-
Ballasting the Hanse: BaltoscandianErratic Cobbles in the Later
MedievalPort Landscape of Bruges
WIM DE CLERCQ1, ROLAND DREESEN1, JAN DUMOLYN2, WARD LELOUP2
ANDJAN TRACHET1
1Department of Archaeology, Ghent University, Belgium2Department
of History, Ghent University, Belgium
The discovery of a remarkable group of vividly coloured rounded
cobbles in the fields and monuments ofthe 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 ofexotic
lithological nature. A substantial number consist of glacial
erratics collected from cobble beaches inthe Baltoscandian area.
Another group can be traced to north-eastern British coasts. The
clustering ofstones at Hoeke has drawn particular attention to the
Hanseatic connection with Bruges and to thesmall 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, andhistorical
research.
Keywords: ballast, German Hanse, Bruges, Baltoscandian erratics,
marine trade
LATER MEDIEVAL BRUGES AND ITSHARBOUR NETWORK
From at least the tenth century onwards,political and commercial
power becamecentralized in Bruges, in the County ofFlanders in
Belgium. During the followingcenturies, Bruges evolved into an
inter-national harbour that functioned as theprimary trading hub
between theMediterranean and northern and westernEurope. The town
quickly expanded andat its peak in the thirteenth century hadsome
50,000 inhabitants, including severaldiaspora communities of
foreign mer-chants and powerful financiers, as well asleading
political and artistic elites, becom-ing a ‘cradle of capitalism’
(Murray, 2005).
While the town was confined within itswalls, the commercial and
portuary infra-structure extended well beyond, into thelandscape to
the north-east of the city.From the late twelfth century
onwards,several small harbours emerged in theimmediate vicinity of
Bruges along theZwin tidal inlet, which was connected toBruges via
a smaller canal only navigableby smaller barges (De Smet, 1937;
Leloup& Vannieuwenhuyze, 2013). Damme,Mude, Monnikerede, Hoeke,
and Sluis allbecame important medium- to small-sizedoutports,
serving as transhipment pointsfor goods destined for the Bruges
market(Figure 1).Although each of these outports was
legally an autonomous community with its
European Journal of Archaeology 2017, page 1 of 27
© European Association of Archaeologists 2017
doi:10.1017/eaa.2017.2Manuscript received 11 July 2016,accepted 8
December 2016, revised 2 October 2016
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
own town rights, politically, financially,and commercially the
small harbourslargely depended on, and were monitoredby, Bruges
(Fossion, 1992; Sosson, 1993;Dumolyn & Leloup, 2016). We can
con-sider Bruges’ commercial harbour andrelated port society as an
integrated ‘portu-ary network’—a densely occupied andurbanized
medieval landscape stretchingalong the Zwin over a distance of
nearly20 km between Bruges and the mouth ofthe Zwin near Sluis. The
silting of theinlet, as well as economic and politicalfactors, led
to the collapse of the system atthe end of the fifteenth century.
Some of
the small harbour towns even vanishedand now constitute a
substantial yet largelyunknown part of the Flemish archaeo-logical
heritage.Bruges was economically and culturally
one of the most important cities of latermedieval Europe, but,
apart from somecategories of ceramics, remarkably fewmaterial
proxies of its varied connectionshave been studied archaeologically
(see e.g.Hurst & Neal, 1982; Hillewaert, 1993;Pieters &
Verhaeghe, 2009). This is par-ticularly the case in the context of
Brugesas a Hanse Kontor within the so-called‘Hanse Archaeology’, as
it is for harbours
Figure 1. The late medieval harbour system of Bruges and its
principal harbours and towns.Underlining indicates the presence of
ballast stones.
2 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
such as London (Gaimster, 1999; Mehler,2014: 3214;
Wubs-Mrozewicz, 2010).A cross-disciplinary study of material
culture in harbour zones like that ofBruges is also particularly
relevant fordebates on maritime societies (Westerdahl,1992, 2014)
and for acknowledging thevital and multi-layered role
materialculture played in the later medieval com-mercial,
political, and cultural exchangenetworks, such as the ties that
linked themto the Burgundo-Aragonese spheres (DeClercq et al.,
2015) or the HanseaticLeague (Immonen, 2007; Mehler, 2009,2014,
2015; Gaimster, 2014). New, com-prehensive research must therefore
includethe socio-economic and cultural impact ofimportant diaspora
communities like theCatalans, Genoese, and the so-calledEasterlings
or merchants of the GermanHanse, noticeably present from the
thir-teenth century onwards in Bruges port-societies and the
landscape (Beuken, 1950,Vandewalle, 2002). Such a study could
beconducted by using material culture toassess the cultural impact
of internationalnetworks such as that of the HanseaticLeague
(Gaimster, 2014; Mehler, 2009,2015) on local society and
culture.But, under the radar of high-status cul-
tures, more mundane, everyday objectsfloating just underneath
the surface of asea of conspicuous material culture mayprovide us
with another valuable line ofinquiry. These can help us assess
transfor-mations and interactions in everyday life,often partially
playing out at a discursivelevel. In this vein, we believe that
thestudy of material culture in these portsocieties should not be
restricted to theidentification of Hanseatic elements andidentity,
but should include the interac-tions that existed between different
mater-ial cultures, thereby creating new complexlifestyles and
material worlds within latermedieval Europe. Our aim is to
integratethese frameworks in a cross-disciplinary
context. More specifically, this studyexamines ballast as a
valuable indicator ofinternational mobility and exchange in
theharbours and port landscape of Bruges andits wider northern
European context.
BALLAST AS AN ARCHAEOLOGICALOBJECT CATEGORY
Ballast is one of the most obvious objectcategories encountered
in harbours for sea-going vessels. It is also one of the mostdirect
material evidences of internationalmobility within port societies.
But little isarchaeologically or historically knownabout ballast,
since it is often considered ameaningless group of
objects—‘ballast’ inthe figurative sense. The reason for
thisignorance may be found in its general lackof economic value,
the paucity of writtensources, and, above all, the varied andoften
complex mechanisms for acquiring,using, disposing, and re-using
ballast. Thismay be especially true of the
HanseaticLeague—initially a loose association ofmerchants before it
matured into an urbanleague and commercial superpower in themiddle
of the fourteenth century—whichorganized its trade by using several
har-bours as stepping-stones between thesource and destination of
commodities(Dollinger, 1998: 278–81).Buckland and Sadler (1990:
121), in a
thorough overview of ballast and buildingstones in maritime
trade, critically high-lighted these distributional problems
byarguing that careful study of ballast stonefrom excavations and
buildings may revealtrading connections, but that in the caseof
northern Europe the effects of multipleglaciations and the
reshipment of ballastcould lead to errors. Peacock (1998: 13–15)
remarked on the neglected potential ofballast, considering it to be
due to variousdifficulties in studying and interpretingcollections
of such material. He outlined
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 3
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
some major conditions and constraints inthis respect: the
ability to identify geo-logical and geographical signatures or
pro-venances within assemblages of stones, aswell as the fact that
an assemblage mayrepresent a heterogeneous mixture causedby various
natural and human factors.Mehler (2015: 367–68) recently notedthat
ballast was still being largely over-looked, adding that little is
known aboutthe ‘ballast-industry’ and the people whocollected,
transported, loaded, andreshipped ballast.Stone ballast should
indeed be
approached cautiously as it may concealmany complexities. But
that does notmean it should be ignored as a valuableand independent
category of archaeo-logical objects. Westerdahl (1989:
110–17)acknowledged the great potential of ballastsites in his
survey of Norrland. Bucklandand Sadler (1990: 118–19)
convincinglyaddressed the late-medieval link betweenHull and the
Icelandic fisheries, underpin-ning their work with a
near-contemporaryaccount that explicitly mentioned shipscarrying
stockfish from Iceland ballastedwith Icelandic cobbles, which were
subse-quently re-used in the town’s paving; thiswould suggest
fairly direct trade. Similarobservations could be made further
southin King’s Lynn, Norfolk, where a cross-disciplinary study
identified a vast amountof Baltoscandian metamorphic andigneous
rocks in the medieval town wall(Clarke & Carter, 1977: 440;
Hoare et al.,2002). In Belgium, a combined
archaeo-logical-petrological study of unworkedstone from the
medieval fishing village ofWalraversijde (De Paepe & Pieters,
1994)pinpointed the source of this material tothe north-eastern or
eastern coast ofBritain. Most probably the ballast wascarried by
returning herring-ships thatcalled at ports in this area, as well
as shipscarrying coal from Newcastle-upon-Tyne(De Paepe &
Pieters, 1994). Much earlier,
Munthe (1942) had demonstrated thevalue of biological indicators
(molluscs) toassess the ballast found in Fårö in NorthGotland.
