Henning Matthiesen
Biographic Data
| ID | 145902 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Henning Matthiesen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Henning |
| FAMILY NAME | Matthiesen |
| SIGNATURE | MATTHIESEN H |
| AFFILIATIONS | National Museum of Denmark |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2618-7021 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 63 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Quantifying Degradation of Archaeological Bone In Situ and in Museum Storage
Degradation of archaeological bone is a complex process that is influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic parameters. Here we study the decay of bones recovered from a large midden at the Inuit summer hunting camp, Aasivissuit, in West Greenland, dating from 1200 CE to 1950 CE. The site was partly excavated in 1978 and revisited for further excavation in 2021 to study changes in the materials’ state of preservation, both in situ and in museum st…
Climate Change Impacts on Wetland Archaeology
Here we quantify the tolerance of archaeological wood to drying by analyzing in situ deformation during a severe drought. Deformation began when matrix potential dropped below 0 kPa, with severe deformation below −50 kPa. At the study site, this corresponds to soil water contents (SWC) of less than 40% and 30%, respectively. Furthermore, we evaluate the feasibility of using either a high density of handheld surface SWC measurements or drone‐based…
Using Open-Data Portals, Remote Sensing and Computational Modelling to Investigate Historic Wreck Sites and Their Environments
We explored site formation processes at 549 shipwrecks in the North and Baltic Seas using multibeam echosounder (MBES) data and environmental/anthropogenic variables. Phase 1 classified the structural integrity of each wreck. Phase 2 used regression modelling to explore correlations between wreck class and environmental variables at individual sites. A best-fit model comprised depth, salinity, fishing intensity, and wreck year. In phase 3 multi-c…
Wetland archaeology and the impact of climate change
Wetland archaeological sites offer excellent but vulnerable preservation conditions. This article presents examples of threats to such sites that may be enhanced, or diminished, by climate change, discusses methods for predicting and quantifying impacts, and examines what heritage managers can do to mitigate their effects. The consequences of climate change for wetland archaeological sites are likely to be severe and widespread but hard to predic…
The Impact of Vegetation on Archaeological Sites in the Low Arctic in Light of Climate Change
Vegetation is changing across the Arctic in response to increasing temperatures, which may influence archaeological sites in the region. At the moment, very little is known about how different plant species influence archaeological remains. In this study we visited 14 archaeological sites stretching across a climatic gradient from the outer coast to the inner fjords in the Nuuk Fjord area of West Greenland to assess the impact of vegetation growt…
Bone degradation at five Arctic archaeological sites
The degradation of archaeological bones is influenced by many variables. The bone material itself is a composite of both organic and inorganic components, and their degradation depends on processes occurring both before and after burial, and on both intrinsic bone characteristics as well as extrinsic environmental parameters. In this study we attempt to quantify the effect of some of the variables using a novel approach that includes detailed mon…
Rapid loss of endogenous DNA in pig bone buried in five different environments
The rate at which endogenous DNA from differently prepared (butchered, boiled and baked) compact pig bones degrades in five different Danish terrestrial and marine environments over 12 months was investigated. Although > 70% of the estimated endogenous mtDNA is lost after just four weeks of exposure, no cytosine deamination of DNA was recognised. A correlation between the presence of oxygen and the amount of preserved DNA was observed. The result…
Arctic archaeological sites threatened by climate change
Climate change threatens many well‐preserved archaeological sites in the Arctic. The paper presents the first Arctic multi‐threat assessment focusing on the Nuuk region of Greenland. The results suggest that the majority of the 336 known archaeological sites are already exposed to impacts from microbial degradation, permafrost thaw and vegetation, and that these impacts will increase over the next 80 years. Additional impacts from coastal erosion…
A Ticking Clock? Preservation and Management of Greenland’s Archaeological Heritage in the Twenty-First Century
