HARG (Historical Archaeology Research Group)

Archaeologists have often, under the influence of evolutionary and neo-evolutionary ideas, described societal dynamics in linear terms. This linear description of societal dynamics neglects much of the cultural, economic and social variation in the archaeological record. Under the influence of scientific disciplines such as ecology, a need has emerged within archaeology to investigate how societies in the past changed in a cyclical manner. The idea has arisen that we not only need to look at how societies gradually progress, and over time become more complex, but also how and why they decline. In other words, what makes them sustainable? This paper aims to adopt these ideas to archaeology and investigate the application of the concept of sustainability to the study of the past. In order to do so, we first need to adopt a conceptual model for describing the structure and functioning of socio-natural systems, suitable for sustainability analysis inthe past. We then need to select indicators for this model based on archaeological data. The concept of sustainability has many definitions. Applied to society, it can be defined as: “the ability of societies to maintain order and structure over time, without loss of complexity and societal well-being.” As is currently becoming apparent, societies do not exist on their own, they exist within a specific natural environment. Nature is no longer considered the static backdrop against which human evolution takes place, but instead has a dialectic relation with the societies that exist within it. Specifically, we evaluate two models for describing sustainability: first, the pillar model, which considers sustainability as a balancing exercise between economy, social issues and environmental considerations;
second, the nested model, which represents society as a subsystem of the environment; economy is at the service of societal well-being, and societies can prosper within the possibilities and limits offered by the natural environment. These models will be evaluated and compared with current theoretical developments, such as complexity theory, socio-ecological systems, complex adaptive systems and
societal thermodynamics. The concept of sustainability has not yet been thoroughly applied to archaeology and so it remains a rather new approach. This thesis in no way sets out to completely discuss the possibilities of the concept of sustainability, but merely to introduce the concept and lay the foundations for further research. This
is set about by studying the scientific literature published on the subject and combining this with archaeological case studies. There is no focus on one material category, one region or a particular time period, albeit, that the spatio-temporal context of this paper can be found in the period 1000 BCE – 1000 CE around the Mediterranean Sea. The grand narrative of this thesis is the fact that we need to accept that change is the norm in the archaeological record and we should change our models of approaching the past accordingly. Hence, there exists a need to make visible change, explain it, model it, comprehend it and make it quantifiable for comparative purposes. Only then can we truly explain the dynamics of
past socio-natural systems.

Archaeological sources make it impossible to deny that rivers served as pathways in the past. However, the role of inland waterways in the Roman transport economy of northern Gaul, with exception of the river Rhine, has received little scholarly attention. This paper fills a current gap in academic research by studying the structure and behaviour of the transport network in the Roman-era Scheldt basin, with an emphasis on the role of waterways. It then subsequently links the reconstructed network to long distance transport routes in Roman Gaul and larger economic patterns. As a starting point this paper works from the hypothesis of an integrated transport network, in which rivers, roads and seaways link up to form a single system. As such, the main object of study is one of the basic requirements for economic development: connectivity.
What exactly was the role of waterways in the Roman transport network? Specifically, as our case study: how was riverine transport organized in the Scheldt basin between 50 BCE and 400 CE? But also, how were the riverine networks maintained and to what degree was this maintenance necessary in order for rivers to be efficient transport pathways? This paper reconstructs the integrated transport network through a multidisciplinary approach which combines institutional data (textual), data on agents and their attributes (epigraphical), spatial data (ancient roads and waterways), and archaeological proxies (sites, riverine structures and artefact distribution). This enables us to trace economic networks through artefacts, sites and epigraphy. Furthermore, this approach gives us the opportunity to, in a later stage, look at different scales: e.g. by positioning the meso network of the Scheldt basin within the macro-economic system of Gaul, but also by comparing the transport system of the Scheldt basin to that of other meso regions, such as the Meuse, Saône, and Rhône basin.

The quantification of material culture can make a significant contribution to the answering of social and behavioural questions. However, especially in continental Europe, this aspect
of pottery studies remains understudied. In the following article, a
status quaestionis of the quantification of post-medieval ceramics in the Low Countries is given. The author hopes to stimulate methodological and theoretical debate by comparing several available methods, using an 18th-century deposit from the abbey at Clairefontaine, Belgium. In so doing, some important insights are obtained into the relative merits of different quantification systems, and recommendations are made for future work.

