Getting to the bottom of Lake IJsselmeer near Swifterbant: the changing landscape along Dutch creek systems during the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition

Elena Familetto*, Ana Smuk, K.M. Cohen, Wim Hoek, Lucy M. Kubiak-Martens, Marco Madella, Mans Schepers, Esther Stouthamer, Hans D.J. Huisman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractAcademic

Abstract

One of the world’s largest land reclamation projects, the Dutch province of Flevoland, revealed Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites that provided environmental and archaeological information about the changing subsistence of their inhabitants –associated with the Swifterbant culture (c. 6000-4000 BCE) including evidence of early crop cultivation on levees.
The Finding Suitable Grounds project (2022-2026; including PhD research projects of Familetto and Smuk) further addresses human-subsistence-related activities in this wetland environment and evaluates its suitability for cultivation by shifting our focus below the present-day Lake IJsselmeer to creek systems outside the reclaimed polder. Using cores from these submerged fluvial systems (banks, basins, and channel fill), this multi-proxy research combines 14C dating, soil micromorphology, geochemical analyses, and several botanical proxies to describe the evolving landscape setting and identify early human land-use. The character of contemporary river bank soils, indications of disturbance (clearance, burning, tillage), and vegetation reconstruction with attention to crop indicators during and following the active period of the river system are key in identifying cultivation suitability and interpreting the interplay between natural and cultural phenomena.
Building upon decades of research, this multi-proxy dataset reaches beyond the reclaimed land to provide new highly detailed insight into the broader landscape setting of the Swifterbant population and their activities in this low-lying wetland region.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2022
Event42nd Conference of the Association for Environmental Archaeology - University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Duration: 2 Dec 20224 Dec 2022
Conference number: 42
https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/humanities/research/archaeologyresearch/latestnews/headline_859669_en.html

Conference

Conference42nd Conference of the Association for Environmental Archaeology
Abbreviated titleAEA
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityGlasgow
Period2/12/224/12/22
Internet address

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