Evaluating the rate of deterioration at archaeological sites in the Arctic presents several challenges. In West Greenland, for example, increasing soil temperatures, perennial thaws, coastal erosion, storm surges, changing microbial communities, and pioneer plant species are observed as increasingly detrimental to the survival of organic archaeological deposits found scattered along the country’s littoral zones and extensive inner fjord systems. …
The importance of cellulose content and wood density for attack of waterlogged archaeological wood by the shipworm, Teredo navalis
The Impact of Climate Change on an Archaeological Site in the Arctic
Climate change may accelerate the degradation of archaeological sites in the Arctic and lead to a loss of important historical information. This study assesses the current preservation conditions and the processes controlling the physical and chemical stability of the Qajaa kitchen midden in western Greenland. Currently, the site is well protected by low ground temperatures, permafrost and a high water/ice content, keeping the deposits anoxic. Ba…
Making Better Use of Monitoring Data
This paper addresses the knowledge gap that exists in relation to understanding and quantifying the sensitivity of organic-rich archaeological deposits with respect to changes in the soil environment. Based on two case studies we demonstrate that it is possible to quantify the current decay rate in unsaturated archaeological deposits by combining decay rates measured in the laboratory with on-site monitoring data in a simple decay model. The deca…
Monitoring and Mitigation Works in Unsaturated Archaeological Deposits
Monitoring of the archaeological deposits at the World Heritage Site Bryggen in Bergen has been ongoing since 2001. In latter years a large-scale project of mitigation works has been carried out, resulting in the creation of a water-management system aimed at raising groundwater-levels and increasing soil moisture content in areas with poor preservation conditions. Oxygen is a key parameter in the decay of archaeological material in the unsaturat…
In situ Preservation Solutions for Deposited Iron Age Human Bones in Alken Enge, Denmark
The rich mass deposition of Iron Age human bone material from the Danish site, Alken Enge, is extraordinary not only from an archaeological perspective but also from a preservation point of view. The main find is situated in a waterlogged, anoxic environment which provides excellent preservation conditions and therefore enables in situ preservation of the human bones. However, major differences in local environmental conditions challenge an in si…
Impact of Roots and Rhizomes on Wetland Archaeology
The general premise for successful archaeological in situ preservation in wetlands is that raising the water table will ‘seal the grave’ by preventing oxygen from reaching the deposit. The present review reveals that this may not be the entire picture, as a change in habitat may introduce new plant species that can damage site stratigraphy and artefacts. However, reviews on the types and degree of damage caused by vegetation to archaeological rem…
Detecting and quantifying ongoing decay of organic archaeological remains
The Influence of Soil Moisture, Temperature and Oxygen on the Oxic Decay of Organic Archaeological Deposits
The sensitivity of organic‐rich archaeological layers at B ryggen in B ergen, N orway, to changes in soil temperatures, water contents and oxygen concentrations is investigated. This is done by linking measurements of oxic decay at varying temperatures and water contents with on‐site monitoring data using a one‐pool decomposition model. The results show that the model can be used to elucidate the current in situ decay and to evaluate where and wh…
In situ Measurements of Oxygen Dynamics in Unsaturated Archaeological Deposits
Oxygen is a key parameter in the degradation of archaeological material, but little is known of its dynamics in situ . In this study, 10 optical oxygen sensors placed in a 2 m deep test pit in the cultural deposits at B ryggen in Bergen have monitored oxygen concentrations every half hour for more than a year. It is shown that there is a significant spatial and temporal variation in the oxygen concentration, which is correlated to measured soil c…
Degradation of Archaeological Wood Under Freezing and Thawing Conditions—Effects of Permafrost and Climate Change
The degradation of archaeological wood at freezing and thawing temperatures is studied at the site of Q ajaa in W est G reenland through a combination of environmental monitoring, measurement of oxygen consumption and microscopy of wood samples. Permanently frozen wood is still very well preserved after 2–4000 years, while wood samples that thaw every summer show attack by soft rot and an average density loss of 0.1 g cm –3 (corresponding to 25% …
