Medieval farmsteads in Gasselte (Province of Drenthe)
Abstract
(p. 228)
The extensive excavations of settlements in Drenthe in Elp and Angelslo-Emmerhout (Bronze Age), Hijken and Noord Barge (i.e. Pre-Roman Iron Age), Wijster (the Roman period) and Odoorn (the Merovingian and Carolingian periods) form a series that spans almost completely th etime from the 13th century B.C. until the 9th century A.D. (Van der Waals & Butler, 1973-75; Harsema, 1974a, 1976; Van Es, 1967; Waterbolk, 1973a). Assuming that each of these settlements is more or less representative for its period - just as the present-day, at least the 19th century villages of Drenthe show a great degree of uniformity over the whole region in terms of situation, structure, farmhouse type and type of agricultural occupation carried out - from the results of the excavations it is possible to study the various problems of development of house forms, of settlement structure, of food economy and of continuity of occupation.