Late Neolithic Occupation Near Bornwird (Province of Friesland)
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LATE NEOLITHIC OCCUPATION NEAR BORNWIRD (PROVINCE OF FRIESLAND) H. Fokkens* CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION 2. GEOLOGY AND PALAEOGEOGRAPHY 2. I. Geology 2.2. Palaeogeography 3. THE EXCAVATION 3.1. Location, excavation method and stratigraphy 3.2. Features 3.2.1. Plo ughmarks 3.2.2. Crop remains 3.2.3. Ot her fe atures 3.3. The finds 3.3.1. Stone 3.3.2. Axes 3.3.3. Fl int 3.3.4. POl/ery: technology 3.3.5. POl/ery: typology 4. IN TE RPRETATION 4.I. The site in its setting 4.2. Concluding remarks 5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6. NOTES 7. REFERENCES *Instituut voor Prehistorie, Postbus 9515, 2300 RA Leiden 91 92 H. FOKKENS == c:7 r:;::?' • / • 8QRtIWIRO () lEEUWAROEN �" .. -- .. \� .". -" ��" Stone Axe Excavation 1967 - HOI..... ' l d - Dokkum - ' . " " ®0 rI.: Bornwirderhoek �'@"" Fig. I. Location of the site. I. INTR ODUCTION The complex was dated -mainly on the basis of the coarsely tempered potsherds-to During one of his reconnaissances in the field the Late Bronze Age (Elzinga, 1966). This (in the autumn of 1966), J.K. Boschker (field dating fitted in well with an observation made assistant attached to the Frisian Museum in by Van Giffen in 1910. During the levelling of Leeuwarden) found near Bornwird (fig. I) a the telp of Bornwird, Van Giffen discovered a small stone axe, some crudely worked flint few urns that must have come from the sandy artefacts and a few potsherds. The finds were subsoil of the terp (Van Giffen, 1920). It was made in upturned soil alongside the planned notably the discovery of the ploughland that route of the new Holwerd-Dokkum road that made this complex a unique find for the was then under construction. In the course of Netherlands, for here we had the oldest traces sinking a trench for the road a sand-outcrop of prehistoric agriculture this far north. It was appeared, from which the artefacts originated. decided to carry out an excavation, that took During a closer reconnaissance by members place in the autumn of the following year of the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut (Sep.'4th -Oct. 4th, 1967). The excavation was (B.A.!.) in Groningen it became evident, carried out by labourers under the supervision moreover, that in the surface of the sand of H. Praamstra and K. Klaassens, under the traces of prehistoric ploughland were visible. direction of G. Elzinga and H.T. Waterbolk. Late Neolithic occupa"tion near Bornwird 93 The excavation provided a great deal of new information. The most noteworthy was the fact that the complex could, on the basis of the decorated pottery, now be dated in the Late Neolithic. Later this relative dating was .confirmed by a Cl4-dating of peat that over lay the old ploughland (GrN -5295: 3930±50 B. P., Vogel & Waterbolk, 1972). After 1967 Bornwird was regularly men tioned by various authors. The traces of inhabitation were attributed to different archaeological cultures I in turn. Elzinga (1967), Waterbolk (1967; 1968) and Van Zeist (1970) ascribed the ploughland and the finds to the PFB (Protruding foot beaker) culture. In addition Louwe Kooijmans (1974), Lanting Fig. 2. The Fries-Drents boulder-clay area indicating a and Mook (1977) and Waterbolk (1977) few important valleys of Pleistocene origin in N. E. mentioned elements of the VL (Vlaardingen) Friesland (based on Griede, 1978). I. valley of the river culture. During a visit to the excavation in Zwemmer; 2. valley of the river Oude Ried; 3. valley of 1967 Bakker (pers. comm.) identified a few the river Kromme Ee; 4. valley east of Birdaard; 5. valley sherds as originating from the LHV (Late near Dokkum. Havelte) phase of the TRB (Trechterbeker= Funnel beaker) culture. When questioned, the different authors avowed that they had based their statements (i.e. concerning cultural Moreover, under the influence of glacial affinity) on their own observations of the and/ or fluviatile processes there originated a 'show pieces' (pottery) or on oral and pub northwest-southeast oriented valley that lished communications by other authors. penetrated the boulder-clay area between The present article can be regarded as a Rinsumageest and Oenkerk as far as the definitive report of the 1967 excavation, and Hardegarijp-Veenwouden line (Griede, 1978: as such can serve as a basis for discussion and fig. 2). companson. The developments since the Holocene are characterized by the grad ual rise in sea level in a succession of transgressive and regressive 2. GEOLOGY AND periods.) Initially the influence of the sea was PALAEOGEOGRAPHY only noticeable on the northeast side of the boulder-clay plateau, where the water was able to penetrate via the primary valleys. As a 2. 