Roy van Beek
I am Associate Professor in Landscape Archaeology at the departments of Soil Geography and Landscape (SGL) and Cultural Geography (GEO) of Wageningen University (The Netherlands). I study human-landscape interactions over long time scales by means of developing and applying innovative, interdisciplinary methods, and investigate how we can use that knowledge to create future-proof, regenerative landscapes.
In the first stages of my career I mainly worked on Northwest European 'dryland' landscapes. My NWO Veni project 'Deconstructing Stability' focused on landscape dynamics in the coversand landscape of the eastern Dutch Twente region. In more recent work this emphasis has shifted towards wetlands. My NWO Vidi project 'Home Turf' centered on the long-term history of raised bogs in the Pleistocene parts of the Netherlands and adjacent areas. I was Principal Investigator of the JPI-CH project 'WETFUTURES': Wetland Futures in Contested Environments: an inter- and transdisciplinary approach to wetland heritage in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Ireland.
Currently I am joint leader of the NWA project EARTHWORK. In this research we focus on the application and improvement of OSL techniques in investigations of anthropogenic earthworks in the Netherlands, such as dikes, dwelling mounds and Celtic Fields.
In the first stages of my career I mainly worked on Northwest European 'dryland' landscapes. My NWO Veni project 'Deconstructing Stability' focused on landscape dynamics in the coversand landscape of the eastern Dutch Twente region. In more recent work this emphasis has shifted towards wetlands. My NWO Vidi project 'Home Turf' centered on the long-term history of raised bogs in the Pleistocene parts of the Netherlands and adjacent areas. I was Principal Investigator of the JPI-CH project 'WETFUTURES': Wetland Futures in Contested Environments: an inter- and transdisciplinary approach to wetland heritage in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Ireland.
Currently I am joint leader of the NWA project EARTHWORK. In this research we focus on the application and improvement of OSL techniques in investigations of anthropogenic earthworks in the Netherlands, such as dikes, dwelling mounds and Celtic Fields.
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Papers by Roy van Beek
afgerond naar honderden menselijke overblijfselen uit Europese moerassen. Dit resulteerde in nieuwe inzichten over ons
verleden. Veenlijken blijken in substantiële aantallen over een
periode van zevenduizend jaar voor te komen; sommige moerassen zijn zelfs eeuwenlang gebruikt om menselijke lichamen in achter te laten. Het onderzoek geeft ook meer inzicht in oorzaken en motieven, al zijn deze na duizenden jaren moeilijk precies te achterhalen.
approach that allow us to reconstruct the pattern of peat initiation and lateral expansion within (and potentially beyond) peat remnants, and (2) to reconstruct peat initiation ages and lateral expansion for one of the largest bog remnants of the northwest European mainland, Fochteloërveen. Basal radiocarbon dates were obtained from the peat remnant, which formed the basis for subsequent analyses. We investigated the relationship between peat initiation age and three potential covariates: (1) total thickness of organic deposits, (2) elevation of the Pleistocene mineral surface that underlies the organic deposits, and (3) a constructed variable representing groundwater-fed wetness based on elevation of the mineral surface and current hydraulic head. Significant relationships were found with covariates (1) and (3), which were then
used for subsequent modelling. Our results indicate simultaneous peat initiation at several loci in Fochteloërveen during the Early Holocene and continuous lateral expansion until 900 cal BP. Lateral expansion accelerated between 5500–3500 cal BP. Our approach is spatially explicit (i.e. results in a map of peat initiation ages), and it allows for a quantitative evaluation of the prediction using the standard deviation and comparison of predictions with validation points. The applied method based on covariate (1) is only useful where remnant peat survived, whereas covariate (3) may ultimately be applied to reconstruct peat initiation ages and lateral peatland expansion beyond the limits of peat remnants.
