Roy Van Beek
Biographic Data
| ID | 116329 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Roy Van Beek |
| GIVEN NAMES | Roy |
| FAMILY NAME | Van Beek |
| SIGNATURE | VAN BEEK R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Wageningen University & Research |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0726-6974 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 27 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Landscape Archaeology of Bog Iron Ore Exploitation: Insights from the Bourtangermoor Region (The Netherlands)
We investigated the possible use of bog iron ores in late prehistoric and early historic times (c. 800 BCE–750 CE) from a landscape-archaeological perspective, using archaeology, soil science, hydrology and geochemistry, connecting data from raised bogs and adjacent dryland areas. Raised bogs were not hostile, but provided food and a place for ritual activities. Little is known, however, on the potential exploitation of iron ores in these landsca…
Dating Celtic fields with luminescence
Celtic fields are prehistoric field systems characterised by rectangular plots enclosed by earthen banks, which are widespread across northwestern Europe. They are assumed to have emerged between the final stages of the Middle Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age in continental Europe, but firm chronologies based on radiometric dating (e.g., 14 C, luminescence) are sparse, hampering the interpretation of age and formation process. This leads to cont…
Last chance to see? The ‘Crisis of Preservation’ and pathways to a sustainable future for Europe’s peatland archaeology
Despite repeated calls for action from various sources, peatland archaeological sites continue to deteriorate; the passive strategy of preservation in situ is failing. Here, the authors consider four challenges to peatland preservation—physical degradation, mapping and monitoring of sites, communication, and policy frameworks—with climate change ultimately causing further problems. Drawing on positive policy developments in England, they argue th…
Dating dikes with luminescence
Dikes are important human-made earthworks of lowland environments which have been used for flood control, land reclamation, and water management for thousands of years. Determining the robust age of dike construction and development based on traditional dating methods (e.g., historical records, archaeological finds, and radiocarbon dating) is challenging due to the paucity of sources and suitable dating materials. Luminescence dating may provide …
Lolland’s changing landscapes: Insights from long-term interactions between people and the environment
Many parts of Europe are today facing a wide range of societal and environmental challenges that demand a high degree of resilience and adaptability. Archaeology has an important role to play by providing novel perspectives on how people have been living with, and adapting to, change in dynamic environments over considerable time. This paper adopts a trans-chronological perspective on human-environment interaction in the Syltholm Fjord on the Dan…
Bridging Natural and Cultural Heritage Management: Recommendations for Present and Former Raised Bog Areas
Raised bogs (peat moss-dominated wetlands) are under environmental pressure but valued for their specific biodiversity and climate-mitigating potential. Strong efforts to restore these unique ecosystems contrast with a limited focus on cultural heritage management in bogs, putting their exceptional cultural heritage at risk. We take a new perspective on cultural heritage management in bog remnants and make recommendations for measures synergetic …
How Bogs Made for Borderlands: The Eastern Low Countries, c. 670 – c. 1900 ce
Scholars have radically turned away from the notion of ‘natural borders’ dictated by nature and now broadly agree that all borders are ‘artificial’ human constructs. However, there is a need to revisit environmental determinism in its nuances. We analyse the relation between distinct natural features and historical border development, using the notion of affordances and the example of raised bogs in the medieval and modern-period eastern Low Coun…
Heritage contestation in matterscape, mindscape, and powerscape
Landscape heritage is frequently contested as perspectives on heritage and landscape may vary across stakeholders. The present article makes a novel contribution by examining pathways to landscape heritage contestation. We propose a distinction between (a) heritage as object in matterscape, being the physical landscape out-there, (b) heritage as meaning in mindscape, being the landscape as experienced by a subject, and (c) heritage as political a…
Bogs, bones and bodies: The deposition of human remains in northern European mires (9000 BC–AD 1900)
Bog body studies have focused on rich individual biographies, largely neglecting broader spatial and temporal trends. Here, the authors present the first large-scale overview of well-dated human remains from northern European mires, based on a database of 266 sites and more than 1000 bog mummies, bog skeletons and disarticulated/partial skeletal remains. Analysis demonstrates fluctuating depositions of human remains between the Early Neolithic an…
A different view on (world) heritage. The need for multi-perspective data analyses in historical landscape studies: The example of Schokland (NL)