These studies show that criticaland cross-disciplinary research
offers thegreatest potential for addressing and even-tually
overcoming interpretational flawswhen examining large assemblages
ofballast stones.
EXOTIC STONES IN A STONELESSLANDSCAPE
Although ballast stones would be expectedin a port landscape
like Bruges, the pres-ence of stones of exotic geological naturehas
only recently been reported. A studyof building materials used in
the thir-teenth-century church of Our Lady and itssurrounding paths
in the harbour town ofDamme has revealed at least twenty differ-ent
types of natural stones, including—uniquely in Belgium—pink granite
andblack amphibolite boulders (Debonne &Dreesen, 2015). These
stones are geo-logically exotic to Flanders and neighbour-ing
areas, and their morphology indicatesa long stay in moving water.
This suggeststhat they were probably imported fromremote coastlines
and were brought to theregion of Bruges as ballast.The same
observation was made in the
tower of the early Gothic church of SaintGuthago and Saint
Quinten in the nearbyvillage of Oostkerke, which served duringthe
later medieval period as the principalchurch for the nearby harbour
ofMonnikerede. Exotic cobbles were alsofound in the tower and
footpaths sur-rounding the church of Saint Bavo ofAardenburg some
15 km to the north-eastof Bruges. This was an important medi-eval
place of pilgrimage and commercethat briefly hosted the principal
seat of theHanse in the thirteenth and fourteenthcenturies
following disputes with Bruges.
4 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
Moreover, excavations revealed similarexotic stones in the
castle of the fifteenth-century new town of Middelburg-in-Flanders,
located a few kilometres south ofAardenburg and east of Damme.These
initial observations lead to sys-
tematic screening for similar stones inmonuments and
archaeological siteswithin the Bruges port landscape. Thisstudy not
only took into considerationmonuments and infrastructure such
aschurches and paths, but also data fromintensive field surveys of
lost harbourssites. It revealed considerable amounts ofboulders and
cobbles of exotic meta-morphic, igneous, and sedimentary
litho-logical nature at Damme, Monnikerede,Westkapelle, Sluis, and
particularly at thelost harbour site of Hoeke, where suchstones
were recovered by the thousands.The often vividly coloured,
well-roundedstones occur in a preserved segment of alater medieval
road and are foundthroughout the pathways surrounding theold farm
that still stands on part of thesite (Figure 2). Ploughing of the
rest ofthe lost town reveals new cobbles everyyear.Although found
in the stoneless land-
scape of northern Flanders, these remark-able, colourful stones
were clearly notprimarily imported as building material.The
water-worn shape and the often veryhard texture make these boulders
andcobbles unsuitable for the elaboratelysculptured and elegant
Flemish Gothicarchitecture. Sandstone and limestone,which could be
worked much better andwas ideal for building, was alreadyimported
in large quantities from thetenth century onwards from the
Scheldtvalley, the German Eifel area, or fromnorthern France and
constituted theprimary choice of building materials, alongwith
brick. The rounded stones, on theother hand, were merely used in
cobbledpaths, modest floors, or wall repairs. Their
occurrence in buildings and infrastructurecan therefore only be
considered torepresent a final recycling stage in a muchmore
complex cultural biography.The stones’ spatial distribution
within
the port-system of Bruges seems to berelated to the evolution of
the harboursthat bordered the Zwin. No stones havebeen found along
the Old Zwin system,located somewhat further to the north.The
phenomenon appears connected tothe latest Zwin, and hence with the
floruitof the international trade in the regionbetween the twelfth
and fifteenth centur-ies. The fact that no such stones havebeen
uncovered during architectural orarchaeological investigations in
Brugesitself supports this hypothesis. The largesea-going galleys
and cogs needing ballast
Figure 2. Path cobbled with geologically exoticballast stones at
a farm standing on the lost(Hanseatic) harbour site of Hoeke.
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 5
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
did not reach Bruges, but remained in thebetter navigable outer
ports, situated closerto the sea in the deeper water of the
inlet,where their cargo was transhipped intosmaller boats with
lesser draught. Thesevessels then sailed to Bruges via the
shal-lower western part of the Zwin and acanal extending eastward
from Bruges toreach the tidal inlet in Damme.
ASSESSING THE GEOLOGICAL ORIGIN ANDGEOGRAPHICAL PROVENANCE OF
THE
STONE ASSEMBLAGE
Methodology
We investigated the most probable geo-logical and geographical
provenance of thestones, and related these to the local
distri-bution pattern and historical context.First, a random,
non-exhaustive inventoryof stones finds was made, resulting in a
setof 444 specimens of which the clearmajority (over 90 per cent)
came from thesurface of the Hoeke site. The stones weregrouped into
lithological classes accordingto their macroscopic properties. A
selec-tion of cobbles (about 10 per cent) wassliced and polished to
allow us to betterassess their mineralogical properties.Further,
limestone boulders displayingtubular burrows were selected for
thin-sec-tioning and additional microfacies
andmicropalaeontological investigation. Allinventoried stones were
measured andcounted for their relative frequency andsize
distribution in order to help establishthe mechanism by which they
weretransported.The rocks’ exotic nature, specific litho-
logical spectrum, and overall morphologypointed to the presence
of so-called ‘erra-tics’, i.e. cobblestones initially transportedby
glacial ice. For the study of such erratics,a descriptive
petrographic terminology ispreferentially used (hammer and
handlens)
rather than a petrological approach usingsophisticated
mineralogical and geochem-ical tools. This descriptive method is
rapidand can be used for large quantities ofmaterials, but whenever
this subjectivedetermination fails, comparison with refer-ence
material, complemented by examin-ation under microscope if
necessary, shouldbe used. Hesemann (1975) and Zandstra(1983, 1988)
proposed a pragmatic subdiv-ision of the Fennoscandian
provenanceareas to support the quantification of erra-tics and the
statistical analysis of north-western European till deposits. The
increas-ing number of erratics collectors and stu-dents of erratics
geology has resulted innumerous well-illustrated digital
resources1
with high-quality digital atlases a well asuser-friendly keys
for their determination(e.g. Smed & Ehlers, 2002).
Lithology
The analysis of the 444 cobble specimensshows a broad
lithological spectrum andexcludes local provenance. There is
analmost equal distribution between igneous
Figure 3. Proportion of the lithological groups ofrocks
identified among the cobblestones.
1 http://www.kristallin.de/index.htm;
http://www.zwerfsteenweb.nl; http://www.rapakivi.dk;
http://www.skan-kristallin.de;
http://www.strandsteine.de/bestimmungsschluessel.htm
6 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
http://www.kristallin.de/index.htmhttp://www.kristallin.de/index.htmhttp://www.zwerfsteenweb.nlhttp://www.zwerfsteenweb.nlhttp://www.zwerfsteenweb.nlhttp://www.rapakivi.dkhttp://www.rapakivi.dkhttp://www.skan-kristallin.dehttp://www.skan-kristallin.dehttp://www.skan-kristallin.dehttp://www.strandsteine.de/bestimmungsschluessel.htmhttp://www.strandsteine.de/bestimmungsschluessel.htmhttp://www.strandsteine.de/bestimmungsschluessel.htmhttps:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
(34 per cent), metamorphic (28 per cent),and sedimentary (38 per
cent) rock types(Figure 3), but with a predominance ofred
sandstones and irregular rounded flintcobbles (Figure 4). The
sedimentary rocksinclude different varieties of
sandstones,micro-conglomerates, and flints, as well aslimestones.
Sandstones are fine- to coarse-grained, with greyish-green, beige
tocrimson colours. Granules and micro-con-glomerates containing
milky-white quartzand red sandstone pebbles and arkosic
togreywacke-type sandstones also occur.Most of the inventoried
sandstones areinsignificant with respect to provenance,except for a
medium-grained yellowishsandstone displaying angular cross-bedding,
whose foresets are impregnatedwith purplish iron and manganese
oxides.The latter can be tentatively assigned tothe Kalmarsund
(Strait of Kalmar betweenthe Swedish mainland and Öland)
sand-stone. The limestone boulders consist ofgrey, beige to
pinkish-brown bioclasticlimestones, enclosing crinoids and
smallsolitary rugose corals. The presence ofsubrecent borings made
by pholads andbristle worms is most
conspicuous.Micropalaeontological analysis of theselimestones has
led to detailed biostrati-graphic dating and a probable
provenancearea, supported by biological evidence (seefurther
below).Grey-hued flints are quite common in
the study material. Occasionally theyenclose white-shelled
echinoids or bryo-zoan colonies. Bryozoan-bearing chalksenclosing
flint are quite common and arewell exposed in the topmost
Maastrichtian(Cretaceous) and Danian strata (earliestPalaeocene) of
the coastal cliffs in south-eastern Denmark and the Rügen
peninsulain north-western Germany. The high fre-quency and
irregular shape might indicatea nearby source and hence a shorter
dis-tance for transport. The white chalkJasmund cliffs of the Rügen
peninsula
(Neumann, 2012) are potential provenanceareas. Yet the number of
bryozoans insome of our flints could point to the bryo-zoan-rich
chalks of south-easternDenmark (Stevns Klint, Möns Klint) as
apotential source (Surlyk et al., 2006).However, additional
palaeontological orgeochemical investigation is required toconfirm
this (Högberg et al., 2012).Metamorphic rocks include various
dark-coloured gneiss, dark-grey micas-chists (rare), dark-green
to black amphibo-lites (most frequent), augen-gneiss
andgranite-gneiss (frequent), cream-colouredquartzites, and
milky-white vein quartz.But their value as indicators of
provenanceis poor, especially compared to that of theigneous rocks.