Analysis demonstrates fluctuating depositions of human remains between the Early Neolithic and early modern times, significant and shifting spatial
clustering, and variation in site characteristics (e.g. preservation, use frequency, cause of death). The results emphasise previously unrecognised activity phases and highlight issues with categorising motives, especially around ritual violence.
the peat initiation process) and the layer defined as basal peat (i.e., the stratigraphical layer that is defined as the bottom of a peat deposit). Selection of dating samples is often challenging due to poor preservation of plant macrofossils in basal peat, and the representativity of humic and humin dates for the age of basal peat is uncertain. We therefore analyse the mineral-to-peat transition based on three highly detailed sequences of
radiocarbon dates, including dates of plant macrofossils and the humic and humin fractions obtained from bulk samples. Our case study peatland in the Netherlands currently harbours a bog vegetation, but biostratigraphical analyses show that during peat initiation the vegetation was mesotrophic. Results show that plant macrofossils provide the most accurate age in the mineral-to-peat transition and are therefore
recommendable to use for 14C dating basal peat. If these are unattainable, the humic fraction provides the best alternative and is interpreted as a terminus-ante-quem for peat initiation. The potential large age difference between dates of plant macrofossils and humic or humin dates (up to ~1700 years between macrofossil and humic ages, and with even larger differences for humins) suggests that studies reusing existing bulk dates of basal peat should take great care in data interpretation. The potentially long timespan of the peat initiation process (with medians of ~1000, ~1300 and ~1500 years within our case study peatland) demonstrates that choices regarding sampling size and resolution need to be well substantiated. We summarise our findings as a set of
recommendations for dating basal peats, and advocate the widespread use of OM determination to obtain a lowcost, quantitative and reproducible definition of basal peat that eases intercomparison of studies.
The organisational pinnacle of cultural-heritage conservation is world heritage: sites that are judged to contain a set of cultural and/or natural values which are of outstanding value to humanity. However, to what extent world heritage meets these newly set criteria is unknown. Nevertheless, these sites often reflect an eminent status, scientifically as well as economically (i.e. through tourism). Consequently, world heritage often enjoys interest from multiple stakeholders including governmental, scientific, public, and commercial parties, all of whom engage in contrasting activities and have different interests and needs. As a result the need for accessibility and integrated overviews of these sites is high but equally challenging.
In this paper we will focus on the world-heritage site of Schokland (NL). This former island in the Dutch Zuiderzee both reflects outstanding historical and archaeological importance. We will show that the dynamics surrounding this site require tailormade conservation methodologies, which greatly depend on data integration. We present a new Historical Geographical Information System (HGIS) specifically designed to integrate cultural and geoscientific data and facilitate dynamic heritage management. Results show that such a system greatly adds to the contextualization and (digital) accessibility of the heritage site and is essential for substantiating conservation methodologies. Furthermore, it shows great research potential for diachronological reconstructions of dynamic-lowland development. The system facilitates multidisciplinary scientific analyses, integrated monitoring, and public outreach and shows great application potential for other (world-)heritage sites.
to specific research questions and study regions. A penalty is assigned to each date based on criteria that consider taphonomic quality (i.e. sample provenance) and dating quality (i.e. sample material and method used). The weights of quality criteria may be adjusted based on the research focus, and resulting confidence levels may be used in further analyses to ensure robustness of conclusions. We apply the proposed
approach to a case study of a (former) peat landscape in the Netherlands, aiming to reconstruct the timing of peat initiation spatially. Our search yielded 313 radiocarbon dates from the 1950s to 2019. Based on the quality assessment the dates—of highly diverse quality—were assigned to four confidence levels. Results indicate that peat initiation for the study area first peaked in the Late Glacial (~14,000 cal y BP), dropped during the Boreal (~9,500 cal y BP) and showed a second peak in the Subboreal (~4,500 cal y BP). We tentatively conclude that the earliest peak was mostly driven by climate (Bølling-Allerød interstadial), whereas the second was probably the result of Holocene sea level rise and related groundwater level rise in combination with climatic conditions (hypsithermal). Our study highlights the potential of legacy data for palaeogeographic reconstructions, as it is cost-efficient and provides access to information no longer available in the field. However, data retrieval may be challenging and reuse of data requires that basic information on location, elevation, stratigraphy, sample and laboratory analysis are documented irrespective of the original research aims.