The awareness that cultural heritage plays an influential role in shared identities and in both spatial and environmental development has significantly increased in recent years. International collaboration and treaties, such as the ‘FARO-convention’ in 2005 emphasize the importance of heritage in relation to aspects of human rights and demography. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clear that historical perspectives are essential for makin…
How Bogs Made for Borderlands: The Eastern Low Countries, c. 670 – c. 1900 ce
Scholars have radically turned away from the notion of ‘natural borders’ dictated by nature and now broadly agree that all borders are ‘artificial’ human constructs. However, there is a need to revisit environmental determinism in its nuances. We analyse the relation between distinct natural features and historical border development, using the notion of affordances and the example of raised bogs in the medieval and modern-period eastern Low Coun…
Place meanings of Dutch raised bog landscapes: An interdisciplinary long-term perspective (5000 BCE–present)
Few natural landscapes have been so negatively stereotyped as raised bogs. These stereotypes as well as knowledge gaps on bog perceptions have hampered the development of nuanced and realistic views on humans’ historical relations to bogs. We studied variation in eight bog place meanings (attachment, beauty, biodiversity, functionality, risk, admiration, historicity, and mystery) from prehistory to present by integrating qualitative archaeologica…
Dire Necessity or Mere Opportunity? Recurrent Peat Commercialisation from Raised Bog Commons in the Early Modern Low Countries
Commercialisation of resources taken from commons is considered problematic in several ways in traditional commons scholarship. In particular common-pool resource (CPR) theory argues that institutions for collective action such as commons are largely autonomous, experiencing little influence from either the market or the state, and focusing only on the needs of entitled (local) communities. Consequently, commercialisation and sustainable collecti…
Anthropogenic drivers for exceptionally large meander formation during the Late Holocene
The landscape setting of bog bodies: Interdisciplinary research into the site location of Yde Girl, The Netherlands
Past studies of archaeological bog finds, such as bog bodies, wooden trackways and a wide variety of other materials, are characterized by a strong focus on material culture. Their original environmental and cultural context has received far less attention. This paper centres on the original landscape setting of bog bodies. Interdisciplinary reconstructions of the physical and cultural landscape at the time of deposition can lead to significant n…
Bog Bodies in Context: Developing a Best Practice Approach
Bog bodies are among the best-known archaeological finds worldwide. Much of the work on these often extremely well-preserved human remains has focused on forensics, whereas the environmental setting of the finds has been largely overlooked. This applies to both the ‘physical’ and ‘cultural’ landscape and constitutes a significant problem since the vast spatial and temporal scales over which the practice appeared demonstrate that contextual assess…
Land use, settlement, and plant diversity in Iron Age Northwest France
Various studies using pollen stratigraphies have demonstrated significant correlations between Holocene plant diversity, climate, and human activities. Studies that have analyzed longer Holocene timescales tend to discuss cultural data very superficially. This is remarkable because detailed insights into past human activities may be key to gain an understanding of the observed trends in biodiversity. This study aims to reconstruct and explain spa…
Home Turf: An interdisciplinary exploration of the long-term development, use and reclamation of raised bogs in the Netherlands
Raised bogs are popular research subjects in various scientific disciplines such as palaeobotany, climatology, archaeology and historical geography. However, interdisciplinary studies using a long-term cultural perspective are rare. This paper aims to make a contribution in that field by exploring the long-term development of raised bogs in the Netherlands, with a main focus on man-land relations. Central are the peatlands in the Pleistocene area…
An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Long-Term History of Raised Bogs: A Case Study at Vriezenveen (the Netherlands)
Culturally oriented studies on raised bogs in the Netherlands and neighbouring areas either focus on regional scale levels or on site/object-based information. Interdisciplinary microregional studies are key to bridge the gap between these types of data and to reconstruct human-land relations in detail. This paper analyses which cultural and natural processes were involved in the long-term development of a raised bog near Vriezenveen (province of…
Establishing the dates of farm sites (a.d. 800–present) in Salland (the Netherlands): An interdisciplinary approach
We present an interdisciplinary method for establishing date ranges of farm sites (a.d. 800–present) and reconstructing regional settlement dynamics. An experimental field strategy was designed to refine estimates regarding the ages of individual farmsteads based on historical data and physical and historical geography. Archaeological test pitting was employed to recover settlement debris in carefully selected locations. In the course of one week…
Circles, Cycles and Ancestral Connotations. The Long-term History and Perception of Late Prehistoric Barrows and Urnfields in Flanders (Belgium)
