@article { VIOR002-001,
	year = {2006},
	title = {Steentijd in de Kempen. Prospectie, kartering en waardering van het laat-paleolithisch en mesolithisch erfgoed},
	publisher = {VIOE},
	volume = {2},
	journal = {VIOE-Rapporten},
	url = {https://oar.onroerenderfgoed.be/publicaties/VIOR/2/VIOR002-001.pdf},
	abstract = {The Campine area (‘Kempen’) has for some 
time past been known for its large quantity of Final 
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites. Archaeological 
fieldwork of the last few years has revealed that these 
sites are rich in artefact numbers and sometimes 
very extensive. Most, however, are severely affected 
by (sub-)recent human impact on the landscape. 
In the undisturbed - mostly wooded - areas, by 
contrast, possible artefact scatters are invisible. Until 
recently, therefore, these areas were considered unfit 
for archaeological survey. This article presents a 
systematic survey of these landscapes with appropriate 
drilling campaigns, using drills of 20 cm diameter 
and screens with a 3mm mesh. The goal of the 
project is to systematically assess the archaeological 
value of the Campine region in order to select sites 
for protection. This program should also allow for 
a better prediction of archaeological potential in 
infrastructure or land management operations. 
The project had two phases. The first phase 
took place in 2001 and consisted of 
1) the inventory 
of known sites (including input into the Central 
Archaeological Inventory), 
2) the re-localisation in 
the field of a selection of these sites, and 
3) a survey 
for new sites. The latter only took place in areas 
where good preservation conditions were likely, i.e. 
places with more or less intact (podsolic) soil profiles, 
mostly in forests. This approach appeared to be quite 
successful. In areas selected on the basis of their 
geomorphologic and topographical characteristics, 
drilling often delivered artefacts. As such, a series of 
formerly unknown sites could be detected. They are 
well-preserved under vegetation covers and mostly 
situated in specific geographical contexts: on high dry 
sandy soils next to (former) open water (river or fen), 
providing new insights into prehistoric land use. 
During the second phase, an assessment of potentially valuable sites took place. In the summers of 2002 
and 2003, five selected site complexes were screened 
systematically: Ravels-Witgoor, Opglabbeek-Ruiterskuilen/Schaapsven/Turfven, Lommel-Maatheide, 
Lommel-Molse Nete, and Arendonk-Korhaan. These 
locations were selected because of their archaeological 
potential and the variety of management situations, 
i.e. from acutely threatened sites to locations in normally well-protected nature reserves. On each of these 
sites, several hectares were systematically sampled in 
a 5 by 6 meter grid. This approach provided sufficient 
information without destroying the sites in any way. 
One of the striking results of the assessment phase is 
that the sites are in no way restricted to isolated artefact scatters representing single occupations. Rather, 
they contain chains of scatters over hundreds, if not 
thousands of meters, generally along open waters. 
In all, the study provided new knowledge on the 
location, preservation, wealth, extension, and nature 
of Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic site complexes 
in the Campine area, and presents a new approach 
that can be used for further systematic surveys of 
prehistoric flint scatters in Flanders in order to better protect this very vulnerable part of the archaeological heritage.},
	keywords = {},
	author = {Van Gils, , Marijn and De Bie, , Marc}
}

@article { VIOR002-002,
	year = {2006},
	title = {De evaluatie van bodemerosie op de neolithische site van Ottenburg/Grez-Doiceau},
	publisher = {VIOE},
	volume = {2},
	journal = {VIOE-Rapporten},
	url = {https://oar.onroerenderfgoed.be/publicaties/VIOR/2/VIOR002-002.pdf},
	abstract = {This contribution reports on the investigations 
at the Neolithic site of Ottenburg, located in the 
loess area of Flanders. The research must lead to the 
evaluation of the preservation of this archaeological 
site with regard to both historic and present-day 
water and tillage erosion. Additionally, it serves as 
a test case for the use of the newly developed highresolution digital terrain model (DTM) of Flanders. 
The identification of historic erosion is based on 
the current depths of (calcareous loess and clay 
illuviation) soil horizons, detected by means of hand 
augering\nthe current erosion is simulated with a 
spatially distributed erosion and sediment delivery 
model. At Ottenburg, the results of both approaches 
correspond quite well, allowing the identification of 
four zones with a different magnitude of soil erosion. 
