2013c. A Matter of Life and Death at Mienakker (the Netherlands). Late Neolithic Behavioural Variability in a Dynamic Landscape (original) (raw)

A matter of life and death at Mienakker The second excavation analysed in further detail as part of the Odyssey ‘Unlocking Noord- Holland's Late Neolithic Treasure Chest’ project was that performed at the Mienakker site in 1990. Mienakker had an advantage over other as yet unpublished Neolithic sites in the sense that many of the material categories had already been studied. The area excavated was small, at 840 m2, but there were many post traces on the basis of which the excavators had identified two house plans. The clearest is approx. 5.7 metres long and 3 metres wide. This is a simple, light, two-aisled structure that was recorded as a ‘small hut’ or auxiliary building. The other house plan was not published. It is slightly bigger, at 9 to 14 metres long and 3 to 4 metres wide, and appeared to be the remnants of a light structure that was rebuilt and altered several times on the same spot. The Mienakker settlement was interpreted at the time as a temporary hunters’ camp, as ...