Bertil Van Os
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 94733 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Bertil Van Os |
| PRENOMES | Bertil |
| SOBRENOME | Van Os |
| ASSINATURA | VAN OS B |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Cultural Heritage Agency of Netherlands |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1739-1696 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 35 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 176 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 35 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2007 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 7 |
Geoarchaeological Investigation of Early Neolithic Lagoonal Fringe Landscapes in the Netherlands
Coastal wetlands have historically been portrayed as too marginal for early crop cultivation during the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition due to their dynamic hydrology, low elevation, and poor drainage. However, growing evidence suggests that these environments played a crucial role in the spread of agriculture. We examined buried and submerged channel–levee systems beneath present‐day Lake IJssel (the Netherlands) to investigate the spatial and t…
Unravelling a Neanderthal landscape rich in bifacial tools at Esbeek-Diessen, the Netherlands
Esbeek-Diessen represents a significant late Middle Palaeolithic surface site, recent surveys show the effectiveness of GPR in Palaeolithic landscape archaeology, Neanderthal stone artefacts are found in association with a thermokarst landscape
No time to waste. Evidence for communal waste management among hunter-gatherer-fishers at Riņņukalns, Latvia (5400-3200 BC)
This study discusses waste management by mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer-fisher communities at Riņņukalns, on the Salaca river in Latvia. It combines microscopic analyses with geochemistry and radiocarbon dating. We observe natural landscape changes and human responses, with Mesolithic and earlier Middle Neolithic occupation on the backswamp. During the later Middle Neolithic, we see a pattern of selective deposition of waste categories (food waste,…
Diobolgeldæ (The Devil’s Money)
Well-excavated cult sites are key to identifying and understanding changing ritual behaviour in the Christianisation period. Unfortunately, such sites are rare. Recent metal-detected finds near the hamlet of Hezingen (the Netherlands) prompted archaeological excavations that have brought to light the remains of a 7th-century open-air cult site possibly connected with immigrants. The site consisted of a row of posts and a large boulder situated in…
Change lost
We studied the corrosion of Roman copper alloy coins that experienced alternations or progressive changes in their burial environment. We used coins that were still embedded in soil or in a concretion selected from three professional excataved sites - Berlicum and Krommenie in the Netherlands and Kempraten in Switserland. mCT scanning and neutron scanning were used to record the 3-D properties of these coins prior to (destructive) analyses. It pr…
Magnetometer mapping of drowned prehistoric landscapes for Archaeological Heritage Management in the Netherlands
Coastal areas can contain a highly valuable archaeological record because of post‐glacial drowning of previously inhabited land surfaces. Such records are increasingly under threat because of a range of economic activities. Archaeological Heritage Management (AHM) is hampered by a lack of detailed data on the buried landscapes. This makes it difficult to fully assess and deflect threats to this record. Here, we present a novel way of using under …
Two methods on one stone
We develop a study protocol to efficiently and accurately identify the raw material categories constituting the lithic assemblages at Umhlatuzana rockshelter, South Africa. We combine visual and analytical methods to establish a raw material database and to provide a more accurate insight into raw material selection during the Pleistocene Middle and Later Stone Age occupational sequence of Umhlatuzana. The protocol combines petrological propertie…
Een bronzen hielbijl uit Emmen
A Bronze Age palstave found at Emmen. In 2019, a Bronze Age palstave was found in a field west of Emmen by a father-and-son team of metal detectorists. In agreement with the landowner, the find was reported to PAN. During the process of conservation, the opportunity presented itself to study the alloy using pXRF analysis. This suggested that the copper ores used in the bronze alloy ultimately derived from Swiss or Slovakian mines, but that the me…
Koper, lood en tin - een uitzonderlijk kralensnoer uit de late bronstijd uit Borger
Copper, lead and tin – an extraordinary Late Bronze Age string of beads from Borger. Around 2017, an amateur metal detectorist searching at Borger in the immediate vicinity of the base of a Middle Bronze Age barrow, which had been excavated in 1987, came across 245 metal beads: four large beads and 241 small ones. One of the four large beads is made of lead, two are of a lead/tin alloy and one is of copper; the 241 biconical and cylindrical small…
A not so isolated fringe
Using a corpus of over 370 compositional analyses of Dutch Bronze Age and Iron Age (c. 2000 BCE AD 0) copper alloy artefacts, long-term patterns in the types of alloys used for specific bronze objects are identified. As the Low Countries are devoid of copper ores and alloying elements, a combination of typo(chrono)logical and compositional analysis is used to identify through which European contact networks (such as Atlantic, Central European or …