The perception of and interaction with ancient relics in past societies has been intensively debated in the archaeology of north-western Europe. This paper aims to make a contribution to this debate by reconstructing the long-term history of late prehistoric barrows and urnfields in Flanders (Belgium). The period between the Late Bronze Age and High Middle Ages ( c . 1100 cal bc – ad 1300) is centred on. Contrary to Germany, Scandinavia and espec…
Diversity Rules. On Late Prehistoric Settlement of the Eastern Netherlands and the Need for Regionally Specific Models
General habitation models based on well-researched regions tend to be applied to other, less intensively studied regions, usually implicitly. However, whether they lend themselves to do that is hardly ever tested. It may even be that such general models prevent us from obtaining a clear view of patterns of supra-regional, regional, and local diversity. As a test case, this paper focuses on the development of landscape and habitation in the easter…
Bog Bodies in Context: Developing a Best Practice Approach
Bog bodies are among the best-known archaeological finds worldwide. Much of the work on these often extremely well-preserved human remains has focused on forensics, whereas the environmental setting of the finds has been largely overlooked. This applies to both the ‘physical’ and ‘cultural’ landscape and constitutes a significant problem since the vast spatial and temporal scales over which the practice appeared demonstrate that contextual assess…
Bogs, bones and bodies: The deposition of human remains in northern European mires (9000 BC–AD 1900)
Bog body studies have focused on rich individual biographies, largely neglecting broader spatial and temporal trends. Here, the authors present the first large-scale overview of well-dated human remains from northern European mires, based on a database of 266 sites and more than 1000 bog mummies, bog skeletons and disarticulated/partial skeletal remains. Analysis demonstrates fluctuating depositions of human remains between the Early Neolithic an…
Land use, settlement, and plant diversity in Iron Age Northwest France
Various studies using pollen stratigraphies have demonstrated significant correlations between Holocene plant diversity, climate, and human activities. Studies that have analyzed longer Holocene timescales tend to discuss cultural data very superficially. This is remarkable because detailed insights into past human activities may be key to gain an understanding of the observed trends in biodiversity. This study aims to reconstruct and explain spa…
Heritage contestation in matterscape, mindscape, and powerscape
Landscape heritage is frequently contested as perspectives on heritage and landscape may vary across stakeholders. The present article makes a novel contribution by examining pathways to landscape heritage contestation. We propose a distinction between (a) heritage as object in matterscape, being the physical landscape out-there, (b) heritage as meaning in mindscape, being the landscape as experienced by a subject, and (c) heritage as political a…
Place meanings of Dutch raised bog landscapes: An interdisciplinary long-term perspective (5000 BCE–present)
Few natural landscapes have been so negatively stereotyped as raised bogs. These stereotypes as well as knowledge gaps on bog perceptions have hampered the development of nuanced and realistic views on humans’ historical relations to bogs. We studied variation in eight bog place meanings (attachment, beauty, biodiversity, functionality, risk, admiration, historicity, and mystery) from prehistory to present by integrating qualitative archaeologica…
Dire Necessity or Mere Opportunity? Recurrent Peat Commercialisation from Raised Bog Commons in the Early Modern Low Countries
Commercialisation of resources taken from commons is considered problematic in several ways in traditional commons scholarship. In particular common-pool resource (CPR) theory argues that institutions for collective action such as commons are largely autonomous, experiencing little influence from either the market or the state, and focusing only on the needs of entitled (local) communities. Consequently, commercialisation and sustainable collecti…
Lolland’s changing landscapes: Insights from long-term interactions between people and the environment
Many parts of Europe are today facing a wide range of societal and environmental challenges that demand a high degree of resilience and adaptability. Archaeology has an important role to play by providing novel perspectives on how people have been living with, and adapting to, change in dynamic environments over considerable time. This paper adopts a trans-chronological perspective on human-environment interaction in the Syltholm Fjord on the Dan…
Anthropogenic drivers for exceptionally large meander formation during the Late Holocene
Diversity Rules. On Late Prehistoric Settlement of the Eastern Netherlands and the Need for Regionally Specific Models
General habitation models based on well-researched regions tend to be applied to other, less intensively studied regions, usually implicitly. However, whether they lend themselves to do that is hardly ever tested. It may even be that such general models prevent us from obtaining a clear view of patterns of supra-regional, regional, and local diversity. As a test case, this paper focuses on the development of landscape and habitation in the easter…
Establishing the dates of farm sites (a.d. 800–present) in Salland (the Netherlands): An interdisciplinary approach
