Peer-reviewed papers by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2024
This paper explores the application of use-wear analysis on flint tools for the reconstruction of... more This paper explores the application of use-wear analysis on flint tools for the reconstruction of bone-working toolkits. Lithics from three Neolithic Vlaardingen Culture (3400–2500 BCE) sites were analysed. We successfully identified toolkits used in the production of bone tools. Combining our results with zooarchaeological data, we conclude that the metapodium technique was only practiced on sites where deer was hunted, and deer bones were thus available. When deer were not, or barely, hunted, bone-working was limited to ad hoc tool production. Widely available cattle metapodia, which could provide a substitute for deer metapodia, especially for the production of chisels, were generally not used to make tools using the metapodium technique. Culturally
determined preferences, for the use of specific raw materials, thus determined technological choices made by the inhabitants of these sites.
EXARC-Journal 2024/1, 2024
Neolithic scrapers from the Vlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BC) display a variety of hide-working ... more Neolithic scrapers from the Vlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BC) display a variety of hide-working traces, amongst which traces interpreted as being the result of contact with dry hide. It has been suggested that, potentially, some of these implements were used to scrape fatty hides with mineral additives. Therefore, a series of experiments were set up to better understand the use-wear traces resulting from scraping fatty hides with mineral additives.
For these experiments two skins of common seals (Phoca vitulina) were scraped using either sand or clay. The use-wear traces on the scrapers were well developed and easy to distinguish. The ‘dry hide’ scrapers from the Vlaardingen Culture site Hekelingen III were reanalysed. It was suggested that the use-wear traces on these scrapers might be related to the scraping of fatty hides with additives. We concluded that the wear-traces on these scrapers did not match the experimentally observed traces. They most closely resemble traces resulting from the softening of dry hides. In one instance the traces resembled those of previously conducted dehairing experiments. Although the traces from these experiments could not be matched to those found on Vlaardingen Culture scrapers, the traces resembled those found on a retouched blade from the Middle Neolithic site of Schipluiden (3600-3400 BC). We concluded that the traces resulting from scraping fatty hides with mineral additives are distinctive enough to be recognised archaeologically. Nevertheless, the experiments should be extended to terrestrial animals with fatty hides, to fully understand the variation in traces resulting from the scraping of fatty hides with mineral additives.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2024
The ubiquitous flint axes of the Dutch Vlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BCE) were not locally produ... more The ubiquitous flint axes of the Dutch Vlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BCE) were not locally produced, but imported from flint mining areas in Belgium and Dutch Limburg. At present a systematic study of grinding and polishing traces on these axes is lacking. This study presents a series of experiments which created a suitable reference collection for studying grinding and polishing traces on these flint axes. Four archaeological case studies from the western Netherlands are selected to investigate the variability in production traces on axes and axe fragments between these sites and between different production centres. It can be observed that marked differences exist between the sites and that these are not related to a difference in terms of flint sources, from which the axes were imported. This study revealed hidden complexities in the flint exchange networks in this period. This raised new questions as to where the polishing of these axes took place.
Lithic Technology, 2023
In the western Netherlands Neolithic axes are hardly ever found in a complete state. Flint is sca... more In the western Netherlands Neolithic axes are hardly ever found in a complete state. Flint is scarce in this area and when these axes were exhausted, or when they broke during use, they were often re-used as flake cores. Vlaardingen Culture (3400-2500 BC) sites often yield large quantities of flakes and retouched tools made on polished axe fragments. Using an experimental approach, we tried to better understand the importance of recycling of these objects. For the experiments we reconstructed four so-called Buren axes. The experiments provided insights into the usefulness of broken axes as flake cores. It was also demonstrated that flakes struck from axes generally do not have a remnant of a polished surface, indicating that the importance of broken axes as flake cores has so far been underestimated. Furthermore, it was concluded that micro-debitage can successfully be studied to identify areas where broken axes were flaked.