Reburial and Analyses of Archaeological Remains in the Marine Environment — Investigations into the Effects on Metals
The treatment and long-term storage of recovered cultural material from underwater heritage sites is becoming less cost effective, and reburial of archaeological sites and the associated artefacts in the marine environment is becoming increasingly common practice in managing the submerged cultural resource. Following recent large-scale underwater archaeological excavations in Marstrand harbour, Sweden, the majority of recovered finds were reburie…
The 4th International Conference on Preserving Archaeological Remains In Situ (Paris4)
The advocacy of preserving archaeological sites in situ has been politically galvanized internationally and certainly within Europe through a number of conventions: the European Convention for the
Nydam Mose
The site of Nydam Mose saw the beginning of systematic research into in situ preservation of waterlogged archaeological sites on land at the National Museum of Denmark. In the past fifteen years a generic approach to in situ preservation of archaeological sites has been developed based on this research. This article is primarily a review of this generic approach, summarizing the methods and results with particular reference to the published resul…
Quantification and Visualization of In Situ Degradation at the World Heritage Site Bryggen in Bergen, Norway
Environmental monitoring at the World Heritage Site of Bryggen in Bergen, Norway, has shown damaging settling rates caused by degradation of underlying archaeological deposits. Measurements of piezometric head, oxygen, and soil moisture content, as well as chemical analyses of water and soil samples are key elements of the environmental monitoring.Groundwater monitoring and geochemical analyses reveal a complex and dynamic flow through the natura…
The Future Preservation of a Permanently Frozen Kitchen Midden in Western Greenland
Archaeological materials may be extraordinarily well preserved in Arctic areas, where permanently frozen conditions in the ground slow down the decay of materials such as wood, bone, flesh, hair, and DNA. However, the mean annual air temperature in the Arctic is expected to increase by between 2·5 to 7·5°C by the end of the twenty-first century. This may have a significant warming effect on the soil and could lead to permafrost thaw and degradati…
Paleo-Eskimo kitchen midden preservation in permafrost under future climate conditions at Qajaa, West Greenland
Degradation of Archaeological Wood Under Freezing and Thawing Conditions—Effects of Permafrost and Climate Change
The degradation of archaeological wood at freezing and thawing temperatures is studied at the site of Q ajaa in W est G reenland through a combination of environmental monitoring, measurement of oxygen consumption and microscopy of wood samples. Permanently frozen wood is still very well preserved after 2–4000 years, while wood samples that thaw every summer show attack by soft rot and an average density loss of 0.1 g cm –3 (corresponding to 25% …
Paleo-Eskimo kitchen midden preservation in permafrost under future climate conditions at Qajaa, West Greenland
The Impact of Climate Change on an Archaeological Site in the Arctic
Climate change may accelerate the degradation of archaeological sites in the Arctic and lead to a loss of important historical information. This study assesses the current preservation conditions and the processes controlling the physical and chemical stability of the Qajaa kitchen midden in western Greenland. Currently, the site is well protected by low ground temperatures, permafrost and a high water/ice content, keeping the deposits anoxic. Ba…
In situ measurement of soil pH
Wetland archaeology and the impact of climate change
Wetland archaeological sites offer excellent but vulnerable preservation conditions. This article presents examples of threats to such sites that may be enhanced, or diminished, by climate change, discusses methods for predicting and quantifying impacts, and examines what heritage managers can do to mitigate their effects. The consequences of climate change for wetland archaeological sites are likely to be severe and widespread but hard to predic…
Arctic archaeological sites threatened by climate change
Climate change threatens many well‐preserved archaeological sites in the Arctic. The paper presents the first Arctic multi‐threat assessment focusing on the Nuuk region of Greenland. The results suggest that the majority of the 336 known archaeological sites are already exposed to impacts from microbial degradation, permafrost thaw and vegetation, and that these impacts will increase over the next 80 years. Additional impacts from coastal erosion…