We present an interdisciplinary method for establishing date ranges of farm sites (a.d. 800–present) and reconstructing regional settlement dynamics. An experimental field strategy was designed to refine estimates regarding the ages of individual farmsteads based on historical data and physical and historical geography. Archaeological test pitting was employed to recover settlement debris in carefully selected locations. In the course of one week…
Circles, Cycles and Ancestral Connotations. The Long-term History and Perception of Late Prehistoric Barrows and Urnfields in Flanders (Belgium)
The perception of and interaction with ancient relics in past societies has been intensively debated in the archaeology of north-western Europe. This paper aims to make a contribution to this debate by reconstructing the long-term history of late prehistoric barrows and urnfields in Flanders (Belgium). The period between the Late Bronze Age and High Middle Ages ( c . 1100 cal bc – ad 1300) is centred on. Contrary to Germany, Scandinavia and espec…
Home Turf: An interdisciplinary exploration of the long-term development, use and reclamation of raised bogs in the Netherlands
Raised bogs are popular research subjects in various scientific disciplines such as palaeobotany, climatology, archaeology and historical geography. However, interdisciplinary studies using a long-term cultural perspective are rare. This paper aims to make a contribution in that field by exploring the long-term development of raised bogs in the Netherlands, with a main focus on man-land relations. Central are the peatlands in the Pleistocene area…
An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Long-Term History of Raised Bogs: A Case Study at Vriezenveen (the Netherlands)
Culturally oriented studies on raised bogs in the Netherlands and neighbouring areas either focus on regional scale levels or on site/object-based information. Interdisciplinary microregional studies are key to bridge the gap between these types of data and to reconstruct human-land relations in detail. This paper analyses which cultural and natural processes were involved in the long-term development of a raised bog near Vriezenveen (province of…
Land use, settlement, and plant diversity in Iron Age Northwest France
Various studies using pollen stratigraphies have demonstrated significant correlations between Holocene plant diversity, climate, and human activities. Studies that have analyzed longer Holocene timescales tend to discuss cultural data very superficially. This is remarkable because detailed insights into past human activities may be key to gain an understanding of the observed trends in biodiversity. This study aims to reconstruct and explain spa…
The landscape setting of bog bodies: Interdisciplinary research into the site location of Yde Girl, The Netherlands
Past studies of archaeological bog finds, such as bog bodies, wooden trackways and a wide variety of other materials, are characterized by a strong focus on material culture. Their original environmental and cultural context has received far less attention. This paper centres on the original landscape setting of bog bodies. Interdisciplinary reconstructions of the physical and cultural landscape at the time of deposition can lead to significant n…
Bog Bodies in Context: Developing a Best Practice Approach
Bog bodies are among the best-known archaeological finds worldwide. Much of the work on these often extremely well-preserved human remains has focused on forensics, whereas the environmental setting of the finds has been largely overlooked. This applies to both the ‘physical’ and ‘cultural’ landscape and constitutes a significant problem since the vast spatial and temporal scales over which the practice appeared demonstrate that contextual assess…
Anthropogenic drivers for exceptionally large meander formation during the Late Holocene
Dire Necessity or Mere Opportunity? Recurrent Peat Commercialisation from Raised Bog Commons in the Early Modern Low Countries
Commercialisation of resources taken from commons is considered problematic in several ways in traditional commons scholarship. In particular common-pool resource (CPR) theory argues that institutions for collective action such as commons are largely autonomous, experiencing little influence from either the market or the state, and focusing only on the needs of entitled (local) communities. Consequently, commercialisation and sustainable collecti…
A different view on (world) heritage. The need for multi-perspective data analyses in historical landscape studies: The example of Schokland (NL)
The awareness that cultural heritage plays an influential role in shared identities and in both spatial and environmental development has significantly increased in recent years. International collaboration and treaties, such as the ‘FARO-convention’ in 2005 emphasize the importance of heritage in relation to aspects of human rights and demography. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clear that historical perspectives are essential for makin…
How Bogs Made for Borderlands: The Eastern Low Countries, c. 670 – c. 1900 ce
Scholars have radically turned away from the notion of ‘natural borders’ dictated by nature and now broadly agree that all borders are ‘artificial’ human constructs. However, there is a need to revisit environmental determinism in its nuances. We analyse the relation between distinct natural features and historical border development, using the notion of affordances and the example of raised bogs in the medieval and modern-period eastern Low Coun…
Place meanings of Dutch raised bog landscapes: An interdisciplinary long-term perspective (5000 BCE–present)
