Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill? A Low-Cost and Time-Efficient Molehill Survey of the Lost Medieval Harbor Site of Monnikerede, Belgium

ABSTRACT

Grasslands pose a particular problem for archaeological survey involving artifact assessment, as no material is plowed up to the surface. Although finds in molehills are often the only source of information available on sites with such low visibility, an archaeology of molehills has thus far been largely disregarded. Yet, by applying a low-cost and time-efficient methodology, both the potential and the pitfalls of molehill archaeology come to the forefront. At the medieval harbor site of Monnikerede, it was possible to assess material culture and to locate certain structural elements. However, when artifact densities were compared with the underlying geophysical anomalies, a more complex relationship appeared at the level of individual features.

KEYWORDS:

• Talpa europaea L
• archaeological prospection
• bioturbation
• electromagnetic induction
• unmanned aerial vehicle survey

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the proprietor Mr. Vanwassenhove and the tenant Mr. Vandekerkhove for their cooperation while researching their field. The authors appreciate the useful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper made by the anonymous referees of the Journal of Field Archaeology. Finally, we must also thank Dr. Jeroen De Reu and Thomas Donald Jacobs for proofreading the manuscript.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Jan Trachet (Ph.D. 2016, Ghent University) conducted Ph.D. research focused on the detection of deserted medieval harbor sites in the Belgian coastal plain, using a combination of non-invasive archaeological methods and proto-cadastral written sources. His current research at Ghent University concerns a landscape-archaeological study of Pieter Pourbus’ painting of the Liberty of Bruges.

Maxime Poulain (Ph.D. 2016, Ghent University) conducted a Ph.D. research project focused on the archaeology of early modern Flanders, and particularly on the use of ceramics in the construction of identities. He now works as a researcher at Ghent University, studying 19th-century Belgian immigrants in the U.S.A. through the analysis of material culture, house-building traditions, and landscapes.

Samuël Delefortrie (Ph.D. 2016, Ghent University) studied geology at Ghent University and has finished a doctoral dissertation on the use, improvement, and automation of Electromagnetic Induction techniques at the Faculty of Bioscience and Engineering.

Marc Van Meirvenne (Ph.D. 1991, Ghent University) is an Agricultural Engineer with a specialization in soil science and is Dean of the Faculty of Bioscience and Engineering at Ghent University. His field of expertise includes geophysical soil sensing, geostatistics, and sampling strategies.

Wim De Clercq (Ph.D. 2008, Ghent University) is lecturer in Historical Archaeology at Ghent University. His research interests include historic rural settlement patterns, material culture, and house-building traditions in the northern part of Flanders in both the Roman period and the Medieval period.

ORCID

Jan Trachet http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6232-9125

Maxime Poulain http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5385-7460

Samuël Delefortrie http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5461-2422

Additional information

Funding

This research was conducted as a part of the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO)-funded project, Medieval Bruges and its outer ports. A landscape-archaeological contribution to the Zwin debate (3G004013).