Boundaries of agrarian production in the Bergisches Land in 1715 AD [CAA 2016] (original) (raw)
Related papers
Analysing settlement patterns in the Bergisches Land, Germany [CHNT 2014]
The nearly complete list of Medieval settlements in a study area of the Bergisches Land, Germany, and a historical map of 1715 form the basis for analysing the settlement pattern of Medieval and early modern farms in this rural region. Only few archaeological remains of pre-Medieval periods have been recorded in this hilly study area with lots of small streams and at best moderately fertile soils, so most probably the population and the number of farms increased considerably during the Middle Ages. Settlement sizes (e.g. one, two, or three farms, hamlets, or villages with a church) are shown on the early 18th century map depicting nearly all Medieval settlements known from historical sources as well as a small portion of additional settlements. This study tries to retrodict likely settlement locations in this rural area, i.e. to identify the main factors governing the location of farms and villages. This is an unusual task due to the dense distribution of these locations. Several possible factors for settlement location are tested, and a retrodictive model combining relevant variables is presented. The analysis indicates that some variables with strong retrodictive power do not apply for single farmsteads. The landscape attributes identifying possible settlement locations tell only part of the story. Additional analysis is required to identify the distribution of the settlements with respect to their neighbours, such as regular distances between settlements of similar sizes as proposed by Christaller’s Central Place Theory. Least-cost Thiessen territories are calculated for all settlements on the historical map of 1715. It is shown that the Thiessen territory size depends on the settlement size and this indicates that hardly any space is left for additional settlements.
Agriculture was the main basis of daily life in most prehistoric periods in Europe. The possibility of a settlement to produce more than the basic needs in a subsistence economy was in many cases the background of a surplus-based superiority of some settlements over others. In our paper we will present a GIS and database system with which we model the agricultural potential of settlements within their natural surroundings based on topography and soil quality. Within the framework of the research project ‘Early Centralisation and Urbanisation – The Genesis and Development of Early Celtic Princely Sites and their Territorial Surrounding’ (http://www.fuerstensitze.de) we have developed a model which is used to calculate the maximum amount of people that can be fed from within the hinterland of both princely sites and ‘regular’ settlements by cattle and crop. The surrounding itself can be defined by cost-based calculations, creating a hinterland border based on walking time. The model is then used to compare the agricultural potential of different settlement sites as well as of sites from different periods. It is the aim of our working group to further develop a runtime database file, which can be used to model the agricultural potential from any given archaeological site within a given surrounding and to calculate the amount of people that can be nourished from this hinterland. The database file will be distributed online as free software.
Agriculture was the main basis of daily life in most prehistoric periods in Europe. The possibility of a settlement to produce more than the basic needs in a subsistence economy was in many cases the background of a surplus-based superiority of some settlements over others. In our paper we will present a GIS and database system with which we model the agricultural potential of settlements within their natural surroundings based on topography and soil quality. Within the framework of the research project 'Early Centralisation and Urbanisation – The Genesis and Development of Early Celtic Princely Sites and their Territorial Surrounding' (http://www.fuerstensitze.de) we have developed a model which is used to calculate the maximum amount of people that can be fed from within the hinterland of both princely sites and 'regular' settlements by cattle and crop. The surrounding itself can be defined by cost-based calculations, creating a hinterland border based on walking t...
Agriculture was the main basis of daily life in most prehistoric periods in Europe. The possibility of a settlement to produce more than the basic needs in a subsistence economy was in many cases the back- ground of a surplus-based superiority of some settlements over others. In our paper we will present a GIS and database system with which we model the agricultural po- tential of settlements within their natural surroundings based on topography and soil quality. Within the framework of the research project ‘Early Centralisation and Urbanisation – The Genesis and Development of Early Celtic Princely Sites and their Territorial Surrounding’ (http://www.fuerstensitze.de) we have de- veloped a model which is used to calculate the maximum amount of people that can be fed from within the hinterland of both princely sites and ‘regular’ settlements by cattle and crop. The surrounding itself can be defined by cost-based calculations, creating a hinterland border based on walking time. The model is then used to compare the agricultural potential of different settlement sites as well as of sites from dif- ferent periods. It is the aim of our working group to further develop a runtime database file, which can be used to model the agricultural potential from any given archaeological site within a given surrounding and to calculate the amount of people that can be nourished from this hinterland. The database file will be dis- tributed online as free software.