experiencing little influence from either the market or the state, and focusing only on the needs of entitled (local) communities. Consequently, commercialisation and sustainable
collective use of common-pool resources are largely considered incompatible. Moreover, the dominant focus of CPR theory is on renewable resources rather than non-renewable resources such as peat. Although commons scholarship has broadened over the last
decades and come to more nuanced views on the state-market-common trichotomy, our study adds historical depth and does pay attention to peat as a valuable non-renewable resource. We analyse historical sources on two cases of peat commercialisation from raised
bog commons in the early modern Low Countries: the Bakelse gemeint in the Dutch Peel region, and the commune de Xhoffraix in the Belgian Hautes-Fagnes. In terms of volume, the share of commercialised peat in the total peat exploitation was limited; the significance of peat commercialisation lay in its permanence, recurrence, and/or regional outreach. Taxes and high debts placed communities in dire financial straits, which was one of the motives for peat commercialisation. In addition, state institutions could intervene in commons management if there was an (internal) conflict. Sources indicate that these institutions had a pragmatic attitude towards peat commercialisation, probably to foster social harmony and local prosperity in times of resource contestation and economic hardship. This study adds a novel intermediate category of peat exploitation to the traditional binary subdivision in domestic peat extraction from commons versus large-scale commercial exploitation of privatised bogs. We demonstrate that long-term use of common-pool resources could go together with a moderate degree of commercialisation. Rather than being fully autonomous, commons in the early modern Low Countries were – permanently or at times of internal conflict – clearly impacted by markets, notions of private user rights, and state institutions.
developed at specific sites. Through an integrated analysis based on archaeological, historical, and geomorphological data along with optically stimulated luminescence dating, we investigated the relative
impact of three direct and indirect anthropogenic causes for the local morphological change and enhanced lateral migration rates: (1) lack of strategies to manage fluvial erosion; (2) a strong increase in
the number of farmsteads and related intensified local land use from the High Middle Ages onwards; and (3) (human-induced) drift-sand activity directly adjacent to the river bends, causing a change in bank stability. Combined, these factors led locally to meander amplitudes well beyond the valley sides. Lessons learned at this site are relevant for management and restoration of meandering rivers in similar settings
elsewhere, particularly in meeting the need to estimate spatial demands of (restored) low-energy fluvial systems and manage bank erosion.
the finds has been largely overlooked. This applies to both the ‘physical’ and ‘cultural’ landscape and constitutes a significant problem since the vast spatial and temporal scales over which the practice appeared demonstrate that contextual assessments are of the utmost importance for our explanatory frameworks. In this article we develop best practice guidelines for the contextual analysis of bog bodies,
after assessing the current state of research and presenting the results of three recent case studies including the well-known finds of Lindow Man in the United Kingdom, Bjældskovdal (Tollund Man and
Elling Woman) in Denmark, and Yde Girl in the Netherlands. Three spatial and chronological scales are distinguished and linked to specific research questions and methods. This provides a basis for further
discussion and a starting point for developing approaches to bog body finds and future discoveries, while facilitating and optimizing the re-analysis of previous studies, making it possible to compare deposition
sites across time and space.
locations in the colluvium filling the kettle hole to study both spatial and temporal patterns in colluviation.We combined OSL dating with advanced age modelling to determine the stabilization age of colluvial sediments. These ages were combined with an archaeological reconstruction of historical ploughing depths to derive the levels of the soil surface at the moment of stabilization; the deposition depths, which were then used to calculate unbiased deposition rates.