The Influence of Soil Moisture, Temperature and Oxygen on the Oxic Decay of Organic Archaeological Deposits
The sensitivity of organic‐rich archaeological layers at B ryggen in B ergen, N orway, to changes in soil temperatures, water contents and oxygen concentrations is investigated. This is done by linking measurements of oxic decay at varying temperatures and water contents with on‐site monitoring data using a one‐pool decomposition model. The results show that the model can be used to elucidate the current in situ decay and to evaluate where and wh…
Bone degradation at five Arctic archaeological sites
The degradation of archaeological bones is influenced by many variables. The bone material itself is a composite of both organic and inorganic components, and their degradation depends on processes occurring both before and after burial, and on both intrinsic bone characteristics as well as extrinsic environmental parameters. In this study we attempt to quantify the effect of some of the variables using a novel approach that includes detailed mon…
Detailed chemical analyses of groundwater as a tool for monitoring urban archaeological deposits
The use of radiography and GIS to assess the deterioration of archaeological iron objects from a water logged environment
In situ Measurements of Oxygen Dynamics in Unsaturated Archaeological Deposits
Oxygen is a key parameter in the degradation of archaeological material, but little is known of its dynamics in situ . In this study, 10 optical oxygen sensors placed in a 2 m deep test pit in the cultural deposits at B ryggen in Bergen have monitored oxygen concentrations every half hour for more than a year. It is shown that there is a significant spatial and temporal variation in the oxygen concentration, which is correlated to measured soil c…
Using Open-Data Portals, Remote Sensing and Computational Modelling to Investigate Historic Wreck Sites and Their Environments
We explored site formation processes at 549 shipwrecks in the North and Baltic Seas using multibeam echosounder (MBES) data and environmental/anthropogenic variables. Phase 1 classified the structural integrity of each wreck. Phase 2 used regression modelling to explore correlations between wreck class and environmental variables at individual sites. A best-fit model comprised depth, salinity, fishing intensity, and wreck year. In phase 3 multi-c…
Rapid loss of endogenous DNA in pig bone buried in five different environments
The rate at which endogenous DNA from differently prepared (butchered, boiled and baked) compact pig bones degrades in five different Danish terrestrial and marine environments over 12 months was investigated. Although > 70% of the estimated endogenous mtDNA is lost after just four weeks of exposure, no cytosine deamination of DNA was recognised. A correlation between the presence of oxygen and the amount of preserved DNA was observed. The result…
The importance of cellulose content and wood density for attack of waterlogged archaeological wood by the shipworm, Teredo navalis
Environmental Monitoring at Nydam, a Waterlogged Site with Weapon Sacrifices from the Danish Iron Age. I
In situ preservation has become a common practice in the management of archaeological sites during the last decade. With this practice follows the need to have good, reliable methods for monitoring the environmental conditions at the sites.This paper describes the results from seven years of monitoring at the waterlogged site Nydam in Denmark. Results from a range of different monitoring methods are compared, and the advantages and disadvantages …
Environmental Monitoring at Nydam, a Waterlogged Site with Weapon Sacrifices from the Danish Iron Age. I
In situ preservation has become a common practice in the management of archaeological sites during the last decade. With this practice follows the need to have good, reliable methods for monitoring the environmental conditions at the sites.This paper describes the results from seven years of monitoring at the waterlogged site Nydam in Denmark. Results from a range of different monitoring methods are compared, and the advantages and disadvantages …
The use of radiography and GIS to assess the deterioration of archaeological iron objects from a water logged environment
The use of radiography and GIS to assess the deterioration of archaeological iron objects from a water logged environment
In situ measurement of soil pH
Detailed chemical analyses of groundwater as a tool for monitoring urban archaeological deposits
