Assessing human impact on Dutch Wadden Sea salt-marsh landscapes beyond terp mounds between 650 BC and AD 800

Description

From around 650 BC people started colonizing the salt marshes along the Wadden Sea coast of the present Netherlands. Because these marshes were subject to flooding, people lived on terps (artificial dwelling mounds). Salt-marsh ridges and tidal-fluvial natural levees with a top soil mainly consisting of sandy clay dominated the land. In between them lower floodplains were present with a more clayey top soil. On the southern fringe of the salt-marsh area, a dynamic transition existed from clayey to increasingly more peaty soil.

Early research in the area focused on the terps proper. Extensive archaeological research over the past decades in the immediate vicinity of the terp has shown that humans also severely impacted the surrounding landscape as well, e.g. by digging ditches and constructing (summer) dikes. So far, human activities at larger distance from the terps received little attention. Recent studies however, show that various activities affected these areas as well, thus testifying to more profound landscape impact than previously thought.

To expand our understanding of off-site activities in a salt-marsh area, we will combine data from excavations, soil coring, digital elevation maps, and palaeoecological analyses. Special attention is paid to diversity in geomorphological and soil units within the area, and their relation to the variety of human activities. With respect to the peat, and clay-on-peat areas in particular, we will also discuss how human actions altered these areas as a result of reclaiming and agricultural exploitation.

We will present first results and plans for the near future. We will also highlight some unknowns and pitfalls we have identified so far. Finally, we will place this subject in a wider debate regarding the substantial human impact on the Dutch lowlands, which is still affecting the living conditions in this area up to today.

Period	2-Sept-2023
Event title	29th European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting: Weaving Narratives
Event type	Conference
Conference number	29
Location	BelfastShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International