Laag Dalemseweg 20 (2012)

Low Dalemseweg 20 Gorinchem

ADC ArcheoProjects carried out a desk study and inventory field study for the plan area Laag Dalemseweg 2012 in Dalem (municipality of Gorinchem) in 20 on behalf of Inpijn Blokpoel Ingenieurs. The plan area consists of two sub-areas. In the western sub-area, a shed was built in 2010 and a waterway was filled in. Furthermore, various facilities related to the establishment of a horse boarding stable were realised. However, archaeological research has not yet been carried out here. A house will be built in the eastern sub-area.

The research was carried out in the context of an application for a partial zoning plan amendment (horse boarding) and a complete zoning plan amendment (housing) and was necessary to determine whether the activities still to be carried out could affect archaeological remains in the subsurface. The research took place in August and September 2012.

Gorkum-Arkel current belt

Based on the desk research, the following specified expectation was drawn up. Bank deposits of the Gorkum-Arkel stream belt and a perimarine crevasse can be found in the plan area. The bank deposits of the Gorkum-Arkel stream belt may have provided a subsoil for habitation and/or agriculture based on the formation history in the Neolithic - Bronze Age period. Archaeological traces and/or finds related to this stream belt, which is located at 3 to 5 m -mv, have not yet been observed. If present, any remains will have been well preserved by covering with basin deposits and peat.

At or directly below ground level, bank deposits of a more northerly branch of the Linge must be taken into account. In the top of these deposits, archaeological traces and/or finds from the Iron Age to the Late Middle Ages must be taken into account. To date, however, only remains from the Late Middle Ages are known. The remains are expected to manifest themselves as an archaeological layer, consisting of a mixture of, among other things, small fragments of pottery, charcoal and bone with the original substrate. Due to the shallow location, there is a chance that any remains will have been disturbed by tillage. This will certainly be the case at the site of the farm.

Drilling research

In order to test this expectation, an exploratory drilling survey was carried out in the plan area. In the deep subsurface, between 500 cm -mv (maximum drilling depth) and 300 cm -mv, bank or crevasse deposits were indeed found. Given the depth, these are possibly related to the Gorkum-Arkelse stream belt. However, no traces of soil formation were found in the top of the bank deposits. It is therefore questionable whether these offered a suitable subsurface for habitation in the period from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, when the river system was active.

The shallower subsoil is composed of packages of non-calcareous, almost unripe, slightly silty clay and peat. This composition is characteristic of very wet basin areas. Such areas were rarely visited until the large-scale reclamations in the Late Middle Ages and were not selected for permanent habitation. Bank deposits related to the more northerly branch of the Linge were not found in any of the drillings.