Een mislukte kraak uit de 14de eeuw – over een onderzoekje in 1941 in Veenhuizen (Dr.)

Samenvatting

A failed cracking in the 14th century – about a find at Veenhuizen (Drenthe) in 1941. The village of Veenhuizen in the north of the Netherlands started as an ordinary peat- reclamation settlement, founded in the 14th century. Yet it was unfortunately situated over a depression in the subsoil. Because agriculture soon became impossible, new sources of income had to be generated. Finds made during several surveys in the 20th century revealed evidence of a special craft: the ‘cracking’ of juniper wood for the production of gum or oil. The procedure used was the ‘double-pot-method’, described as early as 1266 in a Dutch manuscript. Amateur archaeologists have repeatedly reported discovering small bowl-shaped pots dug into the ground and covered by a lid with a pierced handle, the smaller pot covered by a larger one placed upside down. A described discovery in 1941 records a similar find with unburnt branches and turfs still in place around the pots, apparently representing the remains of an unsuccessful cracking in the 14th century.