Exploring the archaeological heritage of the Uddeler Heegde: an experiment

Verpoorte, A.; Fontijn, D.R.; Louwen, A.J. (2020)

Part of book or chapter of book

In the summer of 2013 and 2014 the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University has carried out archaeological fieldwork in a rather exceptional environment. Where since the implementation of the Valetta Treaty most excavations are aimed at ex-situ preservation of archaeological sites threatened by building activities, the site that was under investigation in 2013 and 2014 found itself in a nature reserve. As nature reserves are aimed at the very purpose of preservation, why then investigate an archaeological site that could easily profit from such a protected status? The recent access to high resolution LIDAR data for the entire surface of the present day Netherlands is only just beginning to reveal the richness of archaeological sites hidden beneath the foliage and undergrowth of the forests and heaths crammed in between the vast field systems of the Dutch countryside. From late prehistoric barrow landscapes and celtic fields to Medieval cart tracks, all these features still find themselves at the very surface in these nature reserves. These sites of various age can provide a unique glimpse into the past but their location at the very surface also makes these sites vulnerable and, as is becoming more clear in recent years, are threatened by nature itself. Tree roots, burrowing animals and ongoing podzolization are all examples of natural processes that gradually obscure these sites from sight. To map both the state as well as the research potential of such an archaeological ‘palimpsest’ an archaeological field experiment was carried out in one of the largest nature reserves of the Netherlands at a site called ‘Apeldoorn – Uddeler Heegde’. This article reports on the most important new insights of the fieldwork in the form of a landscape biography.

• barrows
• burial mounds
• Bronze Age
• Iron Age
• landscape archaeology
• fieldwork sampling strategies
• natural reserves
• heritage management

• All authors: Verpoorte, A.; Fontijn, D.R.; Louwen, A.J.
• Editor(s): Klinkenberg, V.; Oosten, R. van; Driel-Murray, C. van
• Date: 2020
• Title of host publication: Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia; A Human Environment
• Volume: 50
• Pages: 73 - 88
• ISBN (print): 9789088909078
• Link: https://www.sidestone.com/books/a-human-environment
• Name: 50
• Sponsorship: NWO
• Grant number: 277-60-001