Taking into account the established extension of the 
Neolithic site, based on the distribution of artefacts at 
the surface and microtopographic features identified 
on the DTM, a number of site management guidelines 
are proposed. Ultimately, this should result in the 
elaboration of a detailed site management plan.},
	keywords = {},
	author = {Vanmontfort, , Bart and De Man, , Joris and Van Rompaey, , Anton and Langohr, , Roger and Clarys, , Benoît}
}

@article { VIOR002-003,
	year = {2006},
	title = {Een abdij onder het gras. Geofysische prospectie bij de evaluatie van verdwenen monumenten},
	publisher = {VIOE},
	volume = {2},
	journal = {VIOE-Rapporten},
	url = {https://oar.onroerenderfgoed.be/publicaties/VIOR/2/VIOR002-003.pdf},
	abstract = {The abbey of Herkenrode, situated to the north- 
west of Hasselt (B., prov. Limburg), is thought to have 
been founded around 1182 AD. This foundation has 
been attributed to Gerard, count of Loon (1171-1194), 
and must have been undertaken during a period of ma- 
jor political problems. Later on, during the 13th century, the abbey became the largest and richest Cistercian 
complex for women in the Low Countries. Its importance is illustrated by the fact that the abbey remained 
the burial place for a number of members from the 
countal family of Loon. Many of the medieval structures of the abbey have been described in historical 
documents and are depicted on figurative maps. 
Prior to the planned rebuilding of the abbey, during the 18th century, part of the complex was destroyed to make way for new structures. However, this 
rebuilding has never been realised due to the political 
upheaval towards the end of that century. After the 
French Revolution, the abbey was sold and some of 
the remaining buildings were used for industrial and 
agricultural purposes. Ultimately, the central part of 
the medieval abbey – church, cloister, kitchen, refectory, priest’s and guest’s houses, mill, brewery – has 
been completely destroyed. 
In 2003, the Flemish Heritage Institute (‘Vlaams 
Instituut voor het Onroerend Erfgoed’, the successor 
of the former ‘Instituut voor het Archeologisch Patrimonium’) ordered a geophysical  survey by the Archaeological Prospection Services of the University of 
Southampton. This survey was designed to see whether 
the subsurface remains of the medieval structures could 
be identified and evaluated. Two types of geophysical 
prospection techniques were applied: resistivity measurements and magnetometry. Subsequently, the contrasting results of both techniques were compared, 
evaluated and integrated. 
The exact location of the church, the cloister, and 
service buildings were recorded, together with some 
strong rooms and cellars. The results, showing a relatively good preservation of the subsurface structures 
will be used for excavation planning. The archaeological 
research will contribute to the touristic and economic revaluation of the abbey complex, as planned by the Stichting Vlaams Erfgoed (Flemish Heritage Foundation).},
	keywords = {},
	author = {Van Impe, , Luc and Strutt, , Kris}
}

@article { VIOR002-004,
	year = {2006},
	title = {Inventarisatie van het paleo-ecologisch bodemarchief voor archeologisch onderzoek en bescherming },
	publisher = {VIOE},
	volume = {2},
	journal = {VIOE-Rapporten},
	url = {https://oar.onroerenderfgoed.be/publicaties/VIOR/2/VIOR002-004.pdf},
	abstract = {In recent years palaeoecological research 
has gained a lot of interest within the field of 
archaeology. It is used for the reconstruction of 
the past environment as well as for studying the 
interaction between man and his environment 
during (pre)historic times. Also in matters of nature 
conservation and development palaeoecological 
research enjoys more and more attention, for 
establishing reference images and insight in landscape 
and vegetation history. Moreover, nowadays people 
become aware of the fact that the palaeoecological 
natural archive is vulnerable and threatened. 
For these reasons the need was felt for a systematic 
overview of all the palynological research in Flanders, 
published and unpublished, from both archaeological 
sites and natural sequences. Up to now this database 
comprises 35 sites and 0 radiocarbon dates. Goals 
were to make the palynological data available for wider 
use and to preserve palynologicaly experience and 
knowledge. In addition some ideas for the management 
of places with a high palaeoecological potential have 
been outlined. The cases of the Mark valley and the 
Kale valley have further been explored for actual 
conservation and protection of the natural site.},
	keywords = {},
	author = {Deforce, , Koen and Bastiaens, , Jan}
}

@article { VIOR002-005,
	year = {2006},
	title = {Inventarisatie van archeologische resten uit de Eerste Wereldoorlog en de mogelijkheden voor onderzoek naar sporen van andere conflicten: Battlefield Archaeology in West-Vlaanderen },
	publisher = {VIOE},
	volume = {2},
	journal = {VIOE-Rapporten},
	url = {https://oar.onroerenderfgoed.be/publicaties/VIOR/2/VIOR002-005.pdf},
	abstract = {The province of Western Flanders contains a 
particular kind of heritage: the World War I remains. 
