Route persistence. Modelling and quantifying historical route-network stability from the Roman period to early-modern ti
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Route persistence. Modelling and quantifying historical route-network stability from the Roman period to early-modern times (AD 100–1600): a case study from the Netherlands Rowin J. van Lanen 1,2 & Bert J. Groenewoudt 2 & Theo Spek 3 & Esther Jansma 1,2
Received: 23 July 2015 / Accepted: 31 October 2016 # The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract Research on route-network stability is rare. In time, due to cultural and/or natural causes, settlement locations and route orientation shift. The nature of these spatial changes sheds light on the complex interaction between settlements and surrounding natural landscape conditions. This study investigates the stability of route networks in the Netherlands during the past two millennia by determining their persistence through time. Environmental, archaeological and historical data are used to reconstruct and compare route networks. By using network friction, archaeological data on settlement patterns and route networks in combination with historical data (e.g. old maps), we were able to model route-network persistence (not necessarily continuity) from the Roman to early medieval periods (AD 100–800) and from the Early Middle Ages to the Early Modern Times (AD 800–1600). Results show that around 67.6% of the modelled early-medieval routes in the Netherlands are persistent with routes in the Roman period. Covering a much larger surface area of the Netherlands, 24.5% of the early-modern routes show a clear persistence with their early-medieval counterparts. Besides the differences in surface area, this downfall can largely be explained by cultural dynamics, with 71.4% of the earlymodern route network following modelled movement corridors already in existence during the Early Middle Ages.
* Rowin J. van Lanen [email protected]
1
Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.115, 3508 TC Utrecht, the Netherlands
2
Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 1600, 3800 BP Amersfoort, the Netherlands
3
Faculty of Arts, Landscape History, University of Groningen, 9712 GK Groningen, the Netherlands
Keywords Route-network stability . Route persistence . Roman period . Early Middle Ages . Early-modern times . Historical routes
Introduction The landscape in the Netherlands is best characterized as a dynamic lowland region partially influenced by marine and fluvial (e.g. Rhine and Meuse) processes and extensive peatlands. Throughout the Holocene, the low-lying western and northern, Holocene parts of the country have been subjected to frequent flooding (Stouthamer and Berendsen 2000; Erkens 2009; Vos et al. 2011; Cohen et al. 2012; Toonen 2013; Vos and De Vries 2013; Vos 2015). Somewhat higher Pleistocene soils can be found in the relatively more stable landscapes of the eastern and southern Netherlands (Steur and Heijink 1991; De Vries et al. 2003; Koomen and Maas 2004). During the last 2000 years, the Dutch landscape changed rigorously (e.g. Jansma et al. 2014; Vos 2015). In the Roman and
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