Session ID: RI14
Session theme: Reconfiguring Identities
Abstract:
Recent studies in conflict archaeology have demonstrated how buildings and artefacts are crucial in the construction, maintenance and transformation of group identities during times of war. In addition to military items such as armour and weaponry, everyday objects such as ceramics, glass and metalwork are, alongside the structures in which they are consumed, important elements in establishing group identity and providing a sense of common belonging to individuals brought together by extraordinary events. The negotiation of identity during such times of crisis is not restricted to the armies involved, but is also incorporated within the social discourse of non-combatants, including camp followers, army supporters and all those affected by conflict. This session draws from wars and battles across medieval and early modern Europe to explore the social, as opposed to martial, aspects of conflict archaeology and provide new insights into the way in which material culture and the built environment were used to construct, challenge and change concepts of identity during this period.

In 1595, the Portuguese merchant banker Duarte Ximenez bought the Blauwhof, a castle-like estate in the Flemish countryside. An assemblage of pottery, recovered from the moat adjacent to the estate’s manor house, testifies to the status and hybrid identity of this 17th-century immigrant family. Although they were well assimilated into Antwerp’s high society, their foreign roots are still evident from particular Portuguese imports or the unconventional use of locally produced ceramics. Comparison with probate inventories shows that the two categories of Portuguese pottery serve different purposes, one in the public sphere of knowledgeable actors, and one in the intimacy of the Ximenez family.

From 2002 until 2004, archaeological excavations were conducted at the castle site of Middelburg (Belgium). A large collection of 15th- to 17th-century ceramics was uncovered, some of which originating from Italy, Spain or Portugal. This find is of particular importance for Flanders, since Mediterranean pottery is hardly recognised in an excavation context and thus remains largely unpublished. The analysis of this Mediterranean assemblage shows that the situation in the adjacent Netherlands cannot plainly be transposed, but that the pottery is reflective of Flanders’s own economic and political history (e.g. in the early date and the different character of Italian imports, and in the find of unparallelled types). However, this research is also relevant on another level. It is illustrative of the changing meaning of pottery and its potential in constructing a noble identity. The spatial distribution of these Mediterranean finds at the castle namely evidences a remarkable pattern, in which ceramics of the first half of the 16th century cluster around what is presumed to be a reception room. The display of these goods in this space confronted the visitor with the status of Middelburg’s lord, a practice continued over multiple generations. However, changes occur in the late 16th century, when Middelburg was situated in the frontline of the Dutch Revolt (1568-1648). The material now hints at the deliberate destruction of Italian maiolica by Dutch soldiers and could suggest that the castle’s upper court was no longer inhabited, due to the troubles of war.

Excavations in Sint-Lievens-Houtem (Flanders, Belgium), an important medieval pilgrimage village, uncovered a fourteenth-century refuse pit. This feature contained a fragment of a rare Andalusī moulded lustreware vessel, dating to the mid or second half of the twelfth century. The reconstruction of the vessel's itinerary aids in understanding how an object travelled from Muslim Spain to Catholic Flanders and why it ended up under Sint-Lievens-Houtem's marketplace, about two centuries after its production. Traditional explanations of Crusades or trade seem unlikely or do not account for the entire trajectory of the vessel. These narratives are therefore extended with the incorporation of the vessel in Sint-Lievens-Houtem's church treasury. This biographical approach offers a valuable framework to interpret the increasing number of Islamic finds across Europe, the way by which they travelled north and the contexts in which they functioned.

Despite a long research history, little is known about the Roman road network in the northern part of the
Civitas Menapiorum. In late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century publications researchers established
the idea that Roman roads ended at the transition between the loamy and sandy areas. Others
indicated that such roads were not yet located. During the last twenty years researchers have presumed
the existence of five supralocal Roman roads in Sandy Flanders. However, their exact routes remained
unclear. In this study a landscape archaeological approach is applied to study these roads and to suggest a
series of possible routes. Based on recent LiDAR data and soil maps, least cost path analyses are performed
in ArcGIS. Recent archaeological findings and double linear marks, visible on both oblique and
vertical aerial photographs, are used to test the accuracy of the least cost paths. Finally, the names of
present-day streets are used to clarify the continuity of Roman roads in the landscape.