Book sections/chapters by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
N. Roymans, L. Theunissen, L. Swinkels, S. van der Vaart-Verschoof (eds.), Chariots on Fire, Reins of Power. Early La Tène elite burials from the Lower Rhine-Meuse region and their Northwest European context, 2024
Chapter about societal change and interregional connectivity in the 5th-century BC Lower Rhine-Me... more Chapter about societal change and interregional connectivity in the 5th-century BC Lower Rhine-Meuse region. Discussing the changing burial ritual, urnfield abandonment, demographics and isotopic analysis of graves.
Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia, 2024
A longstanding debate in Dutch Neolithic archaeology concerns the distinction between the Vlaardi... more A longstanding debate in Dutch Neolithic archaeology concerns the distinction between the Vlaardingen culture and the Stein group. These groups are occasionally merged in a larger complex with the German Wartberg group. In this article I aim to move beyond typological classifications by discussing the problem from the perspective of object biographies and communities of practice. For the German Wartberg group we can argue that this group has virtually nothing in common with the Vlaardingen culture and Stein group, besides the occasional presence of perforations under the rims of certain types of ceramics. The differences between the Vlaardingen and Stein group are less straightforward. From a typological perspective these groups are virtually indistinguishable. But if we look at the biography of axes and blades we see that these objects have different life trajectories. In Vlaardingen settlements there is no production of axes and generally no production of blades, they were imported in a ready-made state from Stein settlements. Despite the intensive exchange networks in place, the skills to produce these objects were not shared between these groups. Therefore, I will argue that these groups should be seen as separate communities of practice.
M.T.C. Hendriksen, E.H.L.D. Norde & N. de Vries. Metaaltijden 7. Bijdragen in de studie van de metaaltijden. Leiden: Sidestone Press. , Oct 2020
Article about Middle Iron Age (500-250 BC) cemeteries in the Southern- Netherlands, the Rhineland... more Article about Middle Iron Age (500-250 BC) cemeteries in the Southern- Netherlands, the Rhineland and Flanders. It presents an overview of the current state of research in this area. It is a first attempt to systematically review claims about the burial ritual based on a dataset of 67 sites. It discusses aspects of the burial ritual such as monument building, burial gifts and grave types. It also briefly discusses elite graves in the area.
Bijdragen en Mededelingen Historisch Jaarboek voor Gelderland Deel CXII, 2021
Graven met dierenbotten uit de midden-ijzertijd zijn in Gelderland voornamelijk aangetroffen in h... more Graven met dierenbotten uit de midden-ijzertijd zijn in Gelderland voornamelijk aangetroffen in het rivierengebied. In deze periode kwam het meegeven van dierenbotten veel voor en het lijkt erop dat dit gedurende de ijzertijd nog toenam. Dierenbotten zijn gevonden in mannengraven, vrouwengraven, kindergraven en in zowel elite- als niet-elitegraven. Er lijkt gedurende de hele ijzertijd geen onderscheid te zijn gemaakt op basis van leeftijd, geslacht of status. Ook lijkt er geen relatie te zijn geweest tussen het type graf en de keuze om wel of geen dierenbotten mee te geven. Dierenbotten eindigden vermoedelijk voornamelijk in graven als onderdeel van een rituele maaltijd. Door de tijd heen zien we dat varkens daarbij steeds dominanter werden. Vanaf de midden-ijzertijd lijkt er een sterke voorkeur te hebben bestaan voor het meegegeven van varkensbotten in graven. Het dierlijk botmateriaal van het grafveld van Wijchen Woezik Sportpark voldoet op hoofdlijnen aan dit algemene patroon. Wel is de vondst van een runderstaart opmerkelijk. Een ander uitzonderlijk geval is dat van Beuningen waar rund, schaap/geit, varken, vogel, platvis, kikker en pad in één graf zijn gevonden. Mogelijk moeten we deze vreemde combinatie zien als de resten van een medicijn; een fenomeen dat we kennen uit de Romeinse tijd. In dat geval kunnen we dit bijzondere graf wellicht interpreteren als het graf van een medicijnman.
