabant and Northern Limburg. Fourteen case-studies were selected in order to investigate the different forms of reuse. The data from these sites was supplemented with data from other publications. The research showed that the forms of reuse were more divers than previously thought. During the Middle- and Late Iron Age urnfields are often used as settlement locations. Sometimes urnfields are overbuilt by these settlements. But often houses are constructed near urnfields while granaries are constructed directly on the urnfields. This suggested that we might be dealing with a positive appreciation, possibly connected to a cult in which the ancestors were used to enhance fertility. It is also possible that the ancestors, who were buried in these urnfields, were used to claim land. During the Middle- and Late Iron Age urnfields were also reused as burial sites. This might be a limited continuation of the earlier burial rites where deceased were buried close to their ancestors, a phenomena already observed in the Late Neolithic period. During the Roman period urnfields were still used both as settlement location and as burial sites. The reuse of urnfields as location for burials diminishes through time. Urnfields are not as important for the placement of Roman cemeteries as was previously thought (only 5,4% of the Roman cemeteries are located near urnfields). During the 4th-century AD reuse of urnfields as a location for cemeteries ceases. This could be the start of the myth forming around urnfields, which is observed in the Medieval period. However it should be noted that some urnfields in Flanders were reused as cemeteries during the Merovingian period thus perhaps the reuse still continued during this period. The presented results are comparable with the results from other studies conducted in Flanders, Drenthe and Westphalia.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
closed access
Archaeologists still have a lot to learn about the mortuary rituals of cremated human remains from the Bronze and Iron Age. Even though a large sample of burials from these periods contain cremated...Show moreArchaeologists still have a lot to learn about the mortuary rituals of cremated human remains from the Bronze and Iron Age. Even though a large sample of burials from these periods contain cremated remains, the main research focus has been on inhumated remains. Only recently, the importance of cremated remains became clear and the possibilities of investigating cremated human remains started to be explored. Yet, a lot of information might still be derived from these remains. With this thesis, the importance of careful and detailed excavation is studied through an examination of a human cremation burial from the Uddeler Heegde, Apeldoorn. This is done with the aim to study the funerary practices of the burial to its most extent. First, the concept of mortuary rituals is prospected through a modern (European) perspective. The excavation and determination of the case study burial are described in detail, providing a transparent study. By using concepts as personhood, social persona and the dramatis personae theory of Hertz, the relational identities of the deceased are studied. Hypotheses are used to define what mortuary practices could have been possible and which are rather implausible. Overall, this study demonstrates the additional possibilities acquired by high quality excavation of human cremation burials.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
