The Fields that Outlived the Celts: The Use-histories of Later Prehistoric Field Systems (Celtic Fields orRaatakkers) in the Netherlands

Abstract

The Celtic field research programme of Groningen University involves research excavations of Dutch Celtic fields or raatakkers: embanked field plots thought to date to the Iron Age (c. 800 cal bc–12 bc). In this paper, detailed attention is given to (a) the palaeoecology of raatakkers; (b) the relationship between habitation and agriculture in such systems; and (c) their dating and use-life. Counter-intuitively, it is argued that the macro-remains from crops such as barley, wheat, millet, and flax recovered from Celtic field banks represent a non-local (settlement) signal rather than document local agricultural regimes. Palynological approaches, in which a more local signal can be preserved but which also show evidence for details of the agricultural regime such as manuring strategies and fallow cycles, are argued to be more appropriate avenues to study local agricultural strategies. A discussion of the relations between habitation and agriculture shows that house sites uncovered within Dutch Celtic fields are almost invariably placed in positions partly overlapping banks. Moreover, in most cases such settlement traces appear to date to the Middle or Late Iron Age, raising the question of where the initial farmers of the Celtic fields lived, as the communities planning and first using these Celtic fields probably pre-dated the Iron Age. A critical review of existing dates and discussion of new OSL and AMS dates has shown that bank construction of Dutch Celtic fields started around the 13th–10th centuries cal bc and continued into the Roman era. The chronostratigraphies preserved in the banks testify to a sustainable agricultural regime of unprecedented time-depth: centuries of continued use make the system employing raatakkers the most enduring and stable form of farming known in the history of the Netherlands.

Why Not a Single Image? Combining Visualizations to Facilitate Fieldwork and On-Screen Mapping

“…The second, much briefer, case study is of Veluwe in the Netherlands, an area that consists of ice-pushed sandy ridges formed in the Saale glacial period (circa 350,000 to 130,000 years ago), and subsequently blanketed with coversand deposits during the Weichselian glacial period (circa 115,000 to 10,000 years ago; [51]). We used the Dutch national lidar dataset (Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland -AHN2), acquired in 2010 (Table S3) [52] of a flat terrain Section that contains a part of a large Celtic field system, preserved under forest in a relatively good condition, despite being crisscrossed by numerous tracks and marked by heather clearances (Figure 4) [53,54]. The third case study, also briefly presented, is in the Julian Alps, the biggest and highest Alpine mountain chain in Slovenia, rising to 2864 m at Mount Triglav.…”

Integrating Remote Sensing, Machine Learning, and Citizen Science in Dutch Archaeological Prospection

“…Recent research-driven excavations on the Veluwe have mainly focused on barrows (newly discovered in remotely sensed data) and their immediate surrounding landscape [64][65][66]. Recent large-scale surveys include the study of Celtic fields by Arnoldussen [67], the study of hollow ways and roads by Vletter and Van Lanen [68], and the research on barrow landscapes by Bourgeois [69]. The general research strategy in this area (and The Netherlands) consists of a stepped system of: 1) A desktop-survey; followed by 2) a field survey; and finally, 3) a (minimal) invasive survey, i.e., hand corings, test trenches, and excavations ( Figure 3; see also Reference [70]).…”

“…Archaeological objects, discernable in the LiDAR data, were compared with the locations of known archaeological objects [50]. The (geo)information of these known archaeological objects was derived from a multitude of databases, including the Dutch national archaeological database ArchIS [78], the Dutch archaeological monument registry AMR [79], and the results of different large-scale surveys of the research area [67][68][69]. Sub-images containing known archaeological objects were labeled and the necessary metadata was created in order to use the images for our deep learning approach.…”

“…results of different large-scale surveys of the research area [67][68][69]. Sub-images containing known archaeological objects were labeled and the necessary metadata was created in order to use the images for our deep learning approach.…”

All’s well? Comparing on- and off-site pollen samples and exploring the potential of pollen from man-made contexts

“…1), of ca. 780 km 2 that has distinct cultural aspects during the Dutch Bronze Age (the Hoogkarspel culture), such as different pottery styles, different house building traditions and different arable field systems to the Celtic field systems that occurred in the eastern half of Netherlands from 1300 bc onwards (Arnoldussen 2018). It has excellent preservation conditions due to very heavy clayey subsoil and is also situated geographically between the Nordic and Atlantic exchange networks during this time period, which makes it a region that enables the study of many aspects of prehistoric life.…”