A Living Landscape : Bronze Age settlement sites in the Dutch river area (c. 2000-800 BC)
Arnoldussen, S.
Citation
Arnoldussen, S. (2008, September 3). A Living Landscape : Bronze Age settlement sites in the Dutch river area (c. 2000-800 BC). Sidestone Press, Leiden. Retrieved from
https://hdl.handle.net/1887/13070
Version: Corrected Publisher’s Version
License: Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden
Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/13070
Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable).
Preface 9 1 IntroductIon: LIvIng In a dynamIc (cuLturaL) LandscaPe 11
1.1 Introduction 11
1.2 Why study Bronze Age settlements? 13
1.3 Settlement analysis and Bronze Age studies: the onset 15
1.4 Previous approaches to Dutch Bronze Age settlement sites 15 1.5 Bronze Age settlement sites: How to answer the questions? 19 1.6 The selection of a study area: the Dutch central river area 19
1.7 Formulation of research questions 24
1.8 Introducing the data set: Bronze Age settlement sites in the Dutch river area 25
1.9 Research context 27
1.10 A living landscape: research outline 28
2 the dutch centraL rIver area: fLuvIaL dynamIcs and PaLaeogeograPhy 29
2.1 Introduction 29
2.2 Palaeogeographic research history 29
2.3 The Dutch river area: processes and dynamics 30
2.3.1 Types of depositional environments in the study area 30
2.3.2 Morphological river types 32
2.3.3 Crevasse splay deposits 36
2.3.4 Lithogenetic descriptions of fluvial deposits 38
2.3.5 Post-depositional processes 40
2.3.6 Changes in river type distributions 43
2.4 Periodicity of fluvial dynamics in relation to human time-scales 43
2.4.1 Instant (catastrophic) events 44
2.4.2 Seasonal to yearly events 44
2.4.3 Generational events 44
2.4.4 Events at the centuries time-scale 45
2.4.5 Time-scales of centuries to a millennium 46
2.5 Vegetation development of (past) fluvial landscapes 48
2.5.1 Introduction 48
2.5.2 Factors affecting vegetation reconstruction of fluvial landscapes 48 2.5.3 Vegetation development of alluvial geogenetic facies 48 2.5.4 Two examples of vegetation reconstructions for MBA-B settlement sites 50 2.6 Simplified palaeogeography for the Dutch river area c. 2450-450 cal BC 51
2.7 Implications for archaeology 55
2.7.1 Properties of active fluvial landscapes 55
2.7.2 Properties of passive fluvial landscapes 56
2.7.3 Factors influencing the distribution and discovery of Bronze Age settlement
sites in the Dutch central river area 57
2.7.4 A methodology for discovering (Bronze Age) settlement sites on or near
former fluvial systems in the Dutch river area 61
3 termInoLogy, modeLs and PremIses: backgrounds to studIes of dutch bronze age
settLement systems 65
3.1 Introduction 65
3.2 Concepts in settlement archaeology and definitions used in this study 66
CONTENTS
3.2.1 Defining the settlement 66
3.2.2 Defining and studying house-sites: approach and terminology 69 3.2.3 Criteria for Bronze Age house recognition and reconstruction 70 3.2.4 Settlement sites and house-sites as units of study 74
3.2.5 The cultural landscape: concepts and approaches 74
3.3 Models current in Dutch later prehistoric settlement archaeology 76
3.3.1 The ‘wandering farmstead’ model 77
3.3.2 The ‘wandering farmstead’ model: tracing its origins 77
3.3.3 Extending the ‘wandering farmstead’ model 78
3.3.4 Models for settlement dynamics: a conclusion 84
3.4 Premises in settlement archaeology 85
3.4.1 Farmhouse occupants and social group size 85
3.4.2 Wood durability 88
3.4.3 The fit between house and household life-cycles 92
3.4.4 Soil-depletion 94
3.5 Conclusions: beyond concepts and models 96
4 case studIes: bronze age settLement sItes In the dutch rIver area 97
4.1 Introduction 97
4.2 Zijderveld 98
4.2.1 Introduction 98
4.2.2 General remarks 98
4.2.2 The Zijderveld excavations 99
4.2.3 Conclusions 106
4.3 Eigenblok and Enspijk 106
4.3.1 Introduction 106
4.3.2 General remarks 106
4.3.3 The Enspijk excavation 108
4.3.4 The Eigenblok excavation 111
4.3.6 Conclusions 119
4.4 De Bogen 119
4.4.1 Introduction 119
4.4.2 General remarks 121
4.4.3 The De Bogen excavations 121
4.4.4 Conclusions 139
4.5 Wijk bij Duurstede 140
4.5.1 Introduction 140
4.5.2 General remarks 140
4.5.3 The Wijk bij Duurstede excavations 142
4.5.4 Conclusions 153
4.6 Lienden 154
4.6.1 Introduction 154
4.6.2 General remarks 154
4.6.3 The Lienden excavation 155
4.6.4 Conclusions 159
4.7 Dodewaard 160
4.7.1 Introduction 160
4.7.2. General remarks 160
4.7.3 The Dodewaard excavation 160
4.7.4 Conclusions 165
5 bronze age settLement sIte eLements 167