We identified two phases of colluvial deposition. The oldest deposits (~5 ka) were located at the fringe of the kettle hole and accumulated
relatively slowly, whereas the youngest deposits (<0.3 ka) rapidly filled the central kettle hole with rates of two orders of magnitude higher. We suggest that the latter phase is related to artificial drainage, facilitating accessibility in the central depression for agricultural practices. Our results show the need for numerical dating techniques that take archaeological and soil geomorphological information into account to identify spatiotemporal patterns of landscape change, and to correctly interpret landscape dynamics in anthropogenically influenced hilly landscapes.
afgerond naar honderden menselijke overblijfselen uit Europese moerassen. Dit resulteerde in nieuwe inzichten over ons
verleden. Veenlijken blijken in substantiële aantallen over een
periode van zevenduizend jaar voor te komen; sommige moerassen zijn zelfs eeuwenlang gebruikt om menselijke lichamen in achter te laten. Het onderzoek geeft ook meer inzicht in oorzaken en motieven, al zijn deze na duizenden jaren moeilijk precies te achterhalen.
approach that allow us to reconstruct the pattern of peat initiation and lateral expansion within (and potentially beyond) peat remnants, and (2) to reconstruct peat initiation ages and lateral expansion for one of the largest bog remnants of the northwest European mainland, Fochteloërveen. Basal radiocarbon dates were obtained from the peat remnant, which formed the basis for subsequent analyses. We investigated the relationship between peat initiation age and three potential covariates: (1) total thickness of organic deposits, (2) elevation of the Pleistocene mineral surface that underlies the organic deposits, and (3) a constructed variable representing groundwater-fed wetness based on elevation of the mineral surface and current hydraulic head. Significant relationships were found with covariates (1) and (3), which were then
used for subsequent modelling. Our results indicate simultaneous peat initiation at several loci in Fochteloërveen during the Early Holocene and continuous lateral expansion until 900 cal BP. Lateral expansion accelerated between 5500–3500 cal BP. Our approach is spatially explicit (i.e. results in a map of peat initiation ages), and it allows for a quantitative evaluation of the prediction using the standard deviation and comparison of predictions with validation points. The applied method based on covariate (1) is only useful where remnant peat survived, whereas covariate (3) may ultimately be applied to reconstruct peat initiation ages and lateral peatland expansion beyond the limits of peat remnants.
Analysis demonstrates fluctuating depositions of human remains between the Early Neolithic and early modern times, significant and shifting spatial
clustering, and variation in site characteristics (e.g. preservation, use frequency, cause of death). The results emphasise previously unrecognised activity phases and highlight issues with categorising motives, especially around ritual violence.
the peat initiation process) and the layer defined as basal peat (i.e., the stratigraphical layer that is defined as the bottom of a peat deposit). Selection of dating samples is often challenging due to poor preservation of plant macrofossils in basal peat, and the representativity of humic and humin dates for the age of basal peat is uncertain. We therefore analyse the mineral-to-peat transition based on three highly detailed sequences of
radiocarbon dates, including dates of plant macrofossils and the humic and humin fractions obtained from bulk samples. Our case study peatland in the Netherlands currently harbours a bog vegetation, but biostratigraphical analyses show that during peat initiation the vegetation was mesotrophic. Results show that plant macrofossils provide the most accurate age in the mineral-to-peat transition and are therefore
recommendable to use for 14C dating basal peat. If these are unattainable, the humic fraction provides the best alternative and is interpreted as a terminus-ante-quem for peat initiation. The potential large age difference between dates of plant macrofossils and humic or humin dates (up to ~1700 years between macrofossil and humic ages, and with even larger differences for humins) suggests that studies reusing existing bulk dates of basal peat should take great care in data interpretation. The potentially long timespan of the peat initiation process (with medians of ~1000, ~1300 and ~1500 years within our case study peatland) demonstrates that choices regarding sampling size and resolution need to be well substantiated. We summarise our findings as a set of
recommendations for dating basal peats, and advocate the widespread use of OM determination to obtain a lowcost, quantitative and reproducible definition of basal peat that eases intercomparison of studies.