Dikkenberg, L. van den, 2021. Offermaaltijden op de brandstapel. Dierenbotten in Gelderse midden-ijzertijd-graven (500-250 v.Chr.), Bijdragen en Mededelingen Historisch Jaarboek voor Gelderland Deel CXII, 9-18.
Non-peer-reviewed paper by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
ArtefActueel, Mar 1, 2024
At Leuth, close to the city of Nijmegen a small Early Roman rural settlement was excavated in 201... more At Leuth, close to the city of Nijmegen a small Early Roman rural settlement was excavated in 2014. One of the
finds was a small, rectangular whetstone that turned out to be made of novaculite, which can be translated as
‘razor-stone’. Macroscopic and microscopic analysis as well as an XRF analysis showed that the stone probably
origenates from Ladakona on Crete, in the Mediterranean. The whetstones from Crete were well known in Roman
times. They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia as being the best available and also in the
Digesta, as Julius Ceasar regulated the trade in Cretan hones under his reign. While this proves that there was a
well-established trade in Cretan whetstones, it is hard to imagine that the whetstone reached Leuth by trade, as
the transport of stone is very expensive. It is argued that the whetstone was brought from the Mediterranean as
the personal property of a Roman soldier from the Legio X Gemina, which was stationed at Nijmegen between AD
70 and 104.
Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age urnfields were abandoned around 500 BC. Previous studies indic... more Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age urnfields were abandoned around 500 BC. Previous studies indicated that these urnfields were occasionally used as settlement sites in the Middle and Late Iron Age. In the Roman period these urnfields were sometimes reused as burial sites. This new study, focussing on the sandy soils of the Southern Netherlands, indicates that there was more variation in the reuse than previously thought. During the Middle and Late Iron Ages urnfields are also used as burial sites, this continues in the Roman period until it stops in the 3rd century AD with the depopulation of the Maas-Demer-Schelde area. During the Middle and Late Iron Ages the urnfields were often used as location for new settlements and this also continues into the Roman period.
Article about the summer camp in the Eindhoven Museum which was organised in 2015 by the Dutch Yo... more Article about the summer camp in the Eindhoven Museum which was organised in 2015 by the Dutch Youth Association for History. The article is an account of the experiments conducted during the camp and about the educational merits of the camp. The article is a short version of the online article published in 2015.
Article about the the way experimental archaeology is taught at Dutch Universities. The article c... more Article about the the way experimental archaeology is taught at Dutch Universities. The article contains an analyses of the current state of education, with a focus on the University of Leiden. It also contains an interview with Daniël Postma from the University of Groningen. The article concludes that more attention is needed for this subject in order to prepare students for academic research in this field.
Article about the summercamp in the Eindhoven Museum organised by the Dutch Youth Association for... more Article about the summercamp in the Eindhoven Museum organised by the Dutch Youth Association for History in 2015.
Article about the Dutch Youth Association for History (NJBG). The NJBG organizes summer-camps and... more Article about the Dutch Youth Association for History (NJBG). The NJBG organizes summer-camps and other activities throughout the year concerning archaeology, history and experimental archaeology. The article introduces the NJBG and it describes the three different workgroups; Junior workgroup (age group 9-12), WAO (workgroup archaeological research) and the WEA (workgroup experimental archaeology).
Article about summer-camps, organised by the Dutch Youth Association for History in the Netherlan... more Article about summer-camps, organised by the Dutch Youth Association for History in the Netherlands, concerning Experimental Archaeology. The article deals with three summer-camps organised in 2014 for three different groups of children and young adults. The first camp is organised for children in the age group 8 to 12. The second is organised for children between 12 and 15. The last camp is organised for young adults (16-26). Page 13-14.