These represent the mostexotic and the most significant part of
thelithological spectrum in our findings. Theyconsist of various
types of felsic and maficgranites, porphyries, and many
transitionalforms, most of which display vivid (e.g.red) colours.
Extrusive rocks are onlyrepresented by frequent,
dark-colouredignimbrites and very rare agmygdaloidbasalt. Although
many of these igneousrocks could have come from anywhere(e.g.
Scotland, Brittany), some specimenshave a restricted geological
source area.While the lithological suite of the
cobbles as a whole may not be indicativeof a single provenance,
their well-roundedshape, perfectly smooth surface (regardlessof
lithology), excellent sorting, and thepresence of subrecent
bioturbations allpoint to a coastal pickup area: cobblebeaches.
Moreover, the presence of par-ticular key erratics or indicator
cobblespoints to a probable Baltoscandian origin.The latter have a
long transport history:first they were eroded from thePrecambrian
Scandinavian basement andoverlying Early Palaeozoic formations
andthen they were transported during the lastIce Age by continental
glaciers flowingdown from the Scandinavian mountains,
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 7
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
often over distances of hundreds of kilo-metres (Smed &
Ehlers, 2002). Aftermelting and retreat of the continental
gla-ciers, terminal and ground-moraines leftbehind huge amounts of
glacial till, con-sisting of an unsorted mixture of clay,sand,
pebbles, cobbles, and boulders. The
stones were subsequently reworked andsorted by sea currents or
surges and rede-posited along the coasts, creating cobblebeaches.
Erratic cobbles and boulderscover many beaches in the southern
BalticSea region (Reinicke, 2011; Rudolph,2014), such as those
bordering the former
Figure 4. Frequency and size analysis of the inventoried
lithological species among the cobblestones.
8 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
Hanseatic towns of Lübeck, Rostock,Stralsund (Rügen), and
others.The presence of indicator or key erratics
(Leit-Geschiebe in German) points to pro-venances within the
Baltoscandian area.The cobbles and boulders were deposited,and
subsequently picked up, far away fromtheir original geological
sources. Wesuppose that most of the sedimentaryrocks (e.g. red
sandstones), except theflints and limestones, derive from theEarly
Palaeozoic strata covering the crys-talline Proterozoic basement
rocks (Smed& Ehlers, 2002). A description of some ofthe most
distinctive key erratics found inour material follows.Larvikite is
an igneous rock, more spe-
cifically a monzonite or alkaline syenitecomposed of quite large
crystals of bluish-grey feldspars (alternating layers of
alkalifeldspar and plagioclases) with spectacularreflections—the
famous silver-blue irides-cence or labradorescence. It has
beenderived from the plutonic complex ofLarvik (the Larvik
Batholith) in theCarboniferous-Permian Oslo graben insouth-eastern
Norway (Zandstra, 1988;Smed & Ehlers, 2002; Heldal et
al.,2008). Many varieties exist based on theiroverall colour, but
the alteration generallyresults in discoloration and bleaching
ofthe rock (Venema & Egbrink, 2015). Ourspecimens show a
distinct light-silverygrey colour (Figure 5: 1).Kalmarsund
sandstone is a cross-bedded
medium-grained sandstone belonging to aseries of sandstones
probably derived fromthe Early-Cambrian File Hadar Formation.The
red to purplish banding underliningthis stratification is most
conspicuous,being due to the presence of iron oxides(hematite)
and/or manganese oxides(Figure 5: 2). This particular
sandstonecomes from the area between the southern-most region of
Sweden and Öland (Smed& Ehlers, 2002). Bothnian Sea quartz
por-phyries contain many small crystals (micro-
phenocrysts) of both alkali feldspar andplagioclase, besides
dark grey limpid quartzphenocrysts, within a dark brown orreddish
brown groundmass (Figure 5: 3).The exact geological provenance
isunknown but is supposed to be located onthe floor of the Baltic
Sea, south-east ofStockholm, in Sweden (Zandstra, 1988;Smed &
Ehlers, 2002).Red, dark brown to black porphyries,
often with an ignimbritic texture,represent particular igneous
rock types,displaying a very fine-grained, hornfels- orflint-like
groundmass with faint to visiblebanding (so-called ‘flames’) and
containingtiny feldspar phenocrysts, mostly withoutquartz. Although
some of the ignimbritesmay derive from the Oslo area, theSwedish
porphyries or ignimbrites are veryconspicuous and quite common
within thegroup of Baltoscandian glacial erraticsfound in central
and western Europe.These derive from a large volcanic fieldnear the
village of Älvdalen (hence theirname: Älvdalen porphyries or
ignimbrites)located about 350 km to the north-west ofStockholm.
Different varieties are recog-nizable based on their texture and
colour(Wikström et al., 2014): the black Blybergporphyry (Figure 6:
1), the dark reddish-brown Rännås porphyry (Figure 5: 5), andthe
brick-red Bredvad porphyry (Figure 6:4). The latter show numerous
superficialpits caused by weathering and erosion ofthe small
feldspar phenocrysts.Other common red porphyries deriving
from the same volcanic area (Dala-Dalarna)are the Red Dala
feldspar porphyry(Figure 6: 2) and the Grönklitt porphyry(Figure 6:
3). The latter is rich in feldsparphenocrysts and contains
pale-green spotsfilled with aggregates made of chlorite,hornblende,
and epidote crystals.Most conspicuous and vividly coloured
(often deep red) are the so-calledRapakivi-type granites. These
have charac-teristic large rounded and rimmed feldspar
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 9
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
crystals (ovoid alkali feldspars surroundedby a rim of
plagioclase) and characteristicgraphic textures (exsolved quartz
typically
forming a distinctive repetitive patternresembling cuneiform
writing) (Figure 5:4). They are excellent indicators of
Figure 5. Photographs of polished surfaces of sliced key
erratics from the Bruges area. 1. Blyberg por-phyry (ignimbrite)
(sample HO-23); 2. Red Dala feldspar porphyry (sample HO-19); 3.
Grönklitteporphyry (sample MON-2); 4. Bredvad porphyry (MON-3); 5.
Pyterlitic Rapakivi granite (HO-58);6. Red Småland Granite
(HO-57).
10 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
provenance: they are thought to derivefrom the Åland archipelago
in south-western Finland (Zandstra, 1988; Ehlers
et al, 1989; Smed & Ehlers, 2002),although similar rock
types also occur inthe northern part of Sweden, i.e. in
Figure 6. Photographs of polished surfaces of sliced key
erratics from the Bruges area. 1. Larvikite(sample HO-28); 2.
Kalmarsund sandstone (sample HO-40); 3. Brown Bothnian Sea
porphyry(sample HO-18); 4. Rapakivi-type granite (sample HO-63); 5.
Dalarna ignimbrite (HO-59);6. Åland granite-porphyry or Ring quartz
porphyry (HO-53).
