The eastern part of West Frisia, in the northwest of the Netherlands, was densely inhabited in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (c. 1600-800 BC). Forty years ago large-scale excavations were carried... Show moreThe eastern part of West Frisia, in the northwest of the Netherlands, was densely inhabited in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (c. 1600-800 BC). Forty years ago large-scale excavations were carried out in the region and extensive settlement areas were investigated. None of these excavations are fully published, but nevertheless a model for Bronze Age habitation of West Frisia was presented in the 1970s. In 2007, 2009 and 2011 a total area of 6 ha to the northwest of the town of Enkhuizen was excavated. The results of these excavations present us with an opportunity to evaluate some current ideas about the wide distribution and development of the settlements, the house building traditions and economic aspects of Bronze Age farmers in West Frisia. At least a few centuries before the estuary at Bergen closed, Bronze Age habitation appeared, both on sanded up creek ridges and on the low-lying clay areas adjacent to, and between the creek ridges. The extent of habitation appears to be on a much wider scale than was previously suggested. House plans are remarkably similar, but there is substantially less repairing and rebuilding than previously thought. Also, there are new considerations about the generality of changes in subsistence strategy, the presumed landscape openness and the way the habitation came to an end just before the start of the Iron Age. If it is not a higher groundwater level that caused the inhabitants to build the 'terps' in the second half of the Late Bronze Age, it may well have been inundations, though not necessarily of a marine origin. Show less
