Middeleeuwse huistypen in het Fries- Groninger kleigebied: uniformiteit of diversiteit?

Samenvatting

Medieval house plans in the Frisian-Groningen marine-clay area: uniformity or diversity? As a follow-up to the previous article, about Gasselte-type houses in the marine-clay area of the northern Netherlands (Scheele & Rollingswier 2015), questions arose about the diversity of house plan types in the northern Netherlands in the AD 800-1300 period. After analysis of a newly compiled data-set of house plans found in the marine-clay area and adjacent areas, there was no indication for any diversity in house plan types for this period. However, a pattern emerged showing that the orientation of the structures appears to be linked to the use of the building. Dwellings appear to have a predominantly east-west orientation, and barns a north-south orientation. This divergence in preferred orientation will be useful in future studies of farmstead layout, the use of buildings and developments through time. On an economic level it can improve excavation planning, as it will make it easier to predict the location of farmstead structures and facilitate the interpretation of house plans.