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 11
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
Ångermanland. However, the latter lackthe characteristic
deep-red to brown-redcolour of the Finnish Rapakivi
(Zandstra,1988).Closely related to the Rapakivi-granites
are the Åland granite-porphyries and pyter-lites or pyterlitic
Rapakivi-granites, alsoderived from the Åland Islands. Red
ring-quartz porphyries or Åland granite-porphy-ries are particular
granites displaying con-spicuous thin black rims of
hornblendecrystals that surround the dark grey(‘smoky’) quartz
crystals, next to largerounded alkali feldspar crystals (Figure 5:
6).A graphic texture is also present. Pyterlitesor pyterlitic
granites (Figure 6: 5) are char-acterized by the development of
coronets(‘necklaces’ of beads) of small idiomorphicquartz crystals
around the large feldsparcrystals (Zandstra, 1988; Smed &
Ehlers,2002).A series of red- to pink-coloured gran-
ites with eye-catching blue or bluish-greyquartz crystals and
red K-feldspars areknown as Småland granites (Figure 6: 6).The blue
colour of the quartz crystals isenhanced through polishing or
wetting thestone slabs (Zandstra, 1988; Smed &Ehlers,
2002).Dark-grey flints are frequently mixed
with the above crystalline rocks. Theirform is generally less
regular and less well-rounded than that of the igneous
andmetamorphic stones, suggesting a nearbysource area. The cobble
beaches of south-eastern Denmark and northern Germanyare
particularly rich in flint cobbles. Thelatter are always mixed with
the colourfuligneous rock cobbles and boulders, dis-playing all the
characteristics of reworkedBaltoscandian erratics (Reinicke,
2011;Rudolph, 2014; Rudolph et al., 2015).The combination of a rich
and exotic litho-logical spectrum, the presence of key
erraticspointing to various geological sources inNorway, Sweden,
and Finland, and the rela-tive abundance of flints—taking into
account
the known south and south-south-westoriented transport
directions of the continen-tal glaciers (Smed & Ehlers,
2002)—clearlypoint to the south-western part of the BalticSea as
the most plausible pickup area for ourthe stones in our inventory,
such as thecoastal areas south of Skåne, the easterncoast of
Denmark, and the northern Germancoastline between Lübeck and
Stralsund(Figure 7).Besides erratics and flints, several lime-
stone boulders and cobbles are present inour study material. The
latter are mediumgrey to liver-coloured, fine-grained crin-oidal
limestones, also enclosing solitarycorals. Moreover, several of the
bouldersshow large subrecent tubular burrowscreated by clams such
as pholads, pointingto a seashore environment (Figure 8: 1, 2)Thin
sections of the crinoidal limestonesallowed us to undertake a
detailed micro-facies analysis and a good assessment oftheir
biostratigraphic age. Microscopically,the limestone boulders
consist of bioturb-ated bioclastic wackestones and pack-stones,
containing echinoderms, fenestellidbryozoans, thin-shelled
ostracods, brachio-pods, calcareous algae, plurilocular
foram-inifera, and rugose corals. Key solitarycorals
(Siphonodendron pauciradiale)(Figure 8: 5) and index plurilocular
foram-inifera (Eostafella ikensis, Bradyina rotula,Howchinia sp.,
and Archaediscus karreri)(Figure 8: 3, 4, 6) clearly indicate a
LowerCarboniferous geological age, more specific-ally the Late
Visean. The foraminiferalmicrofauna indicates the
standardMicrofossil Zone MFZ14 (former V3bgamma zone) or the Late
Asbian substageof the Lower Carboniferous (Poty et al.,2006). This
biostratigraphic age is corrobo-rated by the occurrence of
Siphonodendronpauciradiale, a coral species also found in
theBritish Asbian.The most probable provenance region
of these limestone boulders is the coastalarea of
Northumberland, for instance near
12 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
Berwick-upon-Tweed. Here, the outcrop-ping Asbian limestone beds
belong to theTyne Limestone Formation of theYoredale Group (Waters
et al., 2011;Dean et al., 2007). A link with a coastalarea is also
suggested by the bouldermorphology (rounded nature) and by
thepresence of numerous pholad borings inthe limestone boulders
(Pholas dactylus,commonly called piddocks or angelwings)which point
to an area with a coastal,intertidal habitat (MarLIN2). The
com-bined geological and modern biological
evidence therefore suggests that the lime-stone boulders were
picked up along theshore, in or below the intertidal zone of
thecoastal cliffs of Northumberland, probablynear
Berwick-upon-Tweed (Figure 9).
Morphology and size distribution
While the petrography of indicator erra-tics allowed us to
identify their originalarea of geological provenance, themorphology
of the cobbles is quite char-acteristic of a high-energy
aqueousenvironment such as cobble beaches.
Figure 7. Simplified map of the Baltoscandic region with
locations of provenance areas of identifiedkey erratics (1–6) and
flints (7: probable source area) within the material from the
Bruges area.
2 http://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/1403
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 13
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
http://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/1403http://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/1403https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
Moreover, an overall size distributionanalysis of the selected
cobbles in func-tion of their lithology demonstrates
excellent sorting (Figures 5 and 10).Cobble diameters vary from
5 to 40 cmwith an average of about 12 cm for all
Figure 8. Macroscopic features and carbonate microfacies
analysis of limestone boulders. 1. Limestoneboulder surface
strongly bioturbated by pholads. 2. Cut limestone boulder showing
tubular borings ofpholads (length of burrows about 25 mm). 3. Thin
section micrograph of a bioclastic wackestoneshowing plurilocular
foraminifera, including Bradyina rotula (Eichwald) (large specimen
in themiddle) and Howchinia sp. (tiny foraminifer at the left). 4.
Thin section micrograph of a bioclasticwackestone showing small
plurilocular foraminifera: Archaediscus karreri Brady. 5. Thin
sectionmicrograph of a bioclastic wackestone showing transversal
sections of the small rugose coral speciesSiphonodendron
pauciradiale (McCoy). 6. Thin section micrograph of a bioclastic
packstone with theplurilocular foraminifer Eostafella ikensis
Vissarionova. All micrographs taken with parallel
polarizedtransversal light.
14 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
stone varieties. The morphology of thestones (overall shape,
smoothness, androundness), in combination with theirquite exotic
nature and the good sorting,points to a combined glacial
transportwith subsequent sorting and rounding bysurges along
seashores. The average sizeof the cobbles indicates both
goodnatural sorting (by surges and waves) andhuman sorting by
handpicking alongbeaches. The size and high mass densityof the
cobbles creates a selection ofstones which are suitable for
stackingwhen used as ballast. Cobble beacheswere indeed an
important primary sourceof medieval ballast, particularly
aroundmany Baltic ports (Hoare et al., 2002).
Geological discussion
There are no crystalline rocks such asthose described above in
Belgium. Thenearest coastal outcrops of crystalline rocksare
located in north-eastern England,Scotland, or Brittany. However,
the pres-ence of particular key erratics suggests aBaltoscandian
provenance. Furthermore,particular limestone boulders
containingcharacteristic fossils point to the north-eastern English
coast as an additionalsource. The import of non-indigenousballast
and building stones has alreadybeen reported in the medieval
fishingvillage of Raversijde near Ostend (DePaepe & Pieters,
1994) and a probable fif-teenth-century link with the
north-easternBritish coast was demonstrated there. Inthis case the
Scottish Midland Valley andthe British Tertiary Volcanic
Province(e.g. the Inner Hebrides) as well as theGrampians have been
suggested as theprobable provenance areas for the igneousand
metamorphic rock types respectively.The morphological
characteristics of theballast stones also indicate a stony
coast-line as the most probable pickup zone.Hoare et al. (2002)
reported re-used
bedrock ballast stones as constructionmaterial in King’s Lynn’s
medieval townwall. It was the first comprehensive surveyof an
impressive number of ballast cobbles.The cobbles’ considerable
lithologicalvariety was sufficiently distinctive to makeit possible
to identify their provenance.Besides sedimentary rocks native to
thedistrict, several Baltoscandian indicatorswere found, including
Rapakivi-granites,rhomb porphyry, Bredvad porphyry, helle-flint,
Bothnian Sea porphyry, andOrdovician red orthocerate limestone.Many
of the wall cobbles are of basaltic,porphyritic, and metamorphic
origin,which, while not identifiable to geologicalsources, may also
be expected to accom-pany the Baltoscandian indicators. The
Figure 9. Map of the UK showing the geologicaldistribution
(extension) of Asbian limestones(blue) in north-eastern Britain and
the moderndistribution of Pholas dactylus (green). Based ondata
from the BGS (British Geological Survey)and marLIN (the Marine Life
InformationNetwork).