Few natural landscapes have been so negatively stereotyped as raised bogs. These stereotypes as well as knowledge gaps on bog perceptions have hampered the development of nuanced and realistic views on humans’ historical relations to bogs. We studied variation in eight bog place meanings (attachment, beauty, biodiversity, functionality, risk, admiration, historicity, and mystery) from prehistory to present by integrating qualitative archaeologica…
How Bogs Made for Borderlands: The Eastern Low Countries, c. 670 – c. 1900 ce
Scholars have radically turned away from the notion of ‘natural borders’ dictated by nature and now broadly agree that all borders are ‘artificial’ human constructs. However, there is a need to revisit environmental determinism in its nuances. We analyse the relation between distinct natural features and historical border development, using the notion of affordances and the example of raised bogs in the medieval and modern-period eastern Low Coun…
Heritage contestation in matterscape, mindscape, and powerscape
Landscape heritage is frequently contested as perspectives on heritage and landscape may vary across stakeholders. The present article makes a novel contribution by examining pathways to landscape heritage contestation. We propose a distinction between (a) heritage as object in matterscape, being the physical landscape out-there, (b) heritage as meaning in mindscape, being the landscape as experienced by a subject, and (c) heritage as political a…
Bogs, bones and bodies: The deposition of human remains in northern European mires (9000 BC–AD 1900)
Bog body studies have focused on rich individual biographies, largely neglecting broader spatial and temporal trends. Here, the authors present the first large-scale overview of well-dated human remains from northern European mires, based on a database of 266 sites and more than 1000 bog mummies, bog skeletons and disarticulated/partial skeletal remains. Analysis demonstrates fluctuating depositions of human remains between the Early Neolithic an…
Bridging Natural and Cultural Heritage Management: Recommendations for Present and Former Raised Bog Areas
Raised bogs (peat moss-dominated wetlands) are under environmental pressure but valued for their specific biodiversity and climate-mitigating potential. Strong efforts to restore these unique ecosystems contrast with a limited focus on cultural heritage management in bogs, putting their exceptional cultural heritage at risk. We take a new perspective on cultural heritage management in bog remnants and make recommendations for measures synergetic …
Lolland’s changing landscapes: Insights from long-term interactions between people and the environment
Many parts of Europe are today facing a wide range of societal and environmental challenges that demand a high degree of resilience and adaptability. Archaeology has an important role to play by providing novel perspectives on how people have been living with, and adapting to, change in dynamic environments over considerable time. This paper adopts a trans-chronological perspective on human-environment interaction in the Syltholm Fjord on the Dan…
The Landscape Archaeology of Bog Iron Ore Exploitation: Insights from the Bourtangermoor Region (The Netherlands)
We investigated the possible use of bog iron ores in late prehistoric and early historic times (c. 800 BCE–750 CE) from a landscape-archaeological perspective, using archaeology, soil science, hydrology and geochemistry, connecting data from raised bogs and adjacent dryland areas. Raised bogs were not hostile, but provided food and a place for ritual activities. Little is known, however, on the potential exploitation of iron ores in these landsca…
Dating Celtic fields with luminescence
Celtic fields are prehistoric field systems characterised by rectangular plots enclosed by earthen banks, which are widespread across northwestern Europe. They are assumed to have emerged between the final stages of the Middle Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age in continental Europe, but firm chronologies based on radiometric dating (e.g., 14 C, luminescence) are sparse, hampering the interpretation of age and formation process. This leads to cont…
Last chance to see? The ‘Crisis of Preservation’ and pathways to a sustainable future for Europe’s peatland archaeology
Despite repeated calls for action from various sources, peatland archaeological sites continue to deteriorate; the passive strategy of preservation in situ is failing. Here, the authors consider four challenges to peatland preservation—physical degradation, mapping and monitoring of sites, communication, and policy frameworks—with climate change ultimately causing further problems. Drawing on positive policy developments in England, they argue th…
Dating dikes with luminescence
Dikes are important human-made earthworks of lowland environments which have been used for flood control, land reclamation, and water management for thousands of years. Determining the robust age of dike construction and development based on traditional dating methods (e.g., historical records, archaeological finds, and radiocarbon dating) is challenging due to the paucity of sources and suitable dating materials. Luminescence dating may provide …
Geography (17 works) · Archaeology (15 works) · Peat (11 works) · Bog (10 works) · History (10 works) · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (9 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (8 works) · Ecology (8 works) · Physical geography (6 works) · Sociology (5 works)