The Use and Deployment of Modern Wood Samples as a Proxy Indicator for Biogeochemical Processes on Archaeological Sites Preserved in situ in a Variety of Environments of Differing Saturation Level
In situ preservation of archaeological sites is becoming an ever increasing trend as a means of preserving our cultural heritage. In connection with this the environmental conditions, such as water level, dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH and water chemistry, of a site are often monitored. It is generally agreed that a waterlogged and anoxic environment is essential for optimal preservation conditions but the set-up and maintenance of an environm…
Paleo-Eskimo kitchen midden preservation in permafrost under future climate conditions at Qajaa, West Greenland
Reburial and Analyses of Archaeological Remains in the Marine Environment — Investigations into the Effects on Metals
The treatment and long-term storage of recovered cultural material from underwater heritage sites is becoming less cost effective, and reburial of archaeological sites and the associated artefacts in the marine environment is becoming increasingly common practice in managing the submerged cultural resource. Following recent large-scale underwater archaeological excavations in Marstrand harbour, Sweden, the majority of recovered finds were reburie…
The 4th International Conference on Preserving Archaeological Remains In Situ (Paris4)
The advocacy of preserving archaeological sites in situ has been politically galvanized internationally and certainly within Europe through a number of conventions: the European Convention for the
Nydam Mose
The site of Nydam Mose saw the beginning of systematic research into in situ preservation of waterlogged archaeological sites on land at the National Museum of Denmark. In the past fifteen years a generic approach to in situ preservation of archaeological sites has been developed based on this research. This article is primarily a review of this generic approach, summarizing the methods and results with particular reference to the published resul…
Quantification and Visualization of In Situ Degradation at the World Heritage Site Bryggen in Bergen, Norway
Environmental monitoring at the World Heritage Site of Bryggen in Bergen, Norway, has shown damaging settling rates caused by degradation of underlying archaeological deposits. Measurements of piezometric head, oxygen, and soil moisture content, as well as chemical analyses of water and soil samples are key elements of the environmental monitoring.Groundwater monitoring and geochemical analyses reveal a complex and dynamic flow through the natura…
The Future Preservation of a Permanently Frozen Kitchen Midden in Western Greenland
Archaeological materials may be extraordinarily well preserved in Arctic areas, where permanently frozen conditions in the ground slow down the decay of materials such as wood, bone, flesh, hair, and DNA. However, the mean annual air temperature in the Arctic is expected to increase by between 2·5 to 7·5°C by the end of the twenty-first century. This may have a significant warming effect on the soil and could lead to permafrost thaw and degradati…
Degradation of Archaeological Wood Under Freezing and Thawing Conditions—Effects of Permafrost and Climate Change
The degradation of archaeological wood at freezing and thawing temperatures is studied at the site of Q ajaa in W est G reenland through a combination of environmental monitoring, measurement of oxygen consumption and microscopy of wood samples. Permanently frozen wood is still very well preserved after 2–4000 years, while wood samples that thaw every summer show attack by soft rot and an average density loss of 0.1 g cm –3 (corresponding to 25% …
Impact of Roots and Rhizomes on Wetland Archaeology
The general premise for successful archaeological in situ preservation in wetlands is that raising the water table will ‘seal the grave’ by preventing oxygen from reaching the deposit. The present review reveals that this may not be the entire picture, as a change in habitat may introduce new plant species that can damage site stratigraphy and artefacts. However, reviews on the types and degree of damage caused by vegetation to archaeological rem…
Detecting and quantifying ongoing decay of organic archaeological remains
The Influence of Soil Moisture, Temperature and Oxygen on the Oxic Decay of Organic Archaeological Deposits
The sensitivity of organic‐rich archaeological layers at B ryggen in B ergen, N orway, to changes in soil temperatures, water contents and oxygen concentrations is investigated. This is done by linking measurements of oxic decay at varying temperatures and water contents with on‐site monitoring data using a one‐pool decomposition model. The results show that the model can be used to elucidate the current in situ decay and to evaluate where and wh…
