Ballasting the Hanse: Baltoscandian Erratic Cobbles in the Later Medieval Port Landscape of Bruges

Abstract

The discovery of a remarkable group of vividly coloured rounded cobbles in the fields and monuments of the later medieval outports of Bruges has initiated a multi-disciplinary investigation into their function, provenance, and wider economic meaning. Geological analyses demonstrate that the stones are ballast of exotic lithological nature. A substantial number consist of glacial erratics collected from cobble beaches in the Baltoscandian area. Another group can be traced to north-eastern British coasts. The clustering of stones at Hoeke has drawn particular attention to the Hanseatic connection with Bruges and to the small harbour town of Hoeke, which hosted the staple of stockfish and various other Hanseatic activities. This article contributes to the discussion of ballast stones as a meaningful archaeological object category, especially when studied in a broader methodological context including archaeological, geological, and historical research.

Kijk eens in die steen Microscopische wonderen uit een versteend verleden

“…82), leverde bijkomend bewijs voor de hypothese dat deze keien ooit op het strand werden opgeraapt en als ballaststenen op schepen tijdens de Hanzeperiode naar hier werden meegenomen. Dit argument, samen met de resultaten van het microscopisch onderzoek van de kalkstenen, wees op een herkomstgebied gelegen langs de Engelse oostkust, vlak onder de grens met Schotland (De Clercq et al, 2017).…”

Nieuw-Roeselare – landscape archaeological and historical geographical research on deserted medieval settlements in the borderlands of Flanders and Zealand

“…Multiple harbour and fishing towns were located along the Zwin inlet as outports of this commercial metropolis. Over the course of the 13 th century, Bruges importance in international commerce grew and it became the main commercial hub in the late medieval North Sea area (Trachet et al 2015;De Clercq et al 2017;Trachet 2017;Dumolyn et al 2018b, c). Whether Nieuw-Roeselare as smalle stede in the Franc of Bruges and smaller community in the region had a role in this extensive network is, however, unclear.…”

Sedimentary and stratigraphic architecture in the geoarchaeological context of Late-Holocene deposits in the eastern coastal plain of Belgium: Zwin region – Hoeke

“…During the heydays of its commerce and culture, the connection with the North Sea was assured via a tidal channel, known as the 'Zwin', which -according to some brief historical sources -was formed in the year 1134, following a storm surge or some other catastrophic marine event (De Clercq et al, 2021;Pannier, 1970;Verhulst, 1959). Historical and archaeological research demonstrated that the economic activity was not restricted to the city of Bruges itself, but extended along the Zwin tidal channel via a network of harbours, the so-called outports of Damme, Monnikerede, Hoeke, Mude and Sluis which were thriving towns on their own (Figure 1) (De Clercq et al, 2017Leloup, 2018;Trachet et al, 2016Trachet et al, , 2017aTrachet et al, , 2017bTrachet et al, , 2017cTrachet and De Clercq, 2018). In the course of the Late Middle Ages, the Zwin steadily lost its function as an economical viable transport route.…”