DOI Kapitel:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI Kapitel:Anscher, Theo J. ten; Knippenberg, Sebastiaan: Unexpected dimensions of a Swifterbant settlement at Medel-De Roeskamp (the Netherlands)
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0164
Theo J. ten Anscher and Sebastiaan Knippenberg
163
molished local farmyard) were detected by coring in
2012 by the archaeological firm RAAP (Boshoven
2012). Subsequent test-trenches excavated in 2014 by
a combined team of RAAP and ACVU-HBS yielded
additional information: a site of the Swifterbant cul-
ture covering about 1 ha, situated below an extensive
Bronze Age settlement associated with at least two
burial mounds. In between both archaeological strata
there were scattered finds of a then unknown age
(Norde / Van Renswoude 2014).
The developer of the business park, Industrieschap
Medel, an organisation established by the municipali-
ties of Tiel and Neder-Betuwe, decided on a time span
of at most one year for these sites to be excavated.13
Between November 2016 and September 2017 employ-
ees of four Dutch archaeological firms (RAAP, Archol,
ADC and BAAC), working together in a joint venture,
excavated the sites of Medel-De Roeskamp almost com-
pletely. The Bronze Age settlement includes several
successive house plans, dating to the youngest phase
of the Early Bronze Age in the Dutch river area (early
WKD3, c. 1,900-1,800 calBC).14 The largest and young-
est Early Bronze Age multi-phase house plan is also
the most complete one; it is accompanied by several
small granary-type structures with four or six posts.
The house site was covered by a particularly rich find
layer with more than 150,000 finds (including a lot of
loam weights which are among the oldest found in the
Netherlands). The burial mounds, two large monuments
and one small one, contained almost fifty graves, both
inhumations and cremations, dating from the Early
Bronze Age until well into the Middle Bronze Age
and possibly even the Iron Age. This settlement was
preceded by late Bell Beaker (c. 2,200-2,000 calBC)
and Early Bronze Age inhabitation (phases WKD1-2,
c. 2,000-1,900 calBC), of which mostly eroded sherds
were recognised as well as a few features, of which a
flat grave cemetery with inhumations is most striking.
It contains some single interments, a double grave and
a remarkable collective burial with the remains of more
than ten adults and children. A small Middle Neolithic
settlement belonging to the Hazendonk group (with
14C-dates around 3,700-3,500 calBC) was uncovered
too. These sites were stratigraphically separated from
13 The main element of the tender was a design and construct
brief largely drawn up by the excavating companies. Contrary
to common practice in Dutch contract archeology, the contract
was won on the basis of quality rather than lowest price.
14 Early Bronze Age phasing according to Ten Anscher
2012, 239-271. WKD is the abbreviation of ‘Wikkeldraad’ =
barbed wire = ‘Stacheldraht’, named after the dominant type of
decoration on the ceramics.
each other and from the large Swifterbant site, the
subject of the remainder of this paper.
Due to the huge number of finds (c. 950,000)
from the combined Medel sites, the site report is not
finished yet. Although all finds that were selected
for further research (about half a million) have been
analysed by now, at this moment only a preliminary
impression of the results of Medel-De Roeskamp, the
most significant Swifterbant residential site excavated
yet, can be presented.
Excavation strategy
The considerable depth of the Swifterbant occupation
levels at 1.0-1.5 m below the present-day surface and
the high groundwater table provided a challenge. For-
tunately it proved possible to excavate the Swifterbant
site without having to rely on costly drainage by filter
wells. This was accomplished by not opening up more
than the area that could be fully documented during
a single day. Typically, the day after each excavation
unit was inundated. However, in order to obtain long
and deeper cross sections, and for the investigation of
some archaeological layers in the channel adjacent to
the site, for a limited period a well point system was
indispensable.15
Given these limitations, and also keeping in mind
the maximum field-work period of twelve months for
a large site, one had to compromise. Extensive excava-
tion, for instance by sieving or trowelling the complete
archeological layer, would imply that only a small part
of the settlement area could have been investigated
fully. Instead, the goal was to get a general overview
of the ‘entire’ Swifterbant settlement, making use of
the rare opportunity offered at Medel. The standard
excavation procedure was to sieve about one of every
eight square meters of the settlement layer (sandy clay)
using a 5 mm and sometimes a 2 mm mesh-screen,
while many 10 liter samples of the settlement layer
were taken for future sieving using finer meshes. The
finds from the other 87.5 % of the settlement layer
were collected during opening up using a mechanical
shovel, thereby losing an estimated 97 % of the finds.
Even so the number of recovered finds is staggering.
15 In a clayey environment filter wells hardly ensure dry wor-
king circumstances. The main reason for the installation of
filter wells was that by lowering the high groundwater level the
upward force of the ground water and therefore the risk of
abrupt flooding (piping) of a trench was reduced. At Medel the
drainage had the unexpected negative effect of reducing the
visibility of features like postholes.
