Wageningen Studies in Historical Geography 1
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Wageningen Studies in Historical Geography 1 Papers and excursions presented by the Department of Historical Geography of DLO Winand Staring Centre at the 14th meeting of the Standing European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape (Baarn, The Netherlands / Ghent, Belgium; August 27th to September 1st, 1990). J.A.J. Vervloet S. Barends Chr. de Bont H.H.M. Meyer J. Renes Th. Spek W.H. Wimmers Report 66 DLO Winand Staring Centre, Wageningen (The Netherlands), 1992 ABSTRACT Vervloet,J.A.J. , S.Barends ,Chr .d eBont , H.H.M.Meyer ,J . Renes,Th . Spek & W.H.Wimmers , 1992. Wageningen Studies in Historical Geography 1.Paper s and excursions presented by theDepartmen t of Historical Geography of DLO Winand Staring Centre at the 14th meeting of the Standing European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape (Baarn, The Netherlands / Ghent, Belgium; August 27th to September 1st, 1990).Wageninge n (TheNetherlands) ,DL OWinan d Staring Centre. Report66 . 99 pp.; 33 Figs; 3Tables . The five papers and two excursion guides are reprints. The main theme is the historical geography of pleistocene landscapes of the Netherlands. This theme is used in thepaper s on theag eo f plaggen soils and on settlement dynamics in North-Brabant and in the excursions to the Gooi and the Utrecht Hills. The other papers discuss an archaeological excavation of a French merovingian cemetery and a new typology of the Dutch cultural landscape. Keywords: historical geography, cultural landscape, The Netherlands ISSN 0927-4537 This report has also been published as part of - Tijdschrift van de Belgische Vereniging voor Aardrijkskundige Studies, Vol. 61 (1992) 1, and - A. Verhoeve & J.A.J. Vervloet (eds). The transformation of the European rural landscape: methodological issues and agrarian change 1770-1914; papers from the 1990meetin g of the Standing European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape. National Fund for Scientific Research, Brussels, 1992. © 1992 DLOWinan d Staring Centre for Integrated Land, Soil andWate r Research (SC-DLO),Postbu s 125,6700 ACWageninge n (TheNetherlands);phone :+31837074200 ;fax : +31837024812;telex :7523 0 VISI-NL DLO WINAND STARING CENTRE is continuing the research of: Institute for Land and Water Management Research (ICW),Institut efo r PesticideResearch ,Environmen t Division (IOB),Dorschkam p Research Institutefo r Forestry andLandscap e Planning,Divisio n of LandscapePlannin g (LB),an dSoi l Survey Institute (STIBOKA). No part of this publication may be reproduced or published in any form or by any means,o r stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the written permission of DLO Winand Staring Centre. Project 892 [JR/231092] CONTENTS page Preface 7 Vervloet, J.AJ. - Introduction to the Baarn-Ghent conference of the Standing Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape. 9 (ix) Barends, S. - A landscape typology based on historical-geographical features. 15 (5) Bont, Chr. de - Leaving the church behind. A model for predicting early mediaeval settlement locations in the sandy areas of the Dutch province of North Brabant. 21 (12) Spek, Th. - The age of plaggen soils. An evaluation of dating methods for plaggen soils in the Netherlands and Northern Germany. 35 (72) Wimmers, W.H. - The merovingian cemetery of Vicq (Yvelines, France) in a regional setting. 55 (131) Bont, Chr. de, H.H.M. Meyer & W.H. Wimmers - Excursion to Gooiland. 69 (307) Renes, J. - Excursion to the eastern side of the Utrecht hills and the western part of the Guelders valley. 81 (319) Page numbers between () refer to the original edition: A. Verhoeve & J.AJ. Vervloet, eds. The transformation ofth eEuropea nrura llandscape : methodologicalissue san dagraria nchang e1770-1914 ;paper s from the 1990meetin go fth eStandin gEuropea nConferenc e forth eStud yo fth eRura lLandscape .Nationa l Fund for Scientific Research, Brussels, 1992. PREFACE The 14th meeting of the Standing European Conferencefor the Study of the Rural Landscape took place in Baarn (theNetherlands ) and Ghent (Belgium) from August 27th to September 1st, 1990.I t wasjointl y organised byth e Laboratory of Regional Geography and Landscape Research of the University of Ghent (Belgium) and the Department of Historical Geography ofDL OWinan d Staring Centre at Wageningen (the Netherlands). The main theme was:Methodology of landscape and settlement evolution. The papers presented at the conference were published in the Tijdschrift van de Belgische Vereniging voorAardrijkskundige Studies (Vol. 61, 1992, nr 1), and in A. Verhoeve & J.A.J. Vervloet (eds). The transformation of the European rural landscape: methodological issuesand agrarian change1770-1914; papers from the 1990 meeting of the Standing European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape. National Fund for Scientific Research, Brussels \ The papers and excursion guides presented by members of staff of the Department of Historical Geography of DLO Winand Staring Centre are