Hunting colours
Mosaic glass tesserae were imported to Dutch sites during the Early Medieval period, probably to address the demand for coloured glass needed in ornamental bead manufacture. Although challenging, because of the uncertainty of the material's context, the Wierum Early Medieval collection represents an extraordinary opportunity, being the most significant find of glass tesserae in the Netherlands to date. The combined use of electron microprobe anal…
Heating histories and taphonomy of ancient fireplaces
While the use of fire has long been recognised as a crucial innovation in the cultural evolution of humankind, much research has focused on the (debated) chronology of its earliest use and control, and less on the ways in which fire was used in the deep past. At its latest by the Upper Palaeolithic, hunter-gatherers routinely used fire to heat a wide range of materials, adjusting parameters like temperature, exposure time and fuel type to the spe…
Middle Paleolithic complex technology and a Neandertal tar-backed tool from the Dutch North Sea
We report the discovery of a 50,000-y-old birch tar-hafted flint tool found off the present-day coastline of The Netherlands. The production of adhesives and multicomponent tools is considered complex technology and has a prominent place in discussions about the evolution of human behavior. This find provides evidence on the technological capabilities of Neandertals and illuminates the currently debated conditions under which these technologies c…
Charred Organic Material, Heated by Anthropogenic Fires and Hot Volcanic Products from the Minoan Eruption, Excavated from the Bronze Age Site of Akrotiri on the Cycladic Island of Thera (Greece)
The Bronze Age settlement site of Akrotiri, situated on the island of Thera in the Aegean Sea (Greece), developed during a period of over 1500 years into a flourishing city. This process started from the Late Neolithic through the Early and Middle Cycladic periods to the beginning of the Late Cycladic period when at a date in the late seventeenth century BC the city was buried and at the same time preserved by four phases of hot tephra released f…
Maken en handelen
Making and trading: An analysis of Merovingian beads from the Sittard-Kemperkoul burial ground. Chemical analyses and micro-CT scanning were used to analyse a set of c. 725 glass beads from a single Merovingian burial (number 11) in the Sittard-Kemperkoul burial ground (Sittard-Geleen, province of Limburg). Chemical analyses of the small, opaque, yellow beads that make up the majority of the collection showed that they were, in fact, not made of …
Combusted bone
Non‐Destructive Survey of Early Roman Copper‐Alloy Brooches using Portable X‐ray Fluorescence Spectrometry
This paper argues that portable X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) is a suitable elemental measurement technique to study the production of copper‐alloy artefacts. However, rather than try to imitate the accuracy and precision of laboratory techniques, it is more beneficial to deploy it in a survey role, one that attempts to model chronological and geographical changes within large quantities of artefacts. To achieve this, it was investigated…
A Comparative Compositional Study of 7th- to 11th-Century Copper-Alloy Pins from Sedgeford, England, and Domburg, the Netherlands
EARLY MEDIEVAL PINS are found in large quantities on both sides of the North Sea and the English Channel, and as a result are one of the few artefact types that can facilitate the exploration of cross-cultural contacts in terms of style, material and manufacture. This paper presents the results of the analyses of two contemporary groups of copper-alloy pins dating from the 7th to the 11th centuries using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. One group…
Fuel remains in archaeological contexts
In the archaeological record, ash and charred organic material are the only indications of the type of fuel used by ancient societies to feed their fires. This potential source of information may help further understanding of past human behaviour in relation to fuel selection, applied type of fire and function of fires lit in hearths. This study examined ash from reference samples and ash and char samples recovered from an Iron Age peatland site …
Purple haze
Cover it! The Protection of a Merovingian Burial Ground in Borgharen (Municipality of Maastricht), the Netherlands
A Merovingian burial ground in Borgharen was threatened by development. Plans however could be changed so the site could be preserved. The initial research however showed the bone material was at risk of severe degradation in the near future. In order to determine whether in situ preservation was feasible three campaigns were carried out. This led to the conclusion that the burial conditions were excellent and there was little risk that severe de…
Wrap a Wreck! In Situ Conservation of a Ship on Land Suffering from Fungal Decay
Many sixteenth- to eighteenth-century shipwrecks have been found after land reclamation in parts of the former Zuiderzee, one of the busiest waterways in Dutch history. After the land fell dry, some shipwrecks were excavated, destroyed, reburied, or covered with sand or clay. In the late 1970s a method was developed to mitigate degradation processes of some of the wrecks remaining in good condition by wrapping them in plastic foil. The idea was t…
