2007/01/01 by Bert J. Groenewoudt, H. van Haaster, Roy van Beek +1 · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Tree-ring climate responses
paper · doi:10.1080/01433768.2007.10594587
openalex publication_date 2007/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Analysis of a large number of pollen samples from pools and wells has led to a more detailed understanding of the vegetation development in the eastern Netherlands between c. 1100 B.c. and A.D. 1500. During the Neolithic and the Bronze Age settlements were islands within a forest landscape, with natural clearings as the obvious starting points for further exploitation. Especially during the Iron Age the higher grounds became rapidly deforested. A semi-open landscape was formed relatively quickly, as was the case in the northern Dutch sandy areas. The Iron Age and Roman period landscape seems to have been almost as open as it would be during the Middle Ages, something which has also been established for south-east England. Deforestation proceeded at a slower pace in the lower and wetter parts of the landscape, but here too the effects of human presence are already visible during late prehistory, at least in the proximity of settlements. A sharp increase of heath can be observed, the result of deforestation and soil exhaustion. Sometimes it is grasses that increase rather than heather, as was probably the case on relatively fertile and degradation-resistant soil types. The late prehistoric mosaic landscape was probably still characterised by a high degree of spatial dynamics. On the other hand, many of the medieval and younger essen (open fields) are likely to have been open areas and to have been in continuous use for agriculture from the Iron Age until the present day. These areas had apparently become stable elements in an otherwise dynamic landscape long before the Middle Ages.