MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGY, MIND-SET

Maritime archaeology has only relatively recently entered the politica! agenda, albeit mostly in a very modest way. Nevertheless one can certainly consider this specific field as an integral part of cultural polities. Viewed in that perspective it is small wonder that there are marked differences in the way the maritime heritage is reflected upon. The role that the present day community allots to it has considerable impact on the way its archaeological disdosure or proteetion can set about. In this article, it will be ventured to outline sonw of the parameters to which maritime archaeology in the Netherlands presently cunforms, and to explain some .of the resultant policy choices.

An review of archaeological data shows Dutch flush shipbuilding as following a different conceptual approach than Mediterranean, Ibero-Atlantic, English or French shipbuilding in early modern times. The archaeological correlates for Dutch-Flush shipbuilding are identified. Given the necessary level of expert skill we must conclude that Dutch flush shipbuilding had technological advantages over the Iberian, French or English shipbuilding traditions. These resulted in a frugal use of timber and a comparatively fast building procedure. It is concluded that the technological anomaly of Dutch flush shipbuilding must be held responsible for its success, which in turn was instrumental in creating the economic and cultural boom known as the Golden Age. However, the technological deviation was not innovative or 'modem' at all. Indeed, it was in sticking to a well-established building sequence and in persisting in a purely practical tradition of expertise that the Dutch could make the most of their production lines.

2004

International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 2018

This paper examines the theory and practice of the maritime cultural landscape in general, and projects the theoretical concepts and aspects involved on the highly dynamic late medieval northeastern Zuiderzee region in the Netherlands. The cultivation of land and marine erosion (floods and rising sea level) are considered as the main factors that caused the transformation of the physical landscape of this region from peatlands with freshwater basins into a tidal lagoon. As a consequence, multiple settlements drowned, large areas of land submerged, and culture and the landscape gradually became more maritime, giving the research area a cultural identity and dimension.

Landscapes, 2016

The research presented in this article focuses on the Noordoostpolder region – an area of reclaimed inland sea, called the Zuiderzee – in the central part of the Netherlands (fig. 1). The main aims of this paper are to (a) reconstruct the landscape of the Noordoostpolder region between approximately 1100 and 1400 AD to develop a better understanding of human terrestrial and maritime activity in and around the region, and (b) demonstrate the value of spatial interdisciplinary analyses based on a combination of geological, historic and archaeological data.

2012

In  or shortly thereafter, a Dutch ship was laden with all sorts of materials and products, mostly metals, but also textiles from the booming wool industries in both Flanders and Holland, a shipment of leather and exotic ivory. It was a ship of considerable size (at least  last) and departed from the Dutch Republic at a time of profound troubles. The Eighty Years' War between the Republic and Spain was far from settled. War at sea was unremitting and intensifying, with Dunkirk privateers an unruly menace to Dutch shipping. Spanish rule in the southern Low Countries was highly militarised, and constant campaigns were waged against it from the North. Central Europe was devastated by the Thirty Years' War, which had entered a new phase through new alliances. The heavy and strategically valuable cargo of the Dutch ship was assembled from North and South, as well as from a range of places in central Europe. The ship departed for a destination that it never reached. It sank off the coast of Texel, where it was discovered  years later. From  to  the wreck site and finds were subject to archaeological research, producing information on the ship, its setting and historical context as well as on the production and distribution of the individual shipments in the cargo, and informing us about the structure of early modern industry and trade, operating despite and because of the war. The present study, initiated by Wilma Gijsbers in  and supported by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), the Maritime Archaeology Programme at the University of Southern Denmark (MAP-SDU) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO; a one-year Odyssee grant), is the first to bring together all this evidence and evaluate it as a whole. Central to the study is the analysis of the ship and cargo assemblage as excavated, which is presented in Part  and  of this article. This is combined with an analysis of the discovery, its impact and the efficiency of fieldwork methodology in Part , and with reflections on the contribution the project makes to our understanding of production, trade and international relations in the specific historical context in Part .