par Wouters, Barbora;Devos, Yannick ;Vrydaghs, Luc ;Tys, Dries
Référence Developing International Geoarchaeology (DIG) (2-6 septembre 2013: Institute for Prehistory and Archaeological Science, University of Basel)
Publication Non publié, 2013-09-06
Communication à un colloque
Résumé : The early developments of Antwerp are still poorly understood and subject to ongoing research.During excavations on the right bank of the river Scheldt in 2008-2009, archaeologistsdiscovered the remains of a 9th to 10th-century early town, surrounded by an earthen rampartand palisade. Beneath the 9th-century structures a Dark Earth – a thick, dark-coloured, humic,non-peaty and homogeneous layer – has been observed, covering in situ traces of Romanage. Soil micromorphology, combined with a phytolith study and granulometrical analysis, hasproven to be a useful tool for the understanding of the complex site stratigraphy. It has allowedthe identification of a series of activities that are often hard to distinguish based solely onfield data. The study of the Dark Earth established that its formation is the result of a complexinterplay of human activities and natural phenomena. Main human activities include groundraising, long lasting crop growing, possibly in combination with episodes of pasture. The studyof the layers on top of the Dark Earth allowed identification of remains of a stable. Moreover,taphonomic processes such as a progressive wetting of the site, possibly related to a significantsea level rise, have been observed.