5.1 Introduction 167
5.2 The phasing and dating of Dutch Bronze Age houses 167
5.2.1 Like no other? Dutch Early Bronze Age houses 167
5.2.2 A dark age? Houses from the Middle Bronze Age-A? 174
5.2.3 Middle Bronze Age-B houses; their dating and typology 185 5.2.3.1 The start of the tradition of three-aisled farmhouses 185 5.2.3.2 The typology of Dutch Middle Bronze Age farmhouses 192 5.2.3.3 A regional approach to (the typology of) Dutch Middle Bronze Age
farmhouses 198
5.2.3.4 A supraregional approach to Middle Bronze Age houses 218 5.2.4 Late Bronze Age houses; the demise of supra-regional similarities 223 5.2.5 The return of house-visibility: Early Iron Age houses 229
5.3 Barn- or shed-types of outbuildings 232
5.4 Granary-type outbuildings 236
5.5 Fences and palisades 243
5.6 Ditches 253
5.7 Pits and wells 262
5.8 Other possible settlement site elements 265
5.9 Non-settlement site elements? 269
5.10 Summary 272
6 In search of bronze age farmsteads: anaLysIng PrehIstorIc house-sItes 275
6.1 Introduction 275
6.2 Order in prehistoric house-sites? 275
6.3 Visual Analysis of Spatial Overlays (VASO): assumptions, aims, results 276
6.3.1 The hypothetical house-site 277
6.3.2 Technical methodology 278
6.3.3 Problems, limitations and pitfalls 281
6.3.4 Analyses and interpretations: an introduction 283
6.3.5 Zijderveld 283
6.3.6 Eigenblok 285
6.3.7 De Bogen 288
6.3.8 Wijk bij Duurstede - De Horden 292
6.3.9 Lienden - Kesteren 293
6.3.10 Dodewaard 294
6.3.11 Tiel - Medel 8 296
6.4 Common grounds? A comparison of the VASO results 299
6.4.1 The defining role of the orientation of the houses 301
6.4.2 Outbuildings and their relations to farmhouses 303
6.4.3 Fences, fence-systems and their relations to house-sites 313 6.4.4 The distribution and contents of pits on Middle Bronze Age house-sites 321
6.4.5 High quality house-sites: multi-site VASO 325
6.5 On the reality of Bronze Age farmsteads 327
7 bronze age settLement dynamIcs In the dutch rIver area 365
7.1 Introduction 365
7.2 The onset: Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age-A occupation in the Dutch river area 365 7.2.1 Models for (Middle to Late) Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
settlement dynamics 365
CONTENTS
7.2.2 Neolithic sites and site types in the Dutch river area 376 7.2.3 Early Bronze Age sites and site types in the Dutch river area 379
7.2.3.1 The Early Bronze Age 379
7.2.3.2 Early Bronze Age sites in the study area 380
7.2.3.3 Conclusion: Early Bronze Age sites in the study area 384
7.2.4 Middle Bronze Age-A sites in the study area 384
7.2.4.1 Quiet before the storm? Low-visibility settlement archaeology 384 7.2.4.2 Middle Bronze Age-A settlement sites in the study area? 386 7.2.4.3 Absent or masked? Middle Bronze Age-A settlements? 386 7.3 Middle Bronze Age-B settlements: between wandering single farms and
fixed settlements? 387
7.3.1 Middle Bronze Age-B models of settlement dynamics and site types 387 7.3.2 Middle Bronze Age-B house-sites in diachronic perspective 389
7.3.3 Middle Bronze Age-B settlement preferences 395
7.3.4 Dynamic landscapes? 399
7.3.5 Man-landscape interactions 401
7.3.6 Middle Bronze Age-B settlement dynamics in supra-regional perspective 404 7.4 The aftermath: Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age occupation in the Dutch
river area 409
7.4.1 Problems of periodisation 409
7.4.2 Where have all the houses gone? Late Bronze Age settlement sites
in the river area 410
7.4.3 The Early Iron Age: much continuity and some changes? 415 7.5 Settlement site dynamics and dynamic landscapes: a summary 417 8 synthesIs: a LIvIng LandscaPe 421
8.1 Introduction 421
8.2 The Bronze Age cultural landscape 421
8.2.1 A man-made landscape: the role of fences 421
8.2.2 The nature and distribution of Middle Bronze Age-B house-sites 424 8.2.3 Separate domains? Categorization in the Middle Bronze Age
cultural landscape 431
8.2.3.1 Settlements; their boundaries and occupants 431
8.2.3.2 Chiefs, farmers or farming chiefs? 433
8.2.3.3 The living and the dead 437
8.2.3.4 Where good objects go to die? Patterns of object deposition 442 8.2.3.5 Settlement sites as locations for non-metal object deposition 444 8.2.3.6 Everything in its right place: the essence of the
Middle Bronze Age(-B) cultural landscape 454
8.3 A living landscape: epilogue and ways forward 456
8.3.1 Living landscapes and landscapes for living 457
8.3.2 Ways forward: knowledge gaps and potential fields of study 460
references 471
samenvattIng (dutch summary) 521
acknowLedgements 533
currIcuLum vItae 535
