Paper short abstract:

This presentation uses current research to highlight the importance of fully multi-disciplinary and multi-scalar researxh. It focuses on intra-site spatial analysis of an excavation of a neolithic settlement from the 1980s. It demonstrates what a wealth of information remains sealed away in the archvies awaiting discovery

Paper long abstract:

The Late Neolithic settlement of Keinsmerbrug was excavated in 1986, it is located in North Holland, The Netherlands. Post holes and pits were excavated but at the time and in the years since no structures could be distinguished. Due to the high quantities of bird remains and its size (c.300m2) it was labeled a small base camp for duck hunting. In September 2009 an international multi-disciplinary team was assembled to publish and to try to interpret three settlements, the first being Keinsmerbrug. The sites of Kolhorn and Mienakker are planned in the following years.

With the aid of multi-scalar spatial analysis 5 houses were discovered, adding to only two which are known in the area, three appear unique in form to this period. This presentation briefly illustrates the multi-scalar approach which was taken and asks at which scale should we as archaeologists collect information and then which scale is suitable to interpret the site? Artefact categories were collected in different ways during the excavation, some fully, others sampled. The finds range from the macro to the micro, pottery, flint, amber, stone, mammal bones etc.. to seeds, residues and fish bones etc... Can looking at these at the micro scale or the macro scale provide any further information about the lives of the settlements inhabitants?