I don’t live that far from the village of Neerwinden. Heavy battles have taken place on the fields there twice (1693 and 1793). What is the chance that there are still remnants of those battles in those fields? Or, a similar question: what is the chance that there is still ‘something’ in the ground in an old city like Sint-Truiden or Leuven?
Answer
Hey Mark,
About 300 archaeological excavations take place every year, documenting traces from the past in/from Flemish soil.
From an archaeological point of view, ancient cities are a very rewarding find context. Due to the many centuries of habitation, many remains have been piled up in one place. In a city a lot was dug, built and rebuilt, which has always added new traces to the soil archive. Think eg. but to all those centuries of urban waste…
A lot can also be found archaeologically from battles. A difficulty with this, however, is that it concerns a rather short activity that largely takes place on (and not) in the ground. Remains such as bullets, broken weaponry, buttons, etc. are therefore found in the topsoil by eg. metal detecting or field prospecting. However, much of the material was cleaned up or reused (immediately) after the battle.
Hopefully this answers your question?
Sincerely,
Tim Clerbaut
Answered by
PhD student Tim Clerbaut
archeology archaeology
http://www.ugent.be
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