PROJECT NOORDELIJK WESTERGO (FR.). DE OPGRAVINGEN VAN DE TERPRESTANTEN VAN DONGJUM-HERINGA (1998) EN PEINS-OOST (1999)

Samenvatting

In the early nineties, large-scale excavations were carried out at the well-known terp of Wijnaldum­-Tjitsma (Friesland). To put the results of these ex­cavations into perspective it was decided to start a long-term regional project for northern West­ergo and to investigate on a small scale several terpen in the immediate vicinity of Tjitsma. In I998 and I999 research focused on the terpen Dongjum-Heringa and Peins-Oost. Both terpen were badly damaged by commercial terp quar­rying in the early twentieth century. However, the recording of surviving vertical sections and of terp layers left by the quarrying enabled us to re­construct in broad outline the sites' settlement history from the first century BC (Peins) or the second century AD (Dongjum) up until early modem times. At both sites, Roman-period habi­tation on low and small platforms of sods, as at Wijnaldum, had followed on the construction of small (ring?) dykes. Probably these dykes pro­tected arable fields or meadowland. Both terpen were uninhabited in the fourth century, but the habitation in the Migration period and the Middle Ages is well documented.