Combining New Awareness and Public Support for Archaeology with In Situ Preservation of an Archaeological Monument
Preserving archaeological remains in situ is one of the main objectives of the Valletta Treaty, which was signed by the Dutch government in 1992. Subsequently, preservation in situ has become one of the pillars of archaeological heritage management in the Netherlands. Another objective of the Treaty is the promotion of heritage education and raising of public awareness for the protection and investigation of archaeological heritage. Until recentl…
Erosion and Errors
Slope soil erosion is one of the main threats to archaeological sites. Several methods were applied to establish the erosion rates at archaeological sites. Digital elevation models (DEMs) from three different dates were used. We compared the elevations from these three models to estimate erosion. We also applied the landscape evolution model LAPSUS with the available DEMs as basis. Spatial processing errors and effects of tillage and harvesting p…
Relax, Don’t Do It
Preservation in situ and the monitoring of archaeological sites have become important themes since the acceptance and implementation of the Valletta Treaty. In the last few decades, our knowledge of degradation processes has increased manyfold, and a range of techniques have been tested and applied for use in both assessment and monitoring. Despite these successes, all is not well. First, we have little notion of the speed of the decay processes …
Fuel, Fire and Heat
Charred bone
Heating histories and taphonomy of ancient fireplaces
While the use of fire has long been recognised as a crucial innovation in the cultural evolution of humankind, much research has focused on the (debated) chronology of its earliest use and control, and less on the ways in which fire was used in the deep past. At its latest by the Upper Palaeolithic, hunter-gatherers routinely used fire to heat a wide range of materials, adjusting parameters like temperature, exposure time and fuel type to the spe…
Combusted bone
Ashes to ashes, charcoal to dust
Purple haze
A sealed flint knapping site from the Younger Dryas in the Scheldt valley (Belgium)
Compositional Variation in Roman Colourless Glass Objects From the Bocholtz Burial (The Netherlands)
We investigated the major and trace element composition and Pb and Sr isotope characteristics of a series of about 20 colourless glass objects from a single high‐status Roman burial from the Netherlands (Bocholtz). The major elements show a relatively homogeneous group, with one outlier. This is corroborated by the Sr isotopes. Based on the Sb and Pb content, three major groups can be discerned, with two other outliers. This grouping is corrobora…
Non‐Destructive Survey of Early Roman Copper‐Alloy Brooches using Portable X‐ray Fluorescence Spectrometry
This paper argues that portable X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) is a suitable elemental measurement technique to study the production of copper‐alloy artefacts. However, rather than try to imitate the accuracy and precision of laboratory techniques, it is more beneficial to deploy it in a survey role, one that attempts to model chronological and geographical changes within large quantities of artefacts. To achieve this, it was investigated…
Fuel remains in archaeological contexts
In the archaeological record, ash and charred organic material are the only indications of the type of fuel used by ancient societies to feed their fires. This potential source of information may help further understanding of past human behaviour in relation to fuel selection, applied type of fire and function of fires lit in hearths. This study examined ash from reference samples and ash and char samples recovered from an Iron Age peatland site …
Degradation processes in colourless Roman glass
Hunting colours
Mosaic glass tesserae were imported to Dutch sites during the Early Medieval period, probably to address the demand for coloured glass needed in ornamental bead manufacture. Although challenging, because of the uncertainty of the material's context, the Wierum Early Medieval collection represents an extraordinary opportunity, being the most significant find of glass tesserae in the Netherlands to date. The combined use of electron microprobe anal…
Early Roman copper-alloy brooch production
We present here a compositional study of a large number of copper-alloy brooches, undertaken in 2014 using Handheld X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (HHpXRF). The brooches, which come from the area of Nijmegen, date from the Late Iron Age until the 2nd c. A.D. Our aim is to explore the ways in which artefact production was organized both in the context of Roman centres and in the countryside. The link between alloys and workshop organization will …
Magnetometer mapping of drowned prehistoric landscapes for Archaeological Heritage Management in the Netherlands
Coastal areas can contain a highly valuable archaeological record because of post‐glacial drowning of previously inhabited land surfaces. Such records are increasingly under threat because of a range of economic activities. Archaeological Heritage Management (AHM) is hampered by a lack of detailed data on the buried landscapes. This makes it difficult to fully assess and deflect threats to this record. Here, we present a novel way of using under …