The German-Allied frontline (the ‘Western Front’), 
which crossed Belgium from Nieuwpoort (Nieuport) 
to Mesen (Messines), is world famous. The Ypres 
Salient is the best known part of it. Less known but 
at least as well preserved are the coastal defences and 
the Hollandstellung, which is a defensive line along 
the Belgian-Dutch border. Making an inventory of 
this heritage (consisting of the remains of missing 
soldiers, trenches, metre gauge railways, (deep) 
dugouts, concrete shelters, etc.) is not an easy task. 
Therefore the study of the so-called trenchmaps 
(maps which were made during the war and indicating 
trenches, metre-gauge railways, wire entanglement, 
etc.) and aerial photographs from the Great War are 
important sources of information. Parts of them 
have been indicated in GIS (Geographic Information 
System) and the CAI (Central Archaeological Inventary). 
In 2001 a first attempt was made to make an 
overview of the archaeological World War One 
heritage in a couple of villages: Houthulst, Klerken, 
Jonkershove and Merkem. This region is not a part of 
the Ypres Salient, but the German frontline follows 
the border from Merkem along the Yser River and 
the Ieperlee Canal (this stream runs from the Yser 
to Ypres). Klerken, Jonkershove and Houthulst were 
part of the German backlines. The forest of Houthulst 
was used as the headquarters of the Germans for both 
the Yser Front and the Ypres Salient. It is clear that 
the region was an important area during the Great 
War. At first an inventory was made of the classic 
archaeological heritage (e.g. Prehistoric, Roman, 
Medieval remains). In a next phase trenchmaps and 
aerial photographs were used to locate the World War 
One remains. Locating the huge amount of structures 
on modern maps proved to be a very time-consuming 
but very interesting task. Besides that, trenchmaps 
did not seem to be accurate enough to make a decent 
inventory of them. 
At the time there wasn’t enough time or money 
to make a full inventory of World War One remains 
in Flanders. That is why the CAI-team focussed on 
the seriously threatened areas. Several techniques 
had to be tried out. The first opportunity came 
as a result of the “A19 project”, the first big scale 
‘battlefield archaeology’ project in Flanders. By order 
of the former minister of Interior Affairs, Culture, 
Youth, and Civil Administration for the Flemish 
Community, Paul Van Grembergen, the VIOE 
(Vlaams Instituut voor het Onroerend Erfgoed – Flemish 
Heritage Institute) was put in charge of evaluating 
the archaeological heritage on the (possible) future 
A19 motorway trajectory. The study of the World War 
One heritage was going to be especially important, 
because the threatened area consists of an important 
part of the Ypres Salient. Here the combination of 
trenchmaps, fieldwalking and aerial photography was 
crucial for the assessment of the archaeological value 
of the area and for planning and achieving excavations 
of nine different sites. These excavations started in 
November 2002. The combination of an intensive 
GIS study with fieldwork proved to be useful. 
The first step was to locate all the major battle 
lines and hinterland of the different armies involved. 
Therefore some trenchmaps and aerial photographs 
were used, combined with several written sources. 
With this information a large campaign of fieldwalking was started on the future A19-track. Farmers 
and (ex-) inhabitants of the region were interviewed 
about their knowledge of World War One remains in 
the area. This also gave us some very valuable information. 
Everything has been drawn in several GIS 
themes. Based on that and based on a study written by 
Prof. P. Chasseaud from the University of Greenwich 
(Department Of Military Cartography) nine zones 
were selected on which further research had to be 
done. Until now, some of those areas have been excavated. Other areas have been studied using resistivity 
and magnetometry surveys. The aerial photographs 
used for the study are British aerial reconnaissance 
pictures, dating from the First World War\nand are 
from the Imperial War Museum’s ‘Box Collection’ in 
London and the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres. 
Most of those pictures have been georeferenced on 
modern topographic maps (scale 1:10,000). Trenches, 
barbed wire, tracks, old field boundaries, battery positions and so on could be located exactly on the map. 
This is of course a very rich source of information, 
not only to select zones to excavate, but also to help to 
interpret the trenches and other structures which are 
excavated or located during the geophysical survey. 
