This chapter deals with plant remains retrieved during the excavation of traces left by the Bronze, Iron and Roman Age farming societies in Oss-North. Its two parts are not really related except... Show moreThis chapter deals with plant remains retrieved during the excavation of traces left by the Bronze, Iron and Roman Age farming societies in Oss-North. Its two parts are not really related except for the fact that the questions posed are tackled by using archaeobotanical methods. Subchapter 8.1 discusses the vegetation on the farmyards, subchapter 8.2 concerns the crops grown by the farmers. Show less
Stable isotope analysis of charred Bronze Age emmer wheat and barley excavated in the northwest Netherlands reveals high values of δ15N. Cultivation of the same cereal species under controlled... Show moreStable isotope analysis of charred Bronze Age emmer wheat and barley excavated in the northwest Netherlands reveals high values of δ15N. Cultivation of the same cereal species under controlled circumstances on the appropriate substrates provided baselines indicating that the prehistoric cereal fields must have been manured. Reconstruction of the size of the arable fields and livestock suggests that animal dung cannot have been the only source of fertilizer. Application of household waste and mud from ditches is considered as well as a possible effect from burning stubble. Growing of pulses was not practiced and therefore this method of ameliorating the soil has to be left out of the question. The outcome of the study presented here is that the Bronze Age farmers of the northwest Netherlands used several means to maintain the fertility of their arable land and that they may have adapted their strategy according to circumstances. Show less
Ecologically and politically peripheral areas, such as mountains, deserts and marshes have often been seen as zones of resistance against the encroaching state. At first sight, the mountainous... Show moreEcologically and politically peripheral areas, such as mountains, deserts and marshes have often been seen as zones of resistance against the encroaching state. At first sight, the mountainous uplands and the desert fringe of North Africa seem to be such an area of resistance: in the Late Roman and Byzantine period, the Atlas Mountains and the Tripolitanian Sahara were epicentres of indigenous revolt against the Roman state, particularly during the Moorish Wars c. 533-548 AD. The question is whether the physical geography truly determined a cultural antagonism between inland zones and the Mediterranean coast. Using evidence from survey archaeology, epigraphy and literary sources, this paper tests models on connectivity and resistance, disputing the simple opposition between an inland, indigenous world on the one hand, and a cosmopolitan , Mediterranean and Roman world on the other. Instead, evidence shows that the relationship between "Roman" and "native" was much more complex, entangled and ambivalent, despite the peripheral nature of the inland landscapes. The cultural landscape was determined as much by historical factors as environmental. Show less
Neolithic societies in the Dutch wetlands are characterised as “extended broad-spectrum hunter-gatherers”. They adopted agricultural elements only gradually and wild resources continue to play an... Show moreNeolithic societies in the Dutch wetlands are characterised as “extended broad-spectrum hunter-gatherers”. They adopted agricultural elements only gradually and wild resources continue to play an important role in subsistence. However, the exact duration of the process of neolithisation in the Dutch wetlands is debated. We analyse the taxonomic diversity of faunal assemblages from the late Mesolithic and Neolithic in the Netherlands. We demonstrate that the diversity of exploited faunal resources remains remarkably constant throughout the Neolithic. We interpret this to show that the reliance on an extended broad-spectrum economy was not a transitional phase, but was a viable economic system in its own right. Show less
In 1956 and 1957 prof. A.E. van Giffen, the nestor of Dutch Archaeology, excavated two burial mounds near Oostwoud, on a parcel named ‘Tuithoorn’ in de province of Noord-Holland. These mounds... Show moreIn 1956 and 1957 prof. A.E. van Giffen, the nestor of Dutch Archaeology, excavated two burial mounds near Oostwoud, on a parcel named ‘Tuithoorn’ in de province of Noord-Holland. These mounds appeared to have been erected in the Late Neolithic between 2500 and 1900 cal BC. They contained at least 12 well preserved skeletons dating to the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. Until today these are the only burial mounds from that period in West-Frisia, moreover, they contained the only skeletons from that period in the area. Yet, apart from a few brief overviews the data have not been published. The present article is an attempt to re-analyse the data of the investigations by Van Giffen, but also of later research by M. de Weerd in 1963 and 1966, and by J.D. Van der Waals in 1977 and J.N. Lanting in 1978 in the same mounds. In the framework of the NWO-project Farmers of the Coast, the first author undertook the task to collect the dispersed data and to try to unravel the sequences of burial. Aided by the Leiden University Bakels fund, and a fund of the Province of Noord-Halland, we also had the opportunity to sample the bones for DNA and isotopes, and to study the pathology of the skeletons. Some of the analyses are not yet finished, but here we publish the excavation data using the original field drawings and day notes, and much of the original photography. We have done this in some detail because the site is one of the most important in its kind in the Netherlands and because it will play an important role in the discussion about Bell Beaker mobility and genetics in the near future. We used already some of the skeletal and DNA data in this article, but more detailed studies are following. Show less