reprinted here. This department is one of the leading centres of historical geography in the Netherlands, specializing in two topics: - applied historical geography: inventories of evaluations of historic landscapes for physical planning. The results areuse d bynational , provincial and local autorities. - the historical geography of the pleistocene landscapes of the country. The department consists of a permanent staff of six (four historical geographers, a soil scientist/ecologist and a landscape architect), and temporarily employed staff for special research projects. At the time of the conference, for example,ther e were two additional historical geographers as well as an archaeologist and two GIS- specialists engaged in short term projects. This wide range of available knowledge makes the department ideally suited to interdisciplinary research.Th etraditiona lcombinatio n ofhistorica llandscap eresearc h with the results of soil survey has been well-developed. During the last few years combinations with ecology and palaeo-ecology has been is growing in importance, for example in the new field of historical ecology. Thepaper s which arereprinte d inthi sreport ,giv ea nimpressio n ofth erang eo f work covered by the department. Therepor t starts withth eopenin g address atth econferenc e given byJ.A.J . Vervloet (head of the department) (chapter 2). The third chapter summarizes S. Barends' A limited number of copies of this volume is still available. It can be ordered by sending a cheque for Dfl. 32,50 (incl.postage ) to DLOWinan d Staring Centre, Wageningen. research for a new landscape typology, based on historical-geographical features. This work is done with the use of GIS-methods. In the next two chapters, two different aspects of the long-term research of the pleistocene landscapes arepresented .Chr .d eBon t (chapter4 )write sabou ta naspec t ofth edynamic s of settlement locations.A nextensiv esurve y ofth eprovinc e ofNort h Brabant laid the basis for this paper. Th. Spek (chapter 5) presents an evaluation of dating methods for plaggen soils in the Netherlands and Northern Germany. He concludes that the origin of plaggen manuring was probably later than previously supposed. W.H. Wimmers, an archaeologist who, these past few years, has been working on a combined archaeological and historical geographical survey of the Gooi region, presents some methodological aspects of one of his earlier research projects: an excavation of the merovingian cemetery of Vicq (Yvelines, France) (chapter 6). The last two chapters were originally written as guides to the two excursions. Chr. deBont ,H.H.M .Meye r andW.H .Wimmer sdescrib eth eexcursio nt oth eGoo iregio n (chapter 7). J. Renes describes the excursion to the eastern side of the Utrecht hills and the western part of the Guelders valley (chapter 8). Introduction to the Baarn-Ghent conference of the Standing Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape. Jelier A.J. Vervloet TheWinan d Staring Centrefo r Integrated Land,Soi lan dWate rResearch ,P.O .Bo x 125,NL - 6700 AC Wageningen AgriculturalUniversit yWageningen ,Departmen t ofRura lHistory ,Hollandsewe g 1,NL-670 6 KN Wageningen Introduction During a rather long period the Standing European Conference for the study of the Rural Landscape has been attended by Dutch visitors. At first their number was limited but especially the last three assemblies, their number was growing. The increased interest from the Low Countries has been an important motive to ask the Dutch representatives to organize this meeting.I hopew e can give you agoo d understanding of our country. Because this conference, at least for the Dutch part, has been organized by historical geographers from Wageningen less emphasis has given on the usually well known polders.W etr y togiv emor einformatio n ofth ecultura llandscape s ofth ecoversan d area,th e region lying above the sea-level, whose history certainly is as interesting as that of the low- lying parts of our country. This meeting at this moment I consider as an award for the development of the whole Dutch historical geography of the past ten years. During that period the academic historical geography has become widespread. No longer it is a discipline of a limited amount of some prominent individuals such as Heslinga and Gottschalk at Amsterdam; deVooy s at Utrecht; Keuning at Groningen and Edelman-Vlama t Wageningen. Recently a rather extensive group of interested young people did arise. Seven years ago (1983) the "Historisch Geografisch Tijdschrift" was founded which now nearly has as much subscribers as the international Journal of Historical Geography. The Dutch Historical Geography lives through a flourishing period, at least aperio d of great activity. We are glad about this.A rathe r greatnumbe r ofDutc hpaper s willb epresente d atthi s meeting.Moreove r we hope to give you an idea of the present state of art by the excursions and posters. I am giving aros y picture of how things are.Nevertheles s there are of course problems: retrenchment and reduction did take their toll as everywhere in Europe.