Paddepoel, Excavations of Frustrated Terps, 200 B.C. - 250 A.D.

Abstract

(pp. 274-275)

During the period between June and November 1964 the Biologisch-Archaeologisch lnstituut of Groningen University excavated four sites in the Paddepoel area to the north-west of Groningen town: Paddepoel I - IV ( chapter I).

The Paddepoel area is situated at the end of the moraine ridge the Hondsrug, between the rivers Aa and Hunze. These rivers constituted water routes connecting the sandy soils of Drente and the north-western part of the clay district in the province of Groningen: they continued the land route formed by the Hondsrug. The area lay on the inner edge of the Old Salt Marsh, at the transition with the peat region separating clay district and sandy soils. The end of the Hondsrug is the onlypoint where clay and sand were in direct contact (chapter I I).

Paddepoel I-III are settlement sites dating from the later part of the Iron Age and the Early-Roman period: between ca. 200 B.C. and 250 A.D.

These settlements were probably founded directly upon the flat surface (Flachsiedlungphase). Later on, the houses were raised upon low rectangular earth platforms surrounded by ditches (platform phase). The platforms were gradually expanded and in the course of this process adjacent platforms became fused. This evolution can best be followed at Paddepoel III, where the excavations have been more extensive than at the other sites. The small enclosures belonging to the earliest Paddepoel III settlement patterns were probably pastures. The lay-out of the excavated part of the settlement of Paddepoel II and III suggests a radial arrangement of the principal buildings, but there is no sufficient proof that Paddepoel II and III formed a coherent whole in process of becoming one terp. The principal buildings were three-aisled farmhouses; they were accompanied by outhouses, such as granaries (chapters III-V).

The economy of the settlements was agrarian; probably mainly based on cattlebreeding, but agriculture was practised as well (appendices I and IV). A few Roman sherds point to trade connections.

The date of the settlements is derived from two C14 datings and an analysis of the finds: mainly band-made pottery. The pottery types are almost exclusively coastal in character. Most of them are of local make and compare very favourably with the usual terp pottery from the northern part of the Netherlands; a few may be imports from the Weser-Elbe region. An interesting group of soft-baked pottery types might be connected with salt extraction (chapters VII-XII, XIV).

The earliest feature of Paddepoel IV is an intentionally raised, Early-Medieval cemetery of the "mixed" type with inhumation graves of different directions and cremations. The cemetery is covered by a Medieval and later settlement: a small terp. Details of the evolution of this settlement remain unknown (chapters VI, XIII, XIV).

One of the most interesting results of the excavation is the information obtained about the relation between habitation and natural environment. The settlements of Paddepoel I-III were founded on the clay deposits of the Pre-Roman transgression in a Salt Marsh environment. A long time before the beginning of the habitation period, the Pre-Roman transgression had passed its prime. The influence of these had decreased and was very small or absent during the period of habitation. The ditches of the settlement of Paddepoel III, periods I and II, held water which was fresh or only slightly brackish. The Late-Roman/Early-Medieval transgression arrested the evolution of the settlements and prevented them from becoming real terps. The diatoms contained in the sediment of the Late-Roman/Early-Medieval transgression show a strong increase of the sea influence in the Paddepoel area; the activities of the sea during this period were in fact much greater than they had been at the end of the Pre-Roman transgression. The conditions in the Paddepoel area were worse than else where in the clay district, where the existing settlements could survive: here, in Paddepoel the surface of the Pre-Roman sediment lay at 0.50 m below N.A.P. level. The Early-Medieval cemetery of Paddepoel IV was raised on the sediments of the Late-Roman/Early-Medieval transgression at a time when the sea went through another regression period, as appears among other things from the analysis of the diatoms. The settlement of Paddepoel IV developed during the period of the Medieval transgression when the knikklei landscape was rejuvenated (chapters II-VI, appendix III).