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 15
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
most satisfactory explanation for the pres-ence of these
water-worn Baltoscandiancobbles in the town wall of King’s Lynn
isthat they formerly served as ballast, andthe authors concluded
that there was apossible link with the coast of westernEstonia.The
morphological-petrographical char-
acteristics of the re-used bedrock ballaststones at King’s Lynn
are quite similar tothose of the area of late medieval Bruges.The
occurrence of common key erratics(such as Rapakivi and pyterlitic
granites,Bredvad and Bothnian Sea porhyries),their conspicuous
water-worn shape, andexcellent sorting, all point to a
commonsource: the cobble beaches of the BalticSea. Interestingly,
both in King’s Lynnand in the Bruges area, these key
erraticsrepresent only a very small percentage ofthe total material
(one per cent in the caseof King’s Lynn, possibly a few per centin
our study), hence the importance ofa detailed investigation and the
searchfor specific exotics among the re-usedcobblestones.Examples
of a variety of Scandinavian
rocks have been described in buildingsfrom Littlehampton (West
Sussex, south-ern England), notably in the walls of theUnited
church, where they are mixed withflint (Birch & Cordiner,
2014). These arevery distinctive coarse-grained granites and
gneisses such as Rapakivi-granites. As inthe case of King’s Lynn
and the Brugesportuary area, most of the erratics have
awell-rounded shape suggesting that theywere subject to marine
abrasion in a high-energy beach environment. However,
theScandinavian erratics are less frequentthan the ‘local’ or
indigenous erraticsderived from the West Sussex coastal
plainbeaches.The occurrence of analogous material in
the UK and in Belgium points to theimport and re-use of
well-sorted andwater-worn cobbles picked up on BalticSea cobble
beaches. Many of the inventor-ied cobbles are of basaltic,
porphyritic, andmetamorphic origin, which, although notidentifiable
to geological source, may beexpected to accompany the
Baltoscandianindicators (Hoare et al., 2002). Althoughcrystalline
rock types such as granites,ignimbrites, porphyries, quartzites,
gneiss,amphibolites, mica schist, etc. could derivefrom less
distant sources, such as thecoastal areas of Scotland or Brittany,
thepresence of particular but rare key erraticsand significant
amounts of flint point to apickup area located in the
south-westernBaltic Sea, such as the cobble beachessouth of Skaane
and along the coast ofnorthern Germany. Moreover, microfaciesand
palaeontological-biological evidencesuggests the additional import
of ballast
Figure 10. Size distribution (cm) of the measured
cobblestones.
16 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
stones from the north-eastern coast ofEngland
(Berwick-upon-Tweed area) intothe Bruges area.
‘IN NOVAM VILLAM DE DAM’:BALTOSCANDIAN BALLAST IN A
FORGOTTEN HANSEATIC SETTLEMENT INFLANDERS
From a quantitative and distributionalpoint of view, the massive
occurrence ofnorthern ballast stones at the Hoeke sitestands out
when compared to the otherport sites within the Flemish port
system,notably those located closer to Bruges.Should we interpret
the Baltoscandianstones as an indicator of the firmly estab-lished
trade links that existed betweennorthern Europe and the Bruges
portnetwork during the later Middle Ages andbetween the harbour of
Hoeke and theHanseatic trade network in particular?Merchants from
Cologne first appear in
the Zwin region around AD 1160 atLetterswerve, the Bruges
outport laterknown as Damme (Verhulst 1998;Verhulst et al., 1998).
During the thir-teenth century, as Bruges’ market wassteadily
expanding, traders from othertowns, most notably Lübeck andHamburg,
seem to have increasingly fre-quented Bruges’ harbours. These
mer-chants obtained privileges from theCountesses and Counts of
Flanders in1252–53, 1280–82, 1307, and 1309 andestablished a
durable and unifiedHanseatic trading community in Brugesduring the
first half of the fourteenthcentury. The sources sometimes refer
tothem collectively as merchants fromAllemaigne and, somewhat later
asOosterlingen—traders from the townsthat, around the middle of the
fourteenthcentury, constituted the German Hanse.By that time,
probably together with theEnglish, they made up the largest
community of foreign merchants inBruges (Henn, 1989; Vandewalle,
2002;Greve, 2012; Murray, 2012).The Hanseatic ‘nation’, as the
privileged
communities of foreign traders in Brugeswere known, had a
so-called EasterlingsHouse in Bruges, a guildhall, but it wasonly
in use from 1478 onwards (Devliegher,2000). Before that, Hanseatics
lived amongthe local population. Murray (2012: 183)argues that, as
a consequence of oppositionfrom Bruges, Hanseatic merchants
neverestablished a separate merchant enclavewith immunity under the
law, thus deviat-ing from the ‘colonisation strategy’ appliedin the
Kontors of London, Bergen, andNovogrod. However, at some point
duringthe second half of the thirteenth century,the Hanse merchants
tried to do so. Whileit was never a Hanse colony sensu
strictu,there was an important and clusteredHanseatic presence and
institutional inter-vention at Hoeke.Indeed, between 1252 and
1255
important negotiations took place betweenthe representatives of
the German townsof Lübeck and Hamburg and CountessMargaret of
Flanders (Kiesselbach, 1900;Stein, 1903; Henn, 1989). They
explicitlyexpressed their will to construct a perman-ent trading
settlement for German mer-chants, a novam villam de Dam as
theycalled it: a new town of Damme. Dammewas an important outer
port of Bruges,created by the Count of Flanders around1180. It was
a major harbour for the winetrade and had a crane that was
owned,along with the quays, by the city ofBruges. The Germans’
request wasstraightforward: they wanted to build theirown, new
trading town. In an unsealedcharter, Countess Margaret
effectivelyapproved the German request andassigned the universi
mercatores Romaniimperii ‘an area between our harbours ofDamme and
Mude and to the side of thewater of the Zwin’, specifying that
other
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 17
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
Flemish and foreign merchants would alsobe allowed to settle
there. This area is defacto situated in the territory of
Oostkerke,an old and large fief to the north-east ofBruges in whose
territory lie the harboursites of Monnikerede and Hoeke. In
theabsence of a formal (sealed) charter con-firming the countess’
approval or any otherdocument attesting to the establishment ofthis
new town, historians assumed the plannever actually materialized
(Stein, 1903:67–92; Murray, 2012: 183).Yet historical sources from
the second
half of the thirteenth century do refer tothe presence of
Hanseatics in Hoeke. It ispossible that this so-called novam
villamde Dam, even if it was never founded inexactly the way the
charter described, wasin fact Hoeke (e.g. Bonte, 1987), and
thishypothesis deserves more attention.Hoeke, literally ‘the
corner’, was indeed anideally located site within the area
desig-nated by the countess in 1252, as it lay inthe northernmost
corner of the Oostkerketerritory, positioned as close as possible
toMude and the sea. This must have givenit the important advantages
of deeper andbetter navigable access for tall ships.The 1292
maritime law of Hamburg
states that the Hanse’s seat in Flanderswas in Oostkerke and
thus exactly in thearea the countess had stipulated: ‘and assuch
the Hanse shall be held in Ostkerkein Flanders and in no other
place’(Kiesselbach, 1900: 62). The maritime lawof Lübeck dated 1299
is the first to expli-citly mention Hoeke (to deme Hoke) as theseat
of the Lübecker Hanse (Kiesselbach,1900: 67). According to the
Lübeck mari-time law, all merchants from that townwho had moored
their ship in Hoeke orelsewhere along the Zwin had to pay a feeto
the local Hanse organization and attendthe ‘bench’ (banck) with a
local Hanseaticrepresentative (olderman) every Sunday.This court
mediated conflicts between theGerman merchants, which implies
that,
although there was no Hanseatic immun-ity from Flemish courts,
the Germansalready had consular jurisdiction for con-flicts among
themselves in Hoeke, as theyand other ‘nations’ would later also
have inBruges. The Hamburg maritime law of1292 also mentions
similar practices inOostkerke: a representative, the paymentof a
fee, and a Sunday morning meetingto settle commercial conflicts.
However,‘Oostkerke’ clearly refers to Hoeke as well.Merchants from
Bremen also frequentedHoeke but it is unclear if they had a
separ-ate Hanse (Kiesselbach, 1900; Henn,1989: 59). Twenty years
earlier, in the1270s, Heinrich von Coesfeld (possibly aGerman) had
bought a house in Hoeke toestablish a ‘hospital’, an almshouse
thatalso probably served as a guesthouse forpoor merchants; he also
acted as the exe-cuter of the testament of another Germannamed
Heinrich, who bequeathed 250pounds Flemish ‘groats’ to build aSt.
Jacob church at Hoeke; and in 1402 an‘Easterlings’ House’ is
mentioned inHoeke (Stein, 1903: 92–94; De Smet,1937: 137–39; Henn,
1989: 58–60;Rössner, 2001: 46).All this illustrates the Hanse
merchants’
will and ability to establish a principalnode in the local
network where they defacto centralized important functions, nextto
their more scattered presence in Bruges,Damme, and later in Sluis.