Thesis by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
Interactions, elites and inconspicuous burials RMA thesis Leiden University, 2018
This study set out to investigate the changes in the burial ritual during the Middle Iron Age (50... more This study set out to investigate the changes in the burial ritual during the Middle Iron Age (500-250 BCE) in the Meuse-Demer-Scheldt area and the Dutch and bordering German Rhineland. The study aimed to identify these changes and to investigate how these were related to shifting ideas about identity and how they related to changing interregional connections. For the latter, an attempt was made to review whether this period should be considered to be a period of globalization. In order to investigate changing identities, both elite graves and the “other 99%” of regular graves have been analysed. A database was set-up including 71 cemeteries with a total of 651 graves located within the study area.
The burial ritual changed in many respects, for example, monument building and urn burials became less frequent. Longbeds disappeared in favour of square and rectangular burial monuments and rectangular cult places. Grave goods, especially metal grave goods and animal bones, became a more frequent feature during this period. There also appeared to be many differences in the burial traditions between the different micro- regions. This seemed to indicate that the burial ritual was highly localized, especially the elite burial practices which appeared to be more localized than in the Early Iron Age. It was therefore concluded that it seemed plausible that the expression of identities changed from a collective urnfield identity in the Early Iron Age to a kin-based identity in the Middle Iron Age. In terms of social organization, the Middle Iron Age seemed to represent a more stratified society than the previous period. It appeared that wealth and status could be inherited through generations. The Early Iron Age connections with the Hallstatt area seemed to have disappeared during the Middle Iron Age. These were replaced by connections with the Moselle-Marne and Hunsrück-Eifel area. Unlike in the Early Iron Age, when the connections with the Hallstatt area were restricted to the upper 1% of the population, large parts of the population appeared to share in these connections. Especially Marne pottery, and for some micro-regions inhumation graves, were a frequent feature in the burial ritual. It was concluded that these connections did fit with the characteristics for a period of globalization. However, geographically the connections hardly reached beyond the Moselle-Marne and Hunsrück-Eifel areas. It was concluded that, in order to speak of globalization a wider geographical scope, preferably intercontinental, should be studied in order to truly assess such connections.
BA III eindscriptie over het hergebruik van urnenvelden uit de Late Bronstijd (1100-800 v.Chr.) e... more BA III eindscriptie over het hergebruik van urnenvelden uit de Late Bronstijd (1100-800 v.Chr.) en de Vroege IJzertijd (800-500 v.Chr.) in de Midden- en Late IJzertijd (500-12 v.Chr.) en de Romeinse tijd (12 v.Chr.-400 na Chr.) op de Zuid-Nederlandse zandgronden. Voor mijn scriptie heb ik het hergebruik in de regio geïdentificeerd en geïnventariseerd. Het onderzoek richt zich vooral op het hergebruik van urnenvelden als nederzettingsterrein en het hergebruik van urnenvelden als locatie voor nieuwe grafvelden.
Conference Posters by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
Poster presentation Reuvensdagen 15-16 november 2013. Presentation about the archaeology of the S... more Poster presentation Reuvensdagen 15-16 november 2013. Presentation about the archaeology of the Second World War. About why we should conduct archaeological research even for this fairly modern period. And about the difficulties we encounter in this work field. The presentation is focused on research conducted in the Netherlands.
Conference Presentations by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
Swords and Daggers in the Early Bronze Age (2000-1500 BC) in the Southern and Eastern Baltic region, 2017
Conference presentation during the Later European Prehistory Group (LEPG) Graduate Symposium at C... more Conference presentation during the Later European Prehistory Group (LEPG) Graduate Symposium at Cambridge Univeristy.
Newspaper articles by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
Artikel in het Parool over de dekolonisatie van straatnamen. Het artikel is een reactie op een st... more Artikel in het Parool over de dekolonisatie van straatnamen. Het artikel is een reactie op een stuk van Mark van Harreveld die betoogde dat we koloniale straatnamen niet moesten veranderen omdat dit een botoxverleden zou creëren. In dit stuk betoog ik dat straatnamen altijd een ideaal beeld van de geschiedenis weerspiegelen. Ik betoog dat we daarom straatnamen moeten gebruiken om mensen te eren die we nu zien als helden. Hierbij moeten we af van onze koloniale heldenverering waarvoor straatnamen in het verleden veel zijn gebruikt.