HUMAN-MADE ENVIRONMENTS THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANDSCAPES AS RESOURCEASSEMBLAGES, 2021
Quantitative analysis and modelling of the archaeological record are common tools for the defi nition of activity spheres of individuals and groups. However, these cultural models quickly tend to draw clearly limited distribution ranges of ethnically distinct ‘peoples’ and their ‘territories’. But communication corridors, material distribution and individual mobilities are subject to a rather multi-layered variety of physical-natural and cognitive-experienced parameters that lead to a certain created landscape that is transformed and expanded over time. The potential of landscape or system archaeology lies in the combination and integration of the various parameters that form the specifi c individual landscapes. In order to evaluate and apply these parameters to past societies, however, archaeologists are dependent on modern surface conditions that are interpolated to draw conclusions about past environmental feedbacks. But how do patterns of pre-modern societies behave in comparison to those of today’s land surfaces? How strong is the impact of modern land-use activity and surface modifi cation on our perception of the dispersal of the archaeological record? This article analyses spatial patterns of Early Medieval land-use in the Upper Rhine Area with regard to settlement continuity and the modern bias of the archaeological distribution.
Journal of Archaeological Science : Reports, 2018
A B S T R A C T Modeling of environmental factors in archaeological research leads to a better understanding of human interaction with landscapes. The strict selection of suitable settlement spots is controlled by various influencing parameters like landscape permeability, soil quality, flood risk and erosion, thus creating a collection of different location factors. Unfortunately, large-scale excavations of Early Medieval settlements in southern Germany are extremely rare. This article presents spatially analyzed and remotely sensed environmental data from the Merovingian settlement and graveyard complex at Lauchheim, Germany. Predictive modeling of potential land-use areas in heterogeneous regional settings allows the estimation of the range of human-environmental interaction , enabling the identification of possible settlement spots. Mapping of potential vulnerability can further encourage future research.
Urban farming and ruralisation in The Netherlands (1250-1850) Unravelling farming practice and the use of (open) space by synthesising archaeological reports using text mining, 2021
Urban farming is about food production for and by town dwellers. Small-scale farming is known to have been a feature of medieval and later towns from documentary evidence. An historical and geographical framework for urban farming in the Netherlands is offered in Chapter 2. The topic of urban farming has nevertheless remained relatively underexposed in terms of archaeological research. This study surveys archaeological reports from commercially funded urban excavations in the Netherlands carried out in the period from 1997 up to and including 2017. The volume presents evidence for urban farming in Dutch towns between 1250 up to 1850. The data has been assembled and analysed using text mining. This digital technique has been used to search for keywords that describe archaeological correlates of urban agriculture, such as ‘layer of arable soil’, ‘orchard’, ‘animal grave’ or ‘fruit tree’. A total of 1380 reports were examined, generating data on historic farming in 84 towns (Chapter 3). Most of the data relate to animal husbandry (31%), closely followed by horticulture (27%) and more general or unspecified rural activities (21%). Arable farming is less represented in the data (16%). Surprisingly, orchards are not much in evidence, and fish farming is a rarity. The scale and extent of commercial urban excavations in different regions has influenced the amount of data that is available. For towns in Zeeland, Limburg, Friesland and Drenthe comparatively little archaeological data is available and this makes comparisons with patterns of farming in other regions difficult (Chapter 4). Most indications of local animal husbandry are small-scale and incidental (Chapter 5). Primary evidence of animal husbandry within towns can nevertheless be found in the form of complete skeletons of stillborn, new born or diseased animals. There is abundant evidence for arable farming and horticulture but this fluctuates over time (Chapter 6). When the indicators for arable farming decrease in the late Middle Ages a corresponding increase can be seen in evidence for horticulture in peripheral urban areas. The presence of former fields that have been built over can be seen in fossilized urban boundaries, ditches and fences. Buried soil horizons often contain evidence for soil improvement. The most common indicator for urban livestock farming is the presence of manure in soil layers and pits. The reports that we examined also contained evidence for stables, barns, and animal cages (Chapter 7). There were numerous farms in towns between 1250 and 1850. It is often not possible to reconstruct what agricultural activities took place on such urban farms. However, our study shows that urban farming activities evolved over time (Chapter 8): • Indicators for urban farming increased during the period of urban development (up to 1450) and remained in evidence thereafter. • Prior to the sixteenth century, town dwellers were mostly engaged in arable and livestock farming, but in later