‘New Damme’was, however, never intended to become aHanse
jurisdiction, such as the Steelyardof London, the Peterhof of
Novgorod, orTyskebryggen in Bergen, as the chartermentions that the
countess retained com-plete jurisdiction for herself and her
nativealdermen. Moreover, even if Hoeke can beidentified as New
Damme, the foreignmerchant community was certainly notexclusively
Hanseatic. Judging from thevariety of names mentioned in a
1299legal document, Hoeke had a diversepopulation, with many
Germans as well as
18 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
a number of Iberians and some peoplefrom the south of France
(Gilliodts-VanSeveren, 1891: 187–90; Bonte, 1987).Iberian merchants
from Castile,
Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal had alsobeen trading in Bruges and
appear in thesources from the 1230s onwards. In 1279,these Iberian
traders, and also some south-ern French merchants joined by
theGermans in 1280, collectively opposedexcessive taxation and
fraudulent practices,temporarily moving to the nearby town
ofAardenburg before finally managing tohave the abuses abolished
and returningtheir wares to Bruges in 1282 (Finot,1899; Maréchal,
1953; Poeck, 2001). TheHanse was still a fledgling
internationalorganization at that time, and manyHanseatic merchants
in Flanders stillresided in the outport of Hoeke and notin Bruges
itself. Following currency con-flicts and negotiations with the
govern-ment of Bruges and the Count ofFlanders, and new threats to
move theirstaple to Aardenburg, the Hanse obtainedeven more
extensive privileges in Brugesin 1309, moving their consular court
forinternal business affairs and their staple tothe commercial
metropolis itself. Aroundthe middle of the fourteenth century
theywere officially organized in a ‘Kontor’. Itseems that this
marked the Hanseaticmerchants’ final settlement in Bruges as
aformally and corporately organized com-munity for the next two
centuries.Moreover, the transhipment of merchan-dise increasingly
took place at the deeperand more easily accessible harbour ofSluis,
founded by the Flemish count at theend of the thirteenth century.
While theperiod around 1300 may have beenHoeke’s heyday as a
merchant community,the small port clearly became less import-ant to
the German merchants, only func-tioning as a mooring and repair
place, andas a permanent place of residence for asmaller number of
them during the
fourteenth century. The town continuedto function as an outport
in the Brugesmetropolitan system of the later MiddleAges but became
insignificant by the endof the fifteenth century (Bonte, 1987;Henn,
1989).We believe that there is firm evidence
to reconsider the Hanseatic presence atBruges in a much broader
way, extendingthe notion of the ‘commercial metropolisof Bruges’ to
the whole port landscape,with initially Damme, then Hoeke, andlater
on Bruges and Sluis, as the mainfocal points of a Hanseatic
communitythat had apparently completely wovenitself into the
complex tapestry of Bruges’port landscape and society. Most
import-antly, German merchants concentratedtheir activities on
Hoeke on a fixed basisfrom the 1270s onwards and lines of con-tacts
were established between the site andthe other Hanseatic towns in
theBaltoscandian area, alliances that the clus-tering of ballast
stones seem to document.
COGS, STONES, AND SAND
The piling up of Baltoscandian stonesand, to a far lesser
extent, English lime-stones at Hoeke could indicate that largeships
moored at Hoeke, and that theircommodities were transhipped
ontosmaller barges that then headed towardsBruges in the shallower
waters of theZwin tidal channel. Documentary sourcesrefer to the
staples of stockfish, salt, andcereals, along with various nautical
sup-plies (masts, shipwood, tar, ropes) and ashipyard at Hoeke. To
repair ships, theballast had to be taken out.
Additionally,considering the low density of dried fish,ballasting
the ships transporting it toHoeke must have been essential to
guaran-tee a stable and safe journey. The shipscould presumably
take the heavier com-modities such as wine or cloth as return
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 19
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
freight. Hence, alongside a shipyard, thepresence of
Baltoscandian ballast stonescould be explained by the very nature
ofits stockfish trade.As for explaining the occurrence of
Asbian limestone, trade in wool and othergoods from
Berwick-upon-Tweed toFlanders is well established (Donnelly,1999).
Following the trail of theBaltoscandian erratics back along
theeastern British coast, we can also reason-ably argue that ships
with merchandise,e.g. fish from Skaane, called at
Berwick-upon-Tweed before continuing furthersouth-east along the
British coast, usingharbours such as Hull (Buckland &Sadler,
1990: 118) and King’s Lynn(Hoare et al., 2002), eventually to
sailinto the Zwin estuary. Scottish trade withthe Baltic regions
and northern Germanywas also particularly well developed(Ditchburn,
1988, 1990).Another, final explanation for the pres-
ence of the stones could be that the shipsleft them in Hoeke
because they tookanother kind of ballast with them, pre-sumably
more valuable or more usefulthan cobbles. Documentary evidence
pro-vides important information on the bal-lasting of ships leaving
the Bruges portlandscape. A decree issued by CountLouis of Male in
1367 stipulated a priceof 4 pennies Flemish groat for each boatof
sand brought as ballast to Castilianships (Finot, 1899: 97–105). Of
coursesand is ideal as ballast since it has a largeweight in mass
and fills in the smallestcorners, allowing more space for
commod-ities to be taken on board. The ballastingwas to be done by
a specific professionalgroup called ballastvorers (‘ballast
carriers’).It was also decided that no fines would beissued for
ballasters and shippers spillingsand if they took the precaution of
span-ning a large sail between the ballast shipand the ship to be
ballasted in order toprevent sand from dropping in the water
(Finot, 1899: 103). It seems thereforeclear that local sand was
brought in asballast to the Bruges area and presumablythis was also
the case for the Hanseaticcogs returning home.In one of the rare
archival documents
dealing with ballast, dated 4 October1408, an agreement
regarding ballastingwas noted between the councillors ofthe Count
of Flanders and representativesof the German Hanse
(Gilliodts-VanSeveren, 1904: 467). It recalls how theAlemaignen
merchants would receive a fineof 3 pounds for each boat of ballast
theytook from the land of Cadsand or fromthe dike near the castle
of Sluis. Thecount would obviously not permit the
vitalinfrastructure protecting his castle and thehinterland to
suffer damage in the process.Instead, the Hanseatics were
assignedthree specific places where they wereallowed to take
ballast sand: one atWulpenhoek, one at Reighersvliet, and one‘on
the ground maintained by the lord Janof Oostkerke’. The first place
lay along anetwork of small tidal creeks connected tothe Zwin,
while the latter two were in anarea close to Hoeke, which was in
the ter-ritory of Jan, lord of Oostkerke. One fieldin the area is
still commonly known as ‘thesandpits’, a pre-sixteenth-century
place-name (‘De Zandpitten’ on Figure 11). Inview of the location
of these ballast sandquarries, we can reasonably assume thatthe
shipment of ballast was done in smallboats with little or no
draught, using thenetwork of creeks to bring the sand to
thesea-going ships moored in the Zwin.Documents show that the
permittedweight was equal to that of two barrels ofwine per boat,
and one English poundand 4 Flemish groats had to be paid perboat
brought in (Gilliodts-Van Severen,1904: 467–68). In response to
complaintsabout the ballasters, in 1425 the FourMembers of Flanders
confirmed that theHanseatic merchants ‘could collect their
20 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
ballast themselves to their best benefit’(Hanserecesse, 1893:
564).Additional support for the hypothesis
that Flemish sand travelled to theHanseatic homeland as return
ballast canbe found in a sand deposit in Wismar, aHanseatic harbour
in the Lübeck-Hamburg-Stralsund area, where most ofthe stones also
originate (Ansorge et al.,2011). The researchers studied a
four-teenth-century deposit of 20 to 30 m3 ofsand found during
excavations in theharbour. The almost pure quartz sandcontained
marine shells alien to the Balticarea, indicating their exotic
nature and
inbound transport by sea. The paleonto-logical study of the
shell fossils led theauthors to conclude that an intertidalmarine
sand flat close to a small estuarywas the site of primary
deposition.Subfossils indicate a southern North Seaorigin, which
includes the Zwin area. Thehigh carbonate content of the sand
mayhave made it useful for making mortar. Itseems highly plausible,
though surprising,that ballast stones collected on beaches inthe
Baltoscandian area were left thousandsof kilometres to the south in
the Zwinarea, sometimes in exchange for purchasesof local sand.
Figure 11. Known extraction locations for ballast sand in the
Zwin area (symbol: tools). The under-lined locations are assigned
areas.