The organisational pinnacle of cultural-heritage conservation is world heritage: sites that are judged to contain a set of cultural and/or natural values which are of outstanding value to humanity. However, to what extent world heritage meets these newly set criteria is unknown. Nevertheless, these sites often reflect an eminent status, scientifically as well as economically (i.e. through tourism). Consequently, world heritage often enjoys interest from multiple stakeholders including governmental, scientific, public, and commercial parties, all of whom engage in contrasting activities and have different interests and needs. As a result the need for accessibility and integrated overviews of these sites is high but equally challenging.
In this paper we will focus on the world-heritage site of Schokland (NL). This former island in the Dutch Zuiderzee both reflects outstanding historical and archaeological importance. We will show that the dynamics surrounding this site require tailormade conservation methodologies, which greatly depend on data integration. We present a new Historical Geographical Information System (HGIS) specifically designed to integrate cultural and geoscientific data and facilitate dynamic heritage management. Results show that such a system greatly adds to the contextualization and (digital) accessibility of the heritage site and is essential for substantiating conservation methodologies. Furthermore, it shows great research potential for diachronological reconstructions of dynamic-lowland development. The system facilitates multidisciplinary scientific analyses, integrated monitoring, and public outreach and shows great application potential for other (world-)heritage sites.
to specific research questions and study regions. A penalty is assigned to each date based on criteria that consider taphonomic quality (i.e. sample provenance) and dating quality (i.e. sample material and method used). The weights of quality criteria may be adjusted based on the research focus, and resulting confidence levels may be used in further analyses to ensure robustness of conclusions. We apply the proposed
approach to a case study of a (former) peat landscape in the Netherlands, aiming to reconstruct the timing of peat initiation spatially. Our search yielded 313 radiocarbon dates from the 1950s to 2019. Based on the quality assessment the dates—of highly diverse quality—were assigned to four confidence levels. Results indicate that peat initiation for the study area first peaked in the Late Glacial (~14,000 cal y BP), dropped during the Boreal (~9,500 cal y BP) and showed a second peak in the Subboreal (~4,500 cal y BP). We tentatively conclude that the earliest peak was mostly driven by climate (Bølling-Allerød interstadial), whereas the second was probably the result of Holocene sea level rise and related groundwater level rise in combination with climatic conditions (hypsithermal). Our study highlights the potential of legacy data for palaeogeographic reconstructions, as it is cost-efficient and provides access to information no longer available in the field. However, data retrieval may be challenging and reuse of data requires that basic information on location, elevation, stratigraphy, sample and laboratory analysis are documented irrespective of the original research aims.
experiencing little influence from either the market or the state, and focusing only on the needs of entitled (local) communities. Consequently, commercialisation and sustainable
collective use of common-pool resources are largely considered incompatible. Moreover, the dominant focus of CPR theory is on renewable resources rather than non-renewable resources such as peat. Although commons scholarship has broadened over the last
decades and come to more nuanced views on the state-market-common trichotomy, our study adds historical depth and does pay attention to peat as a valuable non-renewable resource. We analyse historical sources on two cases of peat commercialisation from raised
bog commons in the early modern Low Countries: the Bakelse gemeint in the Dutch Peel region, and the commune de Xhoffraix in the Belgian Hautes-Fagnes. In terms of volume, the share of commercialised peat in the total peat exploitation was limited; the significance of peat commercialisation lay in its permanence, recurrence, and/or regional outreach. Taxes and high debts placed communities in dire financial straits, which was one of the motives for peat commercialisation. In addition, state institutions could intervene in commons management if there was an (internal) conflict. Sources indicate that these institutions had a pragmatic attitude towards peat commercialisation, probably to foster social harmony and local prosperity in times of resource contestation and economic hardship. This study adds a novel intermediate category of peat exploitation to the traditional binary subdivision in domestic peat extraction from commons versus large-scale commercial exploitation of privatised bogs. We demonstrate that long-term use of common-pool resources could go together with a moderate degree of commercialisation. Rather than being fully autonomous, commons in the early modern Low Countries were – permanently or at times of internal conflict – clearly impacted by markets, notions of private user rights, and state institutions.