The large amounts of pictures which are available for 
a small area show us the history and evolution of the 
war in its geographical (and archaeological!) context. 
Of course, it is also an indication of the complexity 
of the research, given the continuing change of structures. The results of the archaeological fieldwork are 
very promising: well-preserved trenches and duckboards, ammunition depots, all kinds of artifacts, human remains, etc. 
All this shows that the use of trenchmaps and 
aerial photographs, combined with GIS, can provide 
us a lot of information. They should be used in all 
archaeological research about the ‘Great War’, or 
Battlefield Archaeology in general, whenever possible. 
To make the research about World War One remains 
more organized, a new ‘battlefield Archaeology’- 
unit was set up in November 2003, a co-operation 
between the VIOE and several partners. In 2004 this 
department was transformed into the Association for 
World War Archaeology (A.W.A.). Also in 2004, a 
large scale inventory project was launched. The Ypres 
Salient and other frontlines are inventorized using 
aerial photographs and trenchmaps in a GIS system. 
This new project is a co-operation between the In 
Flanders Fields Museum (IFFM – Ypres) and the 
Flemish Heritage Institute (VIOE).},
	keywords = {},
	author = {de Meyer, , Mathieu}
}

@article { VIOR002-006,
	year = {2006},
	title = {Prospectie en waardering van alluviale gebieden langs de Boven-Schelde. CAI-project 2003-2004 },
	publisher = {VIOE},
	volume = {2},
	journal = {VIOE-Rapporten},
	url = {https://oar.onroerenderfgoed.be/publicaties/VIOR/2/VIOR002-006.pdf},
	abstract = {Recently, the company Steenhouwerij Van de 
oortele scheduled extensive clay and sand extraction 
works in the floodplain of the river Scheldt near 
Ename. These large scale destructions will cover an 
area of 80 ha over a period of 8 years. Already at 
the beginning of the extraction works, a Lateglacial 
Scheldt gulley and a buried forest were discovered. 
The high potential but low visibility of this 
covered landscape led to a CAI-project, initiated 
by Ghent University (Department of Archaeology 
and Ancient History of Europe) and the Flemish 
Heritage Institute (VIOE). The main purpose of 
this project was to define a reliable methodology 
for the survey and evaluation of covered prehistoric 
sites in alluvial contexts. 
The research areas were situated at Ename 
and Eine (East Flanders), in the Scheldt alluvium. 
At a later stage, when threatened by industrial 
construction works, the area of Oudenaarde Donk 
was included. 
The fieldwork always was conducted in two 
phases. First, the covered palaeo-topography was 
reconstructed to define areas with high archaeological 
potential. These areas became systematically 
sampled during the second phase, resulting finally 
in the evaluation of the located new sites. 
At Ename, it soon became clear that the prehistoric landscape was intersected by several (subrecent) 
river channels which made the defining of archaeological interesting zones virtually impossible. The 
systematic sampling of such a complex area is not the 
appropriate method to uncover archaeological find 
spots. The palaeolandscape at both Eine and Oudenaarde appeared to be better preserved which made 
these areas suitable for further auger survey. In both 
cases the use of a ‘mega-Edelman’ auger proved succesful for the detection and evaluation of well preserved, covered prehistoric sites. 
Within the project, however, no further evaluation and verification of the research method and results of Eine were forseen. In Oudenaarde, a small 
excavation campaign was executed by the VIOE. 
This way, a limited comparative research demonstrated the importance of the chosen sample grid and the 
width of the sieving meshes. Also extrapolating auger 
results into expected excavation results proved to be 
dangerous and not recommendable. 
With this CAI- research project, only a first step 
to a more efficient survey and evaluation of covered 
archaeological sites was made. However, it is clear 
that further scientific and methodological research of 
floodplain contexts is required.},
	keywords = {},
	author = {Bats, , Machteld and Bastiaens, , Jan and Crombé, , Philippe}
}

@article { VIOR002-007,
	year = {2006},
	title = {Verkennend onderzoek langs de Witte Nete (provincie Antwerpen): een geomorfologische benadering van archeologisch-landschappelijk diagnostisch onderzoek in de Kempen },
	publisher = {VIOE},
	volume = {2},
	journal = {VIOE-Rapporten},
	url = {https://oar.onroerenderfgoed.be/publicaties/VIOR/2/VIOR002-007.pdf},
	abstract = {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.},
	keywords = {},
	author = {Meylemans, , Erwin and Bastiaens, , Jan and Cousserier, , Katrien and Jansen, , Isabelle}
}