stages arable farming declined and horticulture increased. • In terms of evidence for urban farming, the sixteenth century is the least represented in the available archaeological indicators. In this century more food was imported from outside the town walls. • In the period of de-urbanisation (1650-1850) the indicators for urban farming once again increased. The patterns that have been found by text mining archaeological reports are broadly in line with known historical and demographic trends. Thus, the historical differences that are often noted between coastal and inland towns are also clearly visible in the archaeological evidence. Major historical events can also be seen to have influenced the behaviour of town dwellers. Most towns were given new defences during the Eighty Years War, leading to an upsurge of farming in peripheral areas. The urban functions of twenty towns were analysed on the basis of Jacob van Deventer’s maps, where we examined the ratio of built-up and undeveloped space. Towns had an average of 70 to 75% of their area built-up during this period. Gardens made up about 15 to 16% of the urban plan. The future study of urban farming requires a strategic approach, with a detailed sampling strategy (Chapter 9). Traces of agricultural activity are often hidden in unspectacular archaeological layers and features which are often not selected for sampling during commercially funded interventions. In order to unlock the potential for new insights into urban farming practices we suggest that new guidelines are needed to investigate the archaeology of urban backyards. Our study also concludes that more archaeological attention should be paid to farming activities in the near outskirts of towns, and that land use in general deserves more attention during archaeological investigations. The importance of soil sampling to detect the presence of manure or other evidence for urban farming must be underlined. In terms of a national overview it is clear that some catching up is needed in the towns and regions that have been under-represented in commercial archaeological interventions in the last twenty years. Only then will it be possible to make better comparisons through time between the various regions of the Netherlands.
Botanical on-site and off-site data relating to Late Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement phases in south-western Germany are compared with a view to reconstructing economic and environmental change. The large differences between the Neolithic and Bronze Age as regards forest composition, crops and crop weeds, and charcoal input are explained in terms of different types of agronomic systems and hence cultural landscape. In the Late Neolithic, shifting cultivation, involving slash and burn, was practised with the result that the landscape was largely dominated by tall shrubs. In the Bronze Age there were more or less permanent arable fields with only short fallow phases. The agronomic system and the resuiting cultural landscape was already similar to that of the medieval period and, especially, early medieval time.
Estimations of population density, which consider regional variability, are an important key variable in archaeology as they have consequences not only for the environmental but also for the economical and social domains. In this paper, a ten-step procedure of a consistent group of methods is described which deals with the data required for estimations of population density at different scale levels (from excavation to large-scale distribution maps). For distribution maps, a method is presented by which densities of sites are displayed using optimal isolines. These demarcate so called 'settlement areas' at scales of between 1:25,000 and 1:2.5 million. Our knowledge of the density of households from key areas with the most complete archaeological records is upscaled for the regions within these isolines. The results of this procedure are estimations of population density for the early Neolithic (Bandkeramik, 51st century BC) and the Roman period (2nd century AD) for regions with some 10,000 km². A simple statistical/graphical method is developed to analyse the relationship between settlement areas, soils, and precipitation. Taking into account the aspects of preservation of sites and the intensity of archaeological observations, an analysis of patterns of land use shows that in prehistory not all areas suitable for use were in fact incorporated into settlement areas. For prehistory, the idea of a most optimised use of land up to its carrying capacity (as it has been proposed for at least 50 years) can be falsified for specific areas. A large number of empty regions with good ecological conditions but lacking in settlement activity can be discussed as resulting from culture historical processes. As an example, the separation of areas inhabited by groups of different identities is discussed. The amount of used space (in terms of 'settlement area') however, increases from the early Neolithic to the 4th century BC from 5% to more than 40% . The increase between the Neolithic and the Iron Age is understood in terms of technological developments in farming systems. The percentage of areas with suitable conditions actually utilised between the Bandkeramik and Iron Age increases from 31.1% to 67.5% in the area covered by the Geschichtlicher Atlas der Rheinlande, and is much higher still in the Roman period (84.3%). State societies seem to use the land more efficiently compared to non-state systems. This is becoming even clearer on consideration of the intensity of human impact.