Lost but revived. Revisiting the medieval village of Nieuw‐Roeselare (Flanders) using large‐scale frequency‐domain multi‐receiver EMI and landscape archaeological prospection

Abstract

During the 10th to 13th centuries, the rural settlement landscapes of the County of Flanders underwent major changes. Complex interactions between urbanization, growing comital power, demographic changes and rural development formed the basis for intensified reclamations of the landscape. Based on historical research, the ab nihilo plantation of grouped rural settlements by the counts and other landlords played an important role in the organization and systematization of these reclamations. To date, however, archaeological attention for these grouped settlements is scarce, mainly due to Flanders' build‐up and urbanized character. This article describes the renewed cross‐disciplinary landscape archaeological research at the site of the lost village of Nieuw‐Roeselare (northern East Flanders), which was the first medieval village to be partly excavated in Flanders between 1967 and 1979. Believed to have been planted in 1241 and lost to floods in 1375, little is known historically about the site nor does the modern‐day polder landscape show any remnants of a former settlement. Now, a large‐scale cross‐disciplinary prospection comprising 35 ha of frequency‐domain multi‐receiver electromagnetic induction (EMI), oblique aerial photography, augering, pseudo‐two‐dimensional tomography and site specific artefact‐accurate field walking, allowed to define the settlement's full extent, clarify its geographical context and identify its morphology as a planted settlement in the context of the medieval landscape reclamations.

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

“…This wide range of source materials comprise historical maps, place names, (historical) aerial photographs and soil data. Subsequently, and based on insights gained from the desktop research, dedicated large scale geophysical surveys applying Electromagnetic Induction (EMI) are executed in order to locate and map the lost settlement of Nieuw-Roeselare (Verbrugghe et al 2020). On the site level, this must allow to clarify the interaction of the already excavated manor site and church with the yet to be located settlement centre.…”