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 21
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
CONCLUSION: RECONSIDERING BALLASTIN THE BRUGES HARBOUR NETWORK
AS A
PROXY FOR TRADE NETWORKS
Although ballast must have been a fre-quent aspect of port
societies like Bruges,studies dealing with its role and functionare
still very rare. When analysed in across-disciplinary way and
situated in itsproper archaeological, historical, and geo-logical
context by looking at indicatorrocks, ballast stones are a valuable
tool andobject category that add to the under-standing of later
medieval sea-bornenetworks.The occurrence and re-use of exotic
ballast stones in the Bruges area, and atthe site of Hoeke more
particularly, is wellestablished. The stones were picked upalong
cobble beaches of the Baltic Seacoast. The common presence of
flintsmixed with the colourful crystalline erraticspoints to the
south-western part of theBaltic Sea, such as the coast
betweenLübeck and Stralsund (northern Germany),thereby
corroborating the historical evi-dence of intense Hanseatic trade
withBruges. In the case of Hoeke, the stonesdefinitely add to the
debate concerning thisharbour settlement in the Bruges port
land-scape. Hoeke hosted an important clusterof Hanseatic
activities, certainly in the latethirteenth century and the
beginning of thefourteenth. A smaller set of ballast stoneswas
collected at the foot of the north-eastern English coastal cliffs,
testifying tothe trade link between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Bruges’
ports. Finally, it seemsthat the Baltoscandian erratic cobbles
wereleft on land in Flanders in exchange forsand, to be used as
ballast and to be re-used in Hanseatic towns in the
north.Commercially, this was a most effectivetrade transaction for
the Hanseatics, sinceballast had become a saleable item, a
com-modity in itself.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study was made possible by the help ofmany people. Mr
Tilleman and Mr Strubbe,farmers in Hoeke and Monnikerede,
kindlygranted us access to their fields and farms andallowed us to
collect ballast stones. We grate-fully acknowledge the advice of
Prof. EmeritusR. Vinx (University of Hamburg) andM. Bräunlich
(erratics specialist, Hamburg)regarding the identification of
erratics, andProf. D. Ditchburn (Trinity College, Dublin)regarding
the Scottish harbours. DrD. Vachard (University of Lille) and DrJ.
Denaeyer (University of Liège) helped withthe palaeontological
identifications and bio-stratigraphic dating. J. Eggermont sliced
thelarge boulders, T. Clerbaut assisted with thespreadsheet work,
S. Reniere helped us withphotography, and J. Angenon
providedartwork. The abstract was translated intoGerman by J.
Brettschneider and the Englishrevision of our text was undertaken
byThomas Donald Jacobs. The authors wish tothank the reviewers for
their usefulcomments.
REFERENCES
Ansorge, J., Frenzel, P. & Thomas, M. 2011.Cogs, Sand and
Beer: A PalaeontologicalAnalysis of Medieval Ballast Sand inthe
Harbor of Wismar (SouthwesternBaltic Sea Coast, Germany). In:
H.-R.Bork, H. Meller & R. Gerlach, eds.Umweltarchäologie –
Naturkatastrophen undUmweltwandel im archäologischen
Befund(Tagungen des Landesmuseums fürVorgeschichte, 6). Halle:
Landesmuseumsfür Vorgeschichte, pp. 161–73.
Beuken, J.H.A. 1950. De Hanze in Vlaanderen.Maastricht: Van
Aelst.
Birch, R. & Cordiner, R. 2014. BuildingStones of
West-Sussex. Privately published,ISBN: 978-09551259-1-1.
Bonte, G. 1987. Duitse handelsbetrekkingenmet het Zwin. Rond de
Poldertorens, 29(1):1–9 and 29(3): 150–65.
22 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
Buckland, P.C. & Sadler, J. 1990. Ballast andBuilding Stone:
A Discussion. In: D.Parsons, ed. Stone Quarrying and Buildingin
England, AD 43–1525. Chichester:Phillimore, pp. 114–25.
Clarke, H. & Carter, A. 1977. Excavations inKing’s Lynn
1963–1970. London: Societyfor Medieval Archaeology.
De Clercq, W., Braekevelt, J., Coll Conesa, J.,Kaçar, H.,
Vicente Lerma, J. &Dumolyn, J. 2015. Aragonese Tiles in
aFlemish Castle: A Chivalric Gift-exchangeNetwork in
Fifteenth-Century Europe. AlMasaq. Islam and the
MedievalMediterranean, 27: 153–71.
De Paepe, P. & Pieters, M. 1994. Petrologyand Provenance of
Unworked Stone fromthe Medieval Fishing Village at Raversijde(Mun.
of Oostende, prov. of WestFlanders). Archeologie in Vlaanderen,
4:237–51.
De Smet, A. 1937. L’origine des ports duZwin. Damme, Mude,
Monnikerede,Hoeke et Sluis. In: Etudes d’histoire dédiéesà la
mémoire d’Henri Pirenne par ses anciensélèves. Bruxelles: Nouvelle
Sociétéd’Éditions, pp. 125–41.
Dean, M.T., Browne, M.A.E., Waters, C.N.& Powell, J.H. 2007.
A LithostratigraphicalFramework for the Carboniferous Successionsof
Northern Great Britain (Onshore) (BritishGeological Survey Research
Report RR/10/07). Nottingham: British Geological Survey.
Debonne, V. & Dreesen, R. 2015. Stenenimmigranten in de
Zwinstreek. Natuursteenin de Onze-Lieve-Vrouwhemelvaartkerk
inDamme. Relicta, 12: 149–80.
Devliegher, L. 2000. Het Oosterlingenhuis teBrugge. In: N. Jörn,
W. Paravicini & H.Wernicke, eds. Hansekaufleute in
Brügge.Beiträge der Internationalen Tagung inBrügge April 1996.
Frankfurt am Main:Lang, pp. 13–32.
Ditchburn, D. 1988. Merchants, Pedlars andPirates: A History of
Scotland’s Relationswith Northern Germany and the Baltic inthe
later Middle Ages (unpublished PhDdissertation, University of
Edinburgh).
Ditchburn, D. 1990. A Note on ScandinavianTrade with Scotland in
the Later MiddleAges. In: G.C. Simpson, ed. Scotland
andScandinavia, 800–1800. Edinburgh: JohnDonald Publishers, pp.
73–89.
Dollinger, P. 1998. The German Hansa.Stanford: Stanford
University Press.
Donnelly, J. 1999. An Open Port: TheBerwick Export Trade,
1311–1373.Scottish Historical Review, 78: 145–69.
Dumolyn, J. & Leloup, W. 2016. The ZwinEstuary: A Medieval
Portuary Network.In: J.A. Solórzano Telechea, B. ArízagaBolumburu
& M. Bochaca, eds. Las socie-dades portuarias de la Europa
Atlántica en laEdad. Logroño: Instituto de EstudiosRiojanos.
Ehlers, C. 1989. Rapakivi Granites andPostorogenic Granites of
SouthwesternFinland. Symposium on PrecambrianGranitoids:
Petrogenesis, Geochemistry andMetallogeny (IGCP Project 247,
GeologicalSurvey of Finland, Guide 27, ExcursionA1). Helsinki:
University of Helsinki.
Finot, J. 1899. Étude historique sur les relationscommerciales
entre la Flandre et l’Espagne auMoyen Age. Paris: Picard.
Fossion, B. 1992. Bruges et les petites villes duZwin. A propos
des “réseaux” urbains. In :Le réseau urbain en Belgique dans un
perspec-tive historique (1350–1850). Une approchestatistique et
dynamique. Bruxelles: Créditcommunal de Belgique, pp. 327–40.
Gaimster, D. 1999. The Baltic CeramicMarket c. 1200–1600: An
Archaeology ofthe Hanse. Fennoscandia Archaeolociga, 16:59–69.
Gaimster, D. 2014. The Hanseatic CulturalSignature: Exploring
Globalization on theMicro-scale in Late Medieval NorthernEurope.
European Journal of Archaeology,17: 60–81.
Gilliodts-Van Severen, L. 1891. Coutumes despetites villes et
seigneuries enclavées. Dl. II,Brussels.
Gilliodts-Van Severen, L. 1904. Cartulaire del’ancienne estaple
de Bruges: recueil des docu-ments concernant le commerce intérieur
etmaritime, les relations internationales etl’histoire économique
de cette ville, VolumeI. Bruges: L. de Plancke.
Greve, A. 2012. Hansekaufleute in Brügge6. Hansische Kaufleute,
Hosteliers undHerbergen in Brügge des 14. und 15.Jahrhunderts.
Frankfurt-am-Main: PeterLang.
Hanserecesse. 1893. Die Recesse und andereAkten der Hansetage
von 1256–1430. Band7. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.
Heldal, T., Kjolle, I., Meyer, G.B. &Dahlgren, S. 2008.
National Treasure ofGlobal Significance. Dimension-Stone
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 23
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
Deposits in Larvikite, Oslo Igneous Province,Norway. In: T.
Slagstad, ed. Geology forSociety (Geological Survey of Norway
SpecialPublication, 11). Trondheim: GeologicalSurvey of Norway, pp.
5–18.
Henn, V. 1989. Über die Anfänge des BrüggerHansekontors.
Hansische Geschichtsblätter,107: 43–66.
Hesemann, J. 1975. Kristalline Geschiebe dernordischen
Vereisungen. Krefeld:Geologisches Landesamt
Nordrhein-Westfalen.