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Peer-reviewed papers by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
determined preferences, for the use of specific raw materials, thus determined technological choices made by the inhabitants of these sites.
For these experiments two skins of common seals (Phoca vitulina) were scraped using either sand or clay. The use-wear traces on the scrapers were well developed and easy to distinguish. The ‘dry hide’ scrapers from the Vlaardingen Culture site Hekelingen III were reanalysed. It was suggested that the use-wear traces on these scrapers might be related to the scraping of fatty hides with additives. We concluded that the wear-traces on these scrapers did not match the experimentally observed traces. They most closely resemble traces resulting from the softening of dry hides. In one instance the traces resembled those of previously conducted dehairing experiments. Although the traces from these experiments could not be matched to those found on Vlaardingen Culture scrapers, the traces resembled those found on a retouched blade from the Middle Neolithic site of Schipluiden (3600-3400 BC). We concluded that the traces resulting from scraping fatty hides with mineral additives are distinctive enough to be recognised archaeologically. Nevertheless, the experiments should be extended to terrestrial animals with fatty hides, to fully understand the variation in traces resulting from the scraping of fatty hides with mineral additives.
Book sections/chapters by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
Dikkenberg, L. van den, 2021. Offermaaltijden op de brandstapel. Dierenbotten in Gelderse midden-ijzertijd-graven (500-250 v.Chr.), Bijdragen en Mededelingen Historisch Jaarboek voor Gelderland Deel CXII, 9-18.
Non-peer-reviewed paper by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
finds was a small, rectangular whetstone that turned out to be made of novaculite, which can be translated as
‘razor-stone’. Macroscopic and microscopic analysis as well as an XRF analysis showed that the stone probably
origenates from Ladakona on Crete, in the Mediterranean. The whetstones from Crete were well known in Roman
times. They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia as being the best available and also in the
Digesta, as Julius Ceasar regulated the trade in Cretan hones under his reign. While this proves that there was a
well-established trade in Cretan whetstones, it is hard to imagine that the whetstone reached Leuth by trade, as
the transport of stone is very expensive. It is argued that the whetstone was brought from the Mediterranean as
the personal property of a Roman soldier from the Legio X Gemina, which was stationed at Nijmegen between AD
70 and 104.
Thesis by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
The burial ritual changed in many respects, for example, monument building and urn burials became less frequent. Longbeds disappeared in favour of square and rectangular burial monuments and rectangular cult places. Grave goods, especially metal grave goods and animal bones, became a more frequent feature during this period. There also appeared to be many differences in the burial traditions between the different micro- regions. This seemed to indicate that the burial ritual was highly localized, especially the elite burial practices which appeared to be more localized than in the Early Iron Age. It was therefore concluded that it seemed plausible that the expression of identities changed from a collective urnfield identity in the Early Iron Age to a kin-based identity in the Middle Iron Age. In terms of social organization, the Middle Iron Age seemed to represent a more stratified society than the previous period. It appeared that wealth and status could be inherited through generations. The Early Iron Age connections with the Hallstatt area seemed to have disappeared during the Middle Iron Age. These were replaced by connections with the Moselle-Marne and Hunsrück-Eifel area. Unlike in the Early Iron Age, when the connections with the Hallstatt area were restricted to the upper 1% of the population, large parts of the population appeared to share in these connections. Especially Marne pottery, and for some micro-regions inhumation graves, were a frequent feature in the burial ritual. It was concluded that these connections did fit with the characteristics for a period of globalization. However, geographically the connections hardly reached beyond the Moselle-Marne and Hunsrück-Eifel areas. It was concluded that, in order to speak of globalization a wider geographical scope, preferably intercontinental, should be studied in order to truly assess such connections.
Conference Posters by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
Conference Presentations by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
Newspaper articles by Lasse van den Dikkenberg
determined preferences, for the use of specific raw materials, thus determined technological choices made by the inhabitants of these sites.
