De wallen van Wekerom (Gl.): een midden-Nederlands Celtic field onderzocht

Samenvatting

The ridges of Wekerom (province of Gelderland): research at a Celtic field in the central Netherlands. In July 2011, two plots within the 80 ha Celticfield system of Wekerom were selected for archaeological fieldwork. This excavation is part of a multi-year project targeting the agricultural use through time of Dutch Celtic fields. The two locations were selected on the basis of laser altimetry data and, being woodland plots, showed less levelling of the surface morphology through later agricultural use. After an initial coring campaign to determine the most suitable spots for test-trenches, sixteen small (< 1 x 1 m) test-pits were dug at the locations of Celtic-field banks and fields. The sections of the pits were documented and sampled for OSL and AMS dating, as well as geochemical and archaeological analysis. On the basis of the preliminary results now available, it is clear already that Celtic-field ridges were not constructed from stones cleared from the adjacent fields. Geochemical analysis of phosphate content showed no indications for intensification of manuring over time, as conventional wisdom would have it. The combined lithological, archaeological and geochemical analyses suggest that the ridge was most probably constructed from a mixture of soil, manure and settlement debris that was brought to the plots from nearby.