163
molished local farmyard) were detected by coring in
2012 by the archaeological firm RAAP (Boshoven
2012). Subsequent test-trenches excavated in 2014 by
a combined team of RAAP and ACVU-HBS yielded
additional information: a site of the Swifterbant cul-
ture covering about 1 ha, situated below an extensive
Bronze Age settlement associated with at least two
burial mounds. In between both archaeological strata
there were scattered finds of a then unknown age
(Norde / Van Renswoude 2014).
The developer of the business park, Industrieschap
Medel, an organisation established by the municipali-
ties of Tiel and Neder-Betuwe, decided on a time span
of at most one year for these sites to be excavated.13
Between November 2016 and September 2017 employ-
ees of four Dutch archaeological firms (RAAP, Archol,
ADC and BAAC), working together in a joint venture,
excavated the sites of Medel-De Roeskamp almost com-
pletely. The Bronze Age settlement includes several
successive house plans, dating to the youngest phase
of the Early Bronze Age in the Dutch river area (early
WKD3, c. 1,900-1,800 calBC).14 The largest and young-
est Early Bronze Age multi-phase house plan is also
the most complete one; it is accompanied by several
small granary-type structures with four or six posts.
The house site was covered by a particularly rich find
layer with more than 150,000 finds (including a lot of
loam weights which are among the oldest found in the
Netherlands). The burial mounds, two large monuments
and one small one, contained almost fifty graves, both
inhumations and cremations, dating from the Early
Bronze Age until well into the Middle Bronze Age
and possibly even the Iron Age. This settlement was
preceded by late Bell Beaker (c. 2,200-2,000 calBC)
and Early Bronze Age inhabitation (phases WKD1-2,
c. 2,000-1,900 calBC), of which mostly eroded sherds
were recognised as well as a few features, of which a
flat grave cemetery with inhumations is most striking.
It contains some single interments, a double grave and
a remarkable collective burial with the remains of more
than ten adults and children. A small Middle Neolithic
settlement belonging to the Hazendonk group (with
14C-dates around 3,700-3,500 calBC) was uncovered
too. These sites were stratigraphically separated from
13 The main element of the tender was a design and construct
brief largely drawn up by the excavating companies. Contrary
to common practice in Dutch contract archeology, the contract
was won on the basis of quality rather than lowest price.
14 Early Bronze Age phasing according to Ten Anscher
2012, 239-271. WKD is the abbreviation of ‘Wikkeldraad’ =
barbed wire = ‘Stacheldraht’, named after the dominant type of
decoration on the ceramics.
each other and from the large Swifterbant site, the
subject of the remainder of this paper.
Due to the huge number of finds (c. 950,000)
from the combined Medel sites, the site report is not
finished yet. Although all finds that were selected
for further research (about half a million) have been
analysed by now, at this moment only a preliminary
impression of the results of Medel-De Roeskamp, the
most significant Swifterbant residential site excavated
yet, can be presented.
Excavation strategy
The considerable depth of the Swifterbant occupation
levels at 1.0-1.5 m below the present-day surface and
the high groundwater table provided a challenge. For-
tunately it proved possible to excavate the Swifterbant
site without having to rely on costly drainage by filter
wells. This was accomplished by not opening up more
than the area that could be fully documented during
a single day. Typically, the day after each excavation
unit was inundated. However, in order to obtain long
and deeper cross sections, and for the investigation of
some archaeological layers in the channel adjacent to
the site, for a limited period a well point system was
indispensable.15
Given these limitations, and also keeping in mind
the maximum field-work period of twelve months for
a large site, one had to compromise. Extensive excava-
tion, for instance by sieving or trowelling the complete
archeological layer, would imply that only a small part
of the settlement area could have been investigated
fully. Instead, the goal was to get a general overview
of the ‘entire’ Swifterbant settlement, making use of
the rare opportunity offered at Medel. The standard
excavation procedure was to sieve about one of every
eight square meters of the settlement layer (sandy clay)
using a 5 mm and sometimes a 2 mm mesh-screen,
while many 10 liter samples of the settlement layer
were taken for future sieving using finer meshes. The
finds from the other 87.5 % of the settlement layer
were collected during opening up using a mechanical
shovel, thereby losing an estimated 97 % of the finds.
Even so the number of recovered finds is staggering.
15 In a clayey environment filter wells hardly ensure dry wor-
king circumstances. The main reason for the installation of
filter wells was that by lowering the high groundwater level the
upward force of the ground water and therefore the risk of
abrupt flooding (piping) of a trench was reduced. At Medel the
drainage had the unexpected negative effect of reducing the
visibility of features like postholes.