Geoarchaeological Investigation of Early Neolithic Lagoonal Fringe Landscapes in the Netherlands
Coastal wetlands have historically been portrayed as too marginal for early crop cultivation during the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition due to their dynamic hydrology, low elevation, and poor drainage. However, growing evidence suggests that these environments played a crucial role in the spread of agriculture. We examined buried and submerged channel–levee systems beneath present‐day Lake IJssel (the Netherlands) to investigate the spatial and t…
Degradation processes in colourless Roman glass
Compositional Variation in Roman Colourless Glass Objects From the Bocholtz Burial (The Netherlands)
We investigated the major and trace element composition and Pb and Sr isotope characteristics of a series of about 20 colourless glass objects from a single high‐status Roman burial from the Netherlands (Bocholtz). The major elements show a relatively homogeneous group, with one outlier. This is corroborated by the Sr isotopes. Based on the Sb and Pb content, three major groups can be discerned, with two other outliers. This grouping is corrobora…
Ashes to ashes, charcoal to dust
Fuel, Fire and Heat
A Qualitative Approach for Assessment of the Burial Environment by Interpreting Soil Characteristics; A Necessity for Archaeological Monitoring
Modern-day archaeological monitoring is often hampered by lack of money, lack of time, inadequate measuring equipment, and lack of insight in the conservation potential of a site.Although in modern archaeological excavations soil characteristics are noted (colour, texture, groundwater level, and sometimes mineralogy), these characteristics are mainly used for the interpretation of a site. However, by looking to these characteristics from a conser…
A sealed flint knapping site from the Younger Dryas in the Scheldt valley (Belgium)
Cover it! The Protection of a Merovingian Burial Ground in Borgharen (Municipality of Maastricht), the Netherlands
A Merovingian burial ground in Borgharen was threatened by development. Plans however could be changed so the site could be preserved. The initial research however showed the bone material was at risk of severe degradation in the near future. In order to determine whether in situ preservation was feasible three campaigns were carried out. This led to the conclusion that the burial conditions were excellent and there was little risk that severe de…
Wrap a Wreck! In Situ Conservation of a Ship on Land Suffering from Fungal Decay
Many sixteenth- to eighteenth-century shipwrecks have been found after land reclamation in parts of the former Zuiderzee, one of the busiest waterways in Dutch history. After the land fell dry, some shipwrecks were excavated, destroyed, reburied, or covered with sand or clay. In the late 1970s a method was developed to mitigate degradation processes of some of the wrecks remaining in good condition by wrapping them in plastic foil. The idea was t…
Combining New Awareness and Public Support for Archaeology with In Situ Preservation of an Archaeological Monument
Preserving archaeological remains in situ is one of the main objectives of the Valletta Treaty, which was signed by the Dutch government in 1992. Subsequently, preservation in situ has become one of the pillars of archaeological heritage management in the Netherlands. Another objective of the Treaty is the promotion of heritage education and raising of public awareness for the protection and investigation of archaeological heritage. Until recentl…
Erosion and Errors
Slope soil erosion is one of the main threats to archaeological sites. Several methods were applied to establish the erosion rates at archaeological sites. Digital elevation models (DEMs) from three different dates were used. We compared the elevations from these three models to estimate erosion. We also applied the landscape evolution model LAPSUS with the available DEMs as basis. Spatial processing errors and effects of tillage and harvesting p…
Relax, Don’t Do It
Preservation in situ and the monitoring of archaeological sites have become important themes since the acceptance and implementation of the Valletta Treaty. In the last few decades, our knowledge of degradation processes has increased manyfold, and a range of techniques have been tested and applied for use in both assessment and monitoring. Despite these successes, all is not well. First, we have little notion of the speed of the decay processes …
To Have and to Hold? Recent Research on the State of Preservation of the Roman Fort of Fectio (Municipality of Bunnik), the Netherlands
The transformation of the Roman fort of Fectio was seized upon to gain insight into the factors that determine the degradation of metal finds and the relationship with different forms of land use. The research showed no difference in the preservation of metal finds from different burial contexts, including disturbed contexts. A possible explanation for the good condition of the metal finds is the presence of organic waste and building material th…
Pollution and Oral Bioaccessibility of Pb in Soils of Villages and Cities with a Long Habitation History
