Finding suitable grounds:Multiproxy archaeobotanical studies of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Dutch lowlands

The change from hunter-gatherer to agriculture-based subsistence is, and it has been, a major theoretical and research topic in archaeology. The project “Finding suitable grounds” studies the setting and speed of adoption of crop cultivation in the lowlands of the Netherlands during the Mesolithic to Neolithic transition. The aim of the project is to understand the activities related to human subsistence in the fluvial landscapes of the Flevoland area and the Rhine-Meuse delta during the time period between 6000 BC and 4000 cal. yr. BC. Instead of a classical approach focusing on settlements, our research is bringing the wider surroundings and the landscape management to the forefront. An important issue is the suitability of the now buried and submerged fluvial landscapes for early crop cultivation.Besides high-precision 14 C dating and soil micromorphology, multiple palaeobotanical proxies (macro-remains, phytoliths, charred particles of herbaceous tissues and pollen) are going to be used. The purpose of this multi-proxy approach is to define the general vegetation characteristics and diversity within the landscape, changes in vegetation cover and which are of due to human management, indications for crop cultivation, and exploring the possibility of intensification and wider dispersal of crop cultivation during this time. This set of off-site data will provide new understanding of landscape changes and of the human-environment relationship in the Dutch lowlands since the onset of the Neolithic