Colleagues reminded me of the time I spent in Holland, where the generally flat (and therefore squared) landscape was relieved by only a few elements: 1) the natural sand-dune barrier to the sea, long straight coasts with seriously high dunes, 2) original islands in the zuider zee, now marooned amongst fields in new polders like http://www.schokland.nl/ and 3) Terpen, the Frisian (Frysk) word for a man-made mound generally at the heart of a village. They begin being formed about 500BC and continue through to the 1200s (AD). They start almost as an incidental process of dumping material to counter the onset of floods and - over years - become mounds. The creation of a rise in elevation also introduces a a round element in an otherwise rectilinear landscape.
Terp is a Frisian (Frysk) word, the language of Friesland (Fryslan), which is the Westfriesian dialect of a once larger language group. Whereas other words are used in the Netherlands -such as wierde- it is significant that in English we choose to use the Frisian word terp. There are longstanding cultural and linguistic affinities between English and Frisians click here for more
The round mound that generally resulted from centuries of dumped material gave rise to a particular form of archaeological quadrat excavation. It was developed by Albert Egges van Giffen, who had stidied as a microbiologist. Applying his training in the importance of seeing things in three dimensions (when microscopes then generally only had monocular, flat vision) he divided the historic mound of Dorkwerd to see deposits in plane and elevation. He later applied the same method to megalithic tombs and it has become the standard method of excavating round barrows; that is to divide the mound into 4 quarters (or quadrants) with baulks left in 2 quarters, that meet in the centre. How to excavate it quadrants and, click on the later link for a picture of a partial excavation in quadrants
Terp is a Frisian (Frysk) word, the language of Friesland (Fryslan), which is the Westfriesian dialect of a once larger language group. Whereas other words are used in the Netherlands -such as wierde- it is significant that in English we choose to use the Frisian word terp. There are longstanding cultural and linguistic affinities between English and Frisians click here for more
The round mound that generally resulted from centuries of dumped material gave rise to a particular form of archaeological quadrat excavation. It was developed by Albert Egges van Giffen, who had stidied as a microbiologist. Applying his training in the importance of seeing things in three dimensions (when microscopes then generally only had monocular, flat vision) he divided the historic mound of Dorkwerd to see deposits in plane and elevation. He later applied the same method to megalithic tombs and it has become the standard method of excavating round barrows; that is to divide the mound into 4 quarters (or quadrants) with baulks left in 2 quarters, that meet in the centre. How to excavate it quadrants and, click on the later link for a picture of a partial excavation in quadrants
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