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oai:oar.onroerenderfgoed.be:VIOR002-007 2007-10-30T03:10:46Z VIOR

Verkennend onderzoek langs de Witte Nete (provincie Antwerpen): een geomorfologische benadering van archeologisch-landschappelijk diagnostisch onderzoek in de Kempen Meylemans, Erwin Bastiaens, Jan Cousserier, Katrien Jansen, Isabelle The valley of the Kleine Nete river is archaeologically a poorly documented region, primarily due to lack of archaeological surveys. This lack of knowledge stands in the way of developing efficient archaeological management strategies in light of planning- or development schemes. When an advice was asked for drawing up a ‘basin management plan’ for the Nete basin, we decided for a period from end 2004 to march 2005 to focus attention within the department of the ‘Central Archaeological Inventory’ (CAI) of the Flemish Heritage Institute on this region. For this purpose the data in the CAI was revised, a number of amateur archaeologists active in the region were contacted and thus some new findspots were recorded, and a sample fieldwalking survey was executed with the main upper course of the Kleine Nete (the Witte Nete) as central focuspoint. This survey is the subject of this article. Our aims were to 1) collect primary archaeological data, and 2) develop a methodology for regional diagnostic research and evaluation mapping taking into account ‘the unknown’ archaeological heritage, without using the classic predictive modelling strategies. For this purpose the following steps were undertaken: 1) Creation of a basic geomorphological map of the area 2) Archaeological fieldwalking survey, aiming to equally sample all geomorphological units (if possible) 3) Comparing the results from steps 1 & 2 and identification of patterns 4) Augering survey to test the geomorphological model and assess the physical preservation of landscape elements 5) Interpretation and modelling preservation- and research potential. To develop the basic geomorphological map a number of sources were used: quaternary geological maps, soil maps, recent and historical topographical maps, aerial photographs, and the digital terrain model of Flanders. This last instrument was developed very recently (2004), and is a dtm covering the whole of Flanders. The basic notion behind the research was to integrate and interpret the landscape and archaeological data in one matrix, as a result of intertwined depositional and post-depositional processes. The result is a model of preservation potential and research possibilities. Rare landscape elements such as late glacial dune ridges, palaeochannels, etc. were identified and mapped, and it was possible to assess the historical and subrecent erosion processes in developing a general preservation model with the identification of strongly physically degraded areas. This approach also identified a number of important gaps in our geomorphological knowledge: primarily the phasing in the evolution and stratigraphy of the Holocene valleys, and the internal morphology of the Holocene dune areas. The archaeological artefacts collected during the fieldwalking survey were interpreted and assessed in light of the identified post-depositional processes and geomorphological units. In this interpretation distributional patterns could be distinguished which can be ascribed on the one hand to preferences in landuse patterns in different periods, on the other hand resulting from post- depositional processes, finally to the data collection strategy (fieldwalking). When comparing the patterns discovered during this study with archaeological prediction models used in the region, we had come to the conclusions that: 1) The available sources for the creation of good prediction models (in the classic, processual meaning of the term) are insufficient and lack detail 2) The classic prediction models are strongly simplified documents, taking into account only a minor number of parameters 3) The predicted patterns in these models, when applied to our study, are very unaccurate. On the basis of the resulting model pro-active strategies can be developed which include research strategies to fill in our gaps in the knowledge, and further evaluation and preservation strategies for the identified well preserved areas. Zones of rare preservation potential can be detected and in a next phase evaluated. In light of development schemes appropriate preventive measures can be formulated for each geomorphological unit. The research here described had mainly a methodological focus. Despite the small scale of the research we succeeded in creating a basic model for archaeological regional diagnostics for the Campine area, which is mainly based on geo-archaeological approaches. This model will be further refined in the future, attempting to fill in the gaps in the geomorphological knowledge, and gathering more basic data with additional surveys in the Campine area. VIOE 2006-01-01 text application/pdf https://id.erfgoed.net/infocat/publicaties/209 https://oar.onroerenderfgoed.be/publicaties/VIOR/2/VIOR002-007.pdf Meylemans E., Bastiaens J., Cousserier K. & Jansen I. 2006: Centrale Archeologische Inventaris (CAI) II. Thematisch inventarisatie- en evaluatieonderzoek, VIOE-Rapporten 02, Brussel, 101-126. ISSN:1781 4936 nl-BE Copyright VIOE