The Nature and Dynamics of Pre-Roman Iron Age and Roman Iron Age Reclamation Settlements in the (Former) Peat and Clay-On-Peat Area of Friesland (The Netherlands)

ABSTRACT

Recent research into Pre-Roman Iron Age and Roman Iron Age peat reclamations in Friesland has made clear that the margins of the peat area were intensively inhabited during both periods. This same research also provided insights into the local environmental circumstances under which the settlements were founded, the shapes these settlements took, and the way they functioned in a changing landscape. Although growing problems with peat subsidence, which increased the local water table, eventually forced the settlers to leave their settlements and settle on newly reclaimed peat land, this did not necessarily mean the end for the old sites. The old reclamations silted up, which raised the land surface and reversed the effect of the subsidence, thereby, in time, making the old reclamations once again attractive for habitation. In the Late Roman Iron Age all reclaimed areas were abandoned, as were most of the salt marshes.

KEYWORDS:

• Dwelling mounds
• Frisia
• landscape
• peat reclamation
• settlement archaeology
• subsidence
• terps
• wetland archaeology

Disclosure statement

There are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marco Bakker

Marco Bakker is a PhD candidate at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology of the University of Groningen. He received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden, a bachelor’s degree in archaeology from the University of Groningen and a master’s degree in archaeology and art history from the University of Groningen. His PhD-project is about the Frisian peat reclamations of the pre-Roman Iron Age and Roman Iron Age. The aim of the project is to create a better understanding of the earliest peat reclamation activities in the northern Netherlands. Besides re-analyzing existing data, he has conducted new fieldwork which included a number of excavation campaigns in the province of Friesland. The fieldwork was funded by the Province of Fryslân and the University of Groningen.