1. Geology result of this the cover-sand area acquired, From a geological viewpoint Northeast especially in the north, a markedly dissected Friesland forms part of the Fries-Drents character. On the west side the coastline boulder-clay plateau, of which it is an remained fairly stationary for a long time, and extension in a northwestern direction.2 The the sea penetrated only into the valley of the plateau is intersected by a large number of Boorne (Griede, 1978). This applies notably to streams that drain on the east side into the the developments that occurred during the ancient valley of the Hunze, in the southwest Atlantic and the first part of the Subboreal. into the ancient valley of the Vecht and in the About 4000 Cl4-years B.P. there occurred a west into the Boorne depression. During the great expansion of peat growth in the Eemian and Weichselian these streams often Holland IVa and IVb regression periods, only cut deep into the boulder clay and formed so temporarily interrupted by the Calais IVb called primary valleys (Zagwijn & Van transgression period. There then followed Staalduinen, 1975). In the northern part these from ±3400 C14-years B.P. (Griede, 1978) the were the valley of the river Oude Ried, the Dunkerque transgression periods that deter river Zwemmer, a deep valley near Dokkum mined the. present-day extent of the clay and the valley of the Kromme Ee river. region. 94 H. FOKKENS The actual situation that was consolidated Lichtaard). To the west there are a number when people first started to build dikes, of larger sand 'islands' that are separated presents in Northeast Friesland the picture of from the 'mainland' by the valley between an extensive region of clay. Cover-sand is Rinsumageest and Oenkerk that is filled up present at the surface to the south of the with peat and clay. line between Rinsumageest and Westergeest. To the north of this line there are only a 2.2. Palaeogeography few sand hillocks that protrude above the clay (Bornwird, Wanswerd , Oostrum and The previously mentioned C 14-dating (3930 · ·,, o .0 , km. TIDAL FLAT . PEAT ZONE · RELATIVELY WE T SAND AREA (,,; 2+ NAP. I ...::,:,:, .... · RELATIVELY DRY SAND AREA ('" 2+ NAP.I �EH/H L,.,,:/:: . : :,J 1 ::./ · :'···1 c=J Fig. 3. Palaeogeographic reconstruction of Northeast Friesla nd ±4300 Cl4-year B.P. (after Griede, 1978). Late Neolithic occupation near Bornwird 95 ±50 B.P.) of peat that covered the plough a vegetation of phragmites fen-peat and along land provides a terminus ante quem for the edges by fenwood-peat. The marshy belt permanent occupation in the region around may have been up to l km wide (fig. 3). Owing Bornwird . From a chronostratigraphical view to the presence of this valley the site in fact lay point this peat belongs to the Holland IV A on a peninsula ; at the same time the valley regression period that lasted in this region provided effective drainage of the area. from 4150-3900 C 14-years B. P. (Griede, 1978). The increasing wetness of the region meant that agriculture and stockbreed 3. THE EXCAVATION ing were no longer possible, and conse-. quently permanent inhabitation probably 3. 1. Location, excavation method and came to an end . Thus it is possible to limit stratigraphy the palaeogeographical description to the period from ±4400, when PFB pottery first When the excavation started in 1967, the new made its appearance (Bakker & Van der Holwerd-Dokkum road had already been Waals, 1973), until 4100 Cl4-years B. P. (fig. completed . The excavation trench (57X7 m) 3). was therefore planned to the east of the road The site then was situated in the north and parallel to it (fig. 1). With the aid of a ernmost part of the cover-sand region hydraulic crane the overlying clay layer of that had not yet been overgrown by peat. about one metre thickness was removed. In Towards the north, the west and the east the the southern part of the trench the sandy coastal zone was nowhere further away than 5 subsoil was reached in this way, in the north km. Especially on the west side an extensive however the sand was still covered by a layer coastal peat bog formed a buffer zone between of peat. This peat was dug away by hand. The the region of tidal flats and the mainland, horizontal surface was drawn at two levels, while in the north and east this belt was not so with the ploughmarks being visible only at the wide (fig. 3). Where the sea penetrated the first level. Of the profiles only the eastern face pea t-bog, a shallow, brackish, lagoon-like of the trench was drawn. A number of soil environment predominated, that towards the samples were taken for the purposes of sea underwent a transition into a tidal flat palaeobotanical investigation (Van Zeist, region (Griede, 1978). In the period under 1970), as well as a sample for Cl4-dating discussion, during the Calais IVA trans (Vogel & Waterbolk, 1972).