Maasvlakte 2 (Port of Rotterdam), a showcase of interdisciplinary research of drowned landscapes

The Port of Rotterdam (PoR) is presently expanding Rotterdam harbour to the west into the North Sea. Dredging of over 200 million cubic metres of offshore sediment for construction of the 20-square-kilometre Maasvlakte 2 and deepening of the existing Yangtzeharbour by removing 8 million cubic metres destroys buried drowned Weichselian and Early Holocene landscapes preserved at the extraction and dredging locations. Artefacts found earlier in the vicinity proved that Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers roamed the area at stake. In compliance with the Valetta convention, the possible loss of evidence of human activity in the extraction and dredging areas had to be investigated. PoR and the Cultural Heritage Agency (CHA) signed an agreement for these investigations funded by PoR and carried out by a consortium of research institutions, museums and universities under supervision of CHA and BOOR. For fossil remains a separate agreement was signed between PoR and the Rotterdam Museum of Natural History. Here, we present methods and first results from research in three sub-areas: Weichselian landscape reconstruction and trawler fishing for mammal bones for the dredging area; collection of bones, shells and gravel from the outcropping part of the outcropping part of the sand dumped to form the outer contour Maasvlakte 2; and detailed 3D Early Holocene landscape reconstruction within the Yangtze harbour. The latter has culminated in a spectacular underwater excavation with many Mesolithic artefacts found