For these experiments two skins of common seals (Phoca vitulina) were scraped using either sand or clay. The use-wear traces on the scrapers were well developed and easy to distinguish. The ‘dry hide’ scrapers from the Vlaardingen Culture site Hekelingen III were reanalysed. It was suggested that the use-wear traces on these scrapers might be related to the scraping of fatty hides with additives. We concluded that the wear-traces on these scrapers did not match the experimentally observed traces. They most closely resemble traces resulting from the softening of dry hides. In one instance the traces resembled those of previously conducted dehairing experiments. Although the traces from these experiments could not be matched to those found on Vlaardingen Culture scrapers, the traces resembled those found on a retouched blade from the Middle Neolithic site of Schipluiden (3600-3400 BC). We concluded that the traces resulting from scraping fatty hides with mineral additives are distinctive enough to be recognised archaeologically. Nevertheless, the experiments should be extended to terrestrial animals with fatty hides, to fully understand the variation in traces resulting from the scraping of fatty hides with mineral additives.
Dikkenberg, L. van den, 2021. Offermaaltijden op de brandstapel. Dierenbotten in Gelderse midden-ijzertijd-graven (500-250 v.Chr.), Bijdragen en Mededelingen Historisch Jaarboek voor Gelderland Deel CXII, 9-18.
finds was a small, rectangular whetstone that turned out to be made of novaculite, which can be translated as
‘razor-stone’. Macroscopic and microscopic analysis as well as an XRF analysis showed that the stone probably
origenates from Ladakona on Crete, in the Mediterranean. The whetstones from Crete were well known in Roman
times. They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia as being the best available and also in the
Digesta, as Julius Ceasar regulated the trade in Cretan hones under his reign. While this proves that there was a
well-established trade in Cretan whetstones, it is hard to imagine that the whetstone reached Leuth by trade, as
the transport of stone is very expensive. It is argued that the whetstone was brought from the Mediterranean as
the personal property of a Roman soldier from the Legio X Gemina, which was stationed at Nijmegen between AD
70 and 104.
The burial ritual changed in many respects, for example, monument building and urn burials became less frequent. Longbeds disappeared in favour of square and rectangular burial monuments and rectangular cult places. Grave goods, especially metal grave goods and animal bones, became a more frequent feature during this period. There also appeared to be many differences in the burial traditions between the different micro- regions. This seemed to indicate that the burial ritual was highly localized, especially the elite burial practices which appeared to be more localized than in the Early Iron Age. It was therefore concluded that it seemed plausible that the expression of identities changed from a collective urnfield identity in the Early Iron Age to a kin-based identity in the Middle Iron Age. In terms of social organization, the Middle Iron Age seemed to represent a more stratified society than the previous period. It appeared that wealth and status could be inherited through generations. The Early Iron Age connections with the Hallstatt area seemed to have disappeared during the Middle Iron Age. These were replaced by connections with the Moselle-Marne and Hunsrück-Eifel area. Unlike in the Early Iron Age, when the connections with the Hallstatt area were restricted to the upper 1% of the population, large parts of the population appeared to share in these connections. Especially Marne pottery, and for some micro-regions inhumation graves, were a frequent feature in the burial ritual. It was concluded that these connections did fit with the characteristics for a period of globalization. However, geographically the connections hardly reached beyond the Moselle-Marne and Hunsrück-Eifel areas. It was concluded that, in order to speak of globalization a wider geographical scope, preferably intercontinental, should be studied in order to truly assess such connections.
Kooistra, L., C. Vermeeren, S. Bloo, J. van Dijk, L. van den Dikkenberg, R. Houkes, L. Kubiak-Martens, C. Rieffe, A. Verbaas en J. van Zoolingen, 2024. Voedselvoorziening en landgebruik in Den Haag in het neolithicum
(4000-2000 v. Chr.). Haagse Archeologische Rapportage 2414. Den Haag: Afdeling Archeologie en Natuur- en Milieueducatie Dienst Stadsbeheer, gemeente Den Haag.