In situ Measurements of Oxygen Dynamics in Unsaturated Archaeological Deposits
Oxygen is a key parameter in the degradation of archaeological material, but little is known of its dynamics in situ . In this study, 10 optical oxygen sensors placed in a 2 m deep test pit in the cultural deposits at B ryggen in Bergen have monitored oxygen concentrations every half hour for more than a year. It is shown that there is a significant spatial and temporal variation in the oxygen concentration, which is correlated to measured soil c…
Making Better Use of Monitoring Data
This paper addresses the knowledge gap that exists in relation to understanding and quantifying the sensitivity of organic-rich archaeological deposits with respect to changes in the soil environment. Based on two case studies we demonstrate that it is possible to quantify the current decay rate in unsaturated archaeological deposits by combining decay rates measured in the laboratory with on-site monitoring data in a simple decay model. The deca…
Monitoring and Mitigation Works in Unsaturated Archaeological Deposits
Monitoring of the archaeological deposits at the World Heritage Site Bryggen in Bergen has been ongoing since 2001. In latter years a large-scale project of mitigation works has been carried out, resulting in the creation of a water-management system aimed at raising groundwater-levels and increasing soil moisture content in areas with poor preservation conditions. Oxygen is a key parameter in the decay of archaeological material in the unsaturat…
In situ Preservation Solutions for Deposited Iron Age Human Bones in Alken Enge, Denmark
The rich mass deposition of Iron Age human bone material from the Danish site, Alken Enge, is extraordinary not only from an archaeological perspective but also from a preservation point of view. The main find is situated in a waterlogged, anoxic environment which provides excellent preservation conditions and therefore enables in situ preservation of the human bones. However, major differences in local environmental conditions challenge an in si…
The importance of cellulose content and wood density for attack of waterlogged archaeological wood by the shipworm, Teredo navalis
The Impact of Climate Change on an Archaeological Site in the Arctic
Climate change may accelerate the degradation of archaeological sites in the Arctic and lead to a loss of important historical information. This study assesses the current preservation conditions and the processes controlling the physical and chemical stability of the Qajaa kitchen midden in western Greenland. Currently, the site is well protected by low ground temperatures, permafrost and a high water/ice content, keeping the deposits anoxic. Ba…
A Ticking Clock? Preservation and Management of Greenland’s Archaeological Heritage in the Twenty-First Century
Evaluating the rate of deterioration at archaeological sites in the Arctic presents several challenges. In West Greenland, for example, increasing soil temperatures, perennial thaws, coastal erosion, storm surges, changing microbial communities, and pioneer plant species are observed as increasingly detrimental to the survival of organic archaeological deposits found scattered along the country’s littoral zones and extensive inner fjord systems. …
The Impact of Vegetation on Archaeological Sites in the Low Arctic in Light of Climate Change
Vegetation is changing across the Arctic in response to increasing temperatures, which may influence archaeological sites in the region. At the moment, very little is known about how different plant species influence archaeological remains. In this study we visited 14 archaeological sites stretching across a climatic gradient from the outer coast to the inner fjords in the Nuuk Fjord area of West Greenland to assess the impact of vegetation growt…
Bone degradation at five Arctic archaeological sites
The degradation of archaeological bones is influenced by many variables. The bone material itself is a composite of both organic and inorganic components, and their degradation depends on processes occurring both before and after burial, and on both intrinsic bone characteristics as well as extrinsic environmental parameters. In this study we attempt to quantify the effect of some of the variables using a novel approach that includes detailed mon…
Archaeology (25 works) · Geography (24 works) · Geology (22 works) · Environmental Science (13 works) · Archaeological Research and Protection (9 works) · Building materials and conservation (9 works) · Chemistry (9 works) · Conservation Techniques and Studies (9 works) · Oceanography (9 works) · Ecology (7 works)