developed at specific sites. Through an integrated analysis based on archaeological, historical, and geomorphological data along with optically stimulated luminescence dating, we investigated the relative
impact of three direct and indirect anthropogenic causes for the local morphological change and enhanced lateral migration rates: (1) lack of strategies to manage fluvial erosion; (2) a strong increase in
the number of farmsteads and related intensified local land use from the High Middle Ages onwards; and (3) (human-induced) drift-sand activity directly adjacent to the river bends, causing a change in bank stability. Combined, these factors led locally to meander amplitudes well beyond the valley sides. Lessons learned at this site are relevant for management and restoration of meandering rivers in similar settings
elsewhere, particularly in meeting the need to estimate spatial demands of (restored) low-energy fluvial systems and manage bank erosion.
the finds has been largely overlooked. This applies to both the ‘physical’ and ‘cultural’ landscape and constitutes a significant problem since the vast spatial and temporal scales over which the practice appeared demonstrate that contextual assessments are of the utmost importance for our explanatory frameworks. In this article we develop best practice guidelines for the contextual analysis of bog bodies,
after assessing the current state of research and presenting the results of three recent case studies including the well-known finds of Lindow Man in the United Kingdom, Bjældskovdal (Tollund Man and
Elling Woman) in Denmark, and Yde Girl in the Netherlands. Three spatial and chronological scales are distinguished and linked to specific research questions and methods. This provides a basis for further
discussion and a starting point for developing approaches to bog body finds and future discoveries, while facilitating and optimizing the re-analysis of previous studies, making it possible to compare deposition
sites across time and space.
locations in the colluvium filling the kettle hole to study both spatial and temporal patterns in colluviation.We combined OSL dating with advanced age modelling to determine the stabilization age of colluvial sediments. These ages were combined with an archaeological reconstruction of historical ploughing depths to derive the levels of the soil surface at the moment of stabilization; the deposition depths, which were then used to calculate unbiased deposition rates.
We identified two phases of colluvial deposition. The oldest deposits (~5 ka) were located at the fringe of the kettle hole and accumulated
relatively slowly, whereas the youngest deposits (<0.3 ka) rapidly filled the central kettle hole with rates of two orders of magnitude higher. We suggest that the latter phase is related to artificial drainage, facilitating accessibility in the central depression for agricultural practices. Our results show the need for numerical dating techniques that take archaeological and soil geomorphological information into account to identify spatiotemporal patterns of landscape change, and to correctly interpret landscape dynamics in anthropogenically influenced hilly landscapes.
van hoogvenen. In deze bijdrage reflecteer ik, na een korte inleiding, aan de hand van vier geselecteerde thema’s in een vrije vorm op mijn ervaringen op mijn pad door het veen.
In this session we want to address different aspects related to the value of peatlands as cultural and ecological archives as well as the extended insight they provide into prehistoric and early historic life. New discoveries and studies are welcomed that provide insight into (pre)historic landscape, life, and lifeways such as overarching projects that embed archaeological sites within their cultural and ecological context. Threats to peatland related cultural remains (e.g. peat extraction, agriculture and infrastructural developments) and potentials, methods, and possibilities of protecting them shall be addressed. We similarly welcome contributions dealing with topics like integrating public or political actors within archaeological research into peatland sites.
We hope to foster discussions about European perspectives on peatland archaeology and further development of research methods, approaches and standards. The session might serve as a 'stepping stone' towards a European agenda for understanding the past and preserving into the future these valuable but fragile landscapes.