Potential and use of archaeological and historical data in the coastal zone of the southern North Sea in a reconstruction of the sea level curve of the last 3000 years: results of a case study

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that methodologies from various disciplines can be utilised to explain the coastal development of the southern North Sea during the last 3000 years. The potential and uses of archaeological data are tested against the applicability of delivering data for reconstructing sea level or local water level curves. Geology, archaeology, and historical geography are disciplines that assess changes in absolute and regional sea levels, deposition, subsidence, or rises in surface level. In this paper a selection of the national archaeological database (ARCHIS2) from the western Netherlands is presented as archaeological proxy data that might help reconstruct the relationship between occupational history and landscape development. The case study around Katwijk in the western Netherlands presents the known history and geology of the area, as well as the archaeological data present. Results show that data within ARCHIS2 is of too poor quality and that even with the help of excavation reports the required resolution for reconstructing local water level curves is currently not present in the recorded data. Archaeological data that has been recorded generally lacks precision in data location (x, y, and z) and generally does not have an absolute time control. The ideal database or model is the creation of a GIS (Geographic Information System) that can integrate data from the different disciplines. All data should be transparent and have a spatial and temporal resolution, so that data from different disciplines can corroborate each other. Its accuracy can then be compared so the better dataset to provide the optimal insight into landscape change associated with the sizes of coastal inlets and the local variations of tidal amplitudes.