The Dutch cities Utrecht and Wijk bij Duurstede were founded by the Romans around 50 B.C. and the village Fijnaart and Graft-De Rijp around 1600 A.D. The soils of these villages are polluted with Pb (up to ~5000 mg/kg). Lead isotope ratios were used to trace the sources of Pb pollution in the urban soils. In ~75% of the urban soils the source of the Pb pollution was a mixture of glazed potsherd, sherds of glazed roof tiles, building remnants (Pb …
Early Roman copper-alloy brooch production
We present here a compositional study of a large number of copper-alloy brooches, undertaken in 2014 using Handheld X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (HHpXRF). The brooches, which come from the area of Nijmegen, date from the Late Iron Age until the 2nd c. A.D. Our aim is to explore the ways in which artefact production was organized both in the context of Roman centres and in the countryside. The link between alloys and workshop organization will …
Charred bone
Fuel remains in archaeological contexts
In the archaeological record, ash and charred organic material are the only indications of the type of fuel used by ancient societies to feed their fires. This potential source of information may help further understanding of past human behaviour in relation to fuel selection, applied type of fire and function of fires lit in hearths. This study examined ash from reference samples and ash and char samples recovered from an Iron Age peatland site …
Purple haze
A Comparative Compositional Study of 7th- to 11th-Century Copper-Alloy Pins from Sedgeford, England, and Domburg, the Netherlands
EARLY MEDIEVAL PINS are found in large quantities on both sides of the North Sea and the English Channel, and as a result are one of the few artefact types that can facilitate the exploration of cross-cultural contacts in terms of style, material and manufacture. This paper presents the results of the analyses of two contemporary groups of copper-alloy pins dating from the 7th to the 11th centuries using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. One group…
Middle Paleolithic complex technology and a Neandertal tar-backed tool from the Dutch North Sea
We report the discovery of a 50,000-y-old birch tar-hafted flint tool found off the present-day coastline of The Netherlands. The production of adhesives and multicomponent tools is considered complex technology and has a prominent place in discussions about the evolution of human behavior. This find provides evidence on the technological capabilities of Neandertals and illuminates the currently debated conditions under which these technologies c…
Charred Organic Material, Heated by Anthropogenic Fires and Hot Volcanic Products from the Minoan Eruption, Excavated from the Bronze Age Site of Akrotiri on the Cycladic Island of Thera (Greece)
The Bronze Age settlement site of Akrotiri, situated on the island of Thera in the Aegean Sea (Greece), developed during a period of over 1500 years into a flourishing city. This process started from the Late Neolithic through the Early and Middle Cycladic periods to the beginning of the Late Cycladic period when at a date in the late seventeenth century BC the city was buried and at the same time preserved by four phases of hot tephra released f…
Maken en handelen
Making and trading: An analysis of Merovingian beads from the Sittard-Kemperkoul burial ground. Chemical analyses and micro-CT scanning were used to analyse a set of c. 725 glass beads from a single Merovingian burial (number 11) in the Sittard-Kemperkoul burial ground (Sittard-Geleen, province of Limburg). Chemical analyses of the small, opaque, yellow beads that make up the majority of the collection showed that they were, in fact, not made of …
Combusted bone
Non‐Destructive Survey of Early Roman Copper‐Alloy Brooches using Portable X‐ray Fluorescence Spectrometry
This paper argues that portable X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) is a suitable elemental measurement technique to study the production of copper‐alloy artefacts. However, rather than try to imitate the accuracy and precision of laboratory techniques, it is more beneficial to deploy it in a survey role, one that attempts to model chronological and geographical changes within large quantities of artefacts. To achieve this, it was investigated…
Heating histories and taphonomy of ancient fireplaces
While the use of fire has long been recognised as a crucial innovation in the cultural evolution of humankind, much research has focused on the (debated) chronology of its earliest use and control, and less on the ways in which fire was used in the deep past. At its latest by the Upper Palaeolithic, hunter-gatherers routinely used fire to heat a wide range of materials, adjusting parameters like temperature, exposure time and fuel type to the spe…
Hunting colours
Mosaic glass tesserae were imported to Dutch sites during the Early Medieval period, probably to address the demand for coloured glass needed in ornamental bead manufacture. Although challenging, because of the uncertainty of the material's context, the Wierum Early Medieval collection represents an extraordinary opportunity, being the most significant find of glass tesserae in the Netherlands to date. The combined use of electron microprobe anal…
Archaeology (29 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (22 obras) · Geography (21 obras) · Geology (16 obras) · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis (13 obras) · Materials Science (13 obras) · Environmental Science (10 obras) · History (10 obras) · Mineralogy (10 obras) · Metallurgy (9 obras)