URBAN GEOARCHAEOLOGY IN BELGIUM

Geoarchaeological research in urban contexts is a fairly recent development in Belgium, with pioneering studies in Brussels and Flanders dating back to the 1990s. In the beginning of the 21st century, a specific research protocol has been developed in Brussels (Devos et al., 2009; 2011). This approach has recently been applied on a series of urban sites in Flanders and Wallonia (Devos et al., 2013, Wouters et al., 2017).
This contribution will discuss some of the current debates, focussing on:
- The impact of urbanisation on the soil
- Dark Earth and microstratigraphy
- Ancient pollution and waste management
- Reconstruction of the ancient relief and its modifications through time
- Integration of geoarchaeology and other archaeoenvironmental studies (archaeobotany, zooarchaeology,…)

Author(s): Devos, Yannick (CReA-Patrimoine, Université Libre de Bruxelles; Vrije Universiteit Brussel) - Wouters, Barbora (Centre for Urban Network Evolutions - UrbNet, Aarhus University; Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

References
Devos, Y., Vrydaghs, L., Degraeve, A., Fechner, K., 2009. An archaeopedological and phytolitarian study of the “Dark Earth” on the site
of Rue de Dinant (Brussels, Belgium). Catena 78, 270–284.
Devos, Y., Vrydaghs, L., Degraeve, A., Modrie, S., 2011. Unravelling Urban Stratigraphy; the Study of Brussels’ (Belgium) Dark Earth. An
Archaeopedological Perspective. Mediev. Mod. Matters 2, 51–76.
Devos, Y., Wouters, B., Vrydaghs, L., Tys, D., Bellens, T., Schryvers, A., 2013. A soil micromorphological study on the origins of the early
medieval trading centre of Antwerp (Belgium). Quat. Int. 315, 167–183.
Wouters, B., Devos, Y., Milek, K., Vrydaghs, L., Bartholomieux, B., Tys, D., Moolhuizen, C. & van Asch, N., 2017. Medieval markets: a soil
micromorphological and archaeobotanical study of the urban stratigraphy of Lier (Belgium). Quat. Int. 460, 48-64.