Hillewaert, B. 1993. Imported Pottery in theBruges Area.
Medieval Ceramics, 27: 61–67.
Hoare, P.G., Vinx, R., Stevenson, C.R. &Ehlers, J. 2002.
Re-Used Bedrock Ballastin King’s Lynn’s ‘Town Hall’ and theNorfolk
Port’s Medieval Trading Links.Medieval Archaeology, 46: 91–105.
Högberg, A., Olausson, D. & Hughes, R.2012. Many Different
Types ofScandinavian Flint: Visual Classificationand Energy
Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence.Forvännan. Journal of Swedish
AntiquarianResearch, 107: 225–40.
Hurst, J. & Neal, D. 1982. Late MedievalIberian Pottery
Imported into the LowCountries. Rotterdam Papers, 4: 83–110.
Immonen, V. 2007. Defining a Culture: TheMeaning of Hanseatic in
Medieval Turku.Antiquity, 81: 720–32.
Kiesselbach, Th. 1900. Der Ort der Hanse.Hansische
Geschichtsblätter, 28: 61–68.
Leloup, W. & Vannieuwenhuyze, B. 2013.Damme en Sluis: de
oorsprong en vroegsteontwikkeling van twee middeleeuwseZwinstadjes.
Handelingen van hetGenootschap voor Geschiedenis te Brugge,150:
13–56.
Maréchal, J. 1953. La colonie espagnole deBruges du XIVe et XVIe
siècles. Revue duNord, 35: 5–40.
Mehler, N. 2009. The Perception andInterpretation of Hanseatic
MaterialCulture in the North Atlantic: Problemsand Suggestions.
Journal of the NorthAtlantic. Special Issue, 1: 89–108.
Mehler, N. 2014. Hanse Archaeology. In: C.Smith., ed.
Encyclopedia of GlobalArchaeology. London: Springer, pp.
3209–19.
Mehler, N. 2015. Marine Trade andTransport-related Crafts and
their Actors:People without Archaeology? In: G.Hansen, S.P. Ashby
& I. Baug, eds.Everyday Products in the Middle Ages:
Crafts, Consumption and the Individual inNorthern Europe, c. AD
800–1600. Oxford:Oxbow Books, pp. 360–74.
Munthe, H. 1942. Gammelhamn på Fårö.Gotländskt Arkiv.
Meddelanden frånföreningen Gotlands fornvänner, 14: 1–11.
Murray, J.M. 2005. Bruges: Cradle ofCapitalism 1280–1390.
Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
Murray, J.M. 2012. That Well-GroundedError: Bruges as
Hansestadt. In: J. Wubs-Mrozewicz & S. Jenks, eds. The Hanse
inMedieval and Early Modern Europe (TheNorthern World, 60). Leiden:
Brill, pp.181–90.
Neumann, C. 2012. The Early Maastrichtian(Late Cretaceous) Chalk
of Rügen. In:A.S. Witzmann, ed. Centenary Meeting ofthe
Paläontologische Gesellschaft, Abstracts andField Guides,
Conference Field Trip 1. Berlin:Museum für Naturkunde, pp.
206–10.
Peacock, D.P.S. 1998. The Archaeology ofStone: A Report for
English Heritage.Swindon: English Heritage.
Pieters, M. & Verhaeghe, F. 2009. MedievalFishing
Communities in Coastal Flanders,Belgium, and Western
MediterraneanCommodities. Medieval Ceramics, 30:103–18.
Poeck, D.W. 2001. Kontorverlegung alsMittel hansischer
Diplomatie. In: N. Jörn,W. Paravicini & H. Wernicke,
eds.Hansekaufleute in Brügge. Beiträge derinternationalen Tagung in
Brügge April1996. Frankfurt-am-Main: Peter Lang,pp. 33–54.
Poty, E., Devuyst, F.-X. & Hance, L. 2006.Upper Devonian and
MississippianForaminiferal and Coral Zonations ofBelgium and
Northern France: A Tool forEurasian Correlations.
GeologicalMagazine, 143: 829–57.
Reinicke, R. 2011. Kliff & Strand. UnsereOstseeküste.
Ribnitz-Damgarten: Demmler.
Rössner, R. 2001. Hansekaufleute in Brügge,Teil Hansische
Memoria in Flandern.Alltagsleben und Totengedenken derOsterlinge in
Brügge und Antwerpen (13.bis 16. Jahrhundert).
Frankfurt-am-Main:Peter Lang.
Rudolph, F. 2014. Strandsteine bestimmen.Neumünster:
Wachholtz.
Rudolph, F., Bayer, B., Bartholomäus, W. &Von Loga, S. 2015.
Steine an Fluss, Strandund Küste. Stuttgart: Franckh Kosmos.
24 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
Smed, P. & Ehlers, J. 2002. Steine aus demNorden. Geschiebe
als Zeugen der Eiszeit inNorddeutschland (second edition).
Berlin,Stuttgart: Gebrüder Borntraeger.
Sosson, J.-P. 1993. Les “petites villes” du Zwin(XIVe-XVe
siècles) : des “espaces urbains”inviables? In: Ph. Contamine, Th.
Dutour& B. Schnerb, eds. Commerce, finances etsociété (XIe-XVIe
siècles). Recueil des travauxd’histoire offert à M. le professeur
HenriDubois. Paris: Presses de l’Université deParis-Sorbonne, pp.
171–84.
Stein, W. 1903. Über die ältesten Privilegiender Deutschen Hanse
in Flandern und dieältere Handelspolitik Lübecks.
HansischeGeschitsblätter, 30: 49–133.
Surlyk, F., Damholt, T. & Bjerager, M. 2006.Stevens Klint,
Denmark: UppermostMaastrichtian Chalk, Cretaceous-TertiaryBoundary,
and Lower Danian BryozoanMound Complex. Bulletin of the
GeologicalSociety of Denmark, 54: 1–48.
Vandewalle, A., ed. 2002. Hanzekooplui enMedicibankiers. Brugge,
Wisselmarkt vanEuropese culturen. Oostkamp: Stichtingkunstboek.
Venema, P. & Egbrink, R. 2015. FascinerendLarvikiet. In: T.
Nijland & C. Laban, eds.Bouwen met natuursteen (Grondboor
&Hamer + GEA-Stichting GeologischeAktiviteiten, 48, 4. Special
Number).Haarlem: Nederlandse GeologischeVereniging, pp. 33–43.
Verhulst, A. 1998. Keulse handelaars in hetZwin tijdens de
twaalfde eeuw en devroegste ontwikkeling van de Vlaamse zee-havens.
Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis, 81:351–58.
Verhulst, A., De Hemptinne, Th. & DeMey, L. 1998. Un tarif
de tonlieuinconnu, institué par le comte de FlandreThierry d’Alsace
(1128–1168), pour leport de Littersuerua, précurseur du port
deDamme. Bulletin de la Commission Royaled’Histoire, 164:
143–72.
Waters, C.N., Dean, M.T., Jones, N.S. &Somerville, I.D.
2011. NorthumberlandTrough and Solway Basin. In: C. Waters,ed. A
Revised Correlation of CarboniferousRocks in the British Isles
(GeologicalSociety Special Paper, 26). London:Geological Society of
London, pp. 89–95.
Westerdahl, C. 1989. Norrlandsleden I Källortill det maritima
kulturlandskapet. Enhandbol I marinarkeologisk inventering.
(The Norrland Sailing Route I. Sources ofthe Maritime Cultural
Landscape. AHandbook of Maritime ArchaeologicalSurvey). (Arkiv för
Norrländsk hembygds-forskning, 24). Härnösand:
Länsmuseet-Murberget.
Westerdahl, C. 1992. The Maritime CulturalLandscape.
International Journal ofNautical Archaeology, 21: 5–14.
Westerdahl, C. 2014. The Maritime MiddleAges—Past, Present, and
Future: SomeIdeas from a Scandinavian Horizon.European Journal of
Archaeology, 17: 120–38.
Wikström, A., Pereira, D., Lundqvist, T. &Cooper, B. 2014.
The Dala (Älvdalen)Porphyries from Sweden. Episodes, 38: 79–84.
Wubs-Mrozewicz, J. 2010. De Kantoren vande Hanze: Bergen,
Brugge, Londen enNowgorod. In: H. Brand & E. Knol, eds.Koggen,
Kooplieden en Kantoren. De Hanze,een praktisch netwerk. Hilversum
&Groningen: Verloren-Groninger Museum,pp. 90–107.
Zandstra, J.G. 1983. A New Subdivision ofCrystalline
Fennoscandian Erratic PebbleAssemblages in the Central
Netherlands.Geologie en Mijnbouw, 62: 455–69.
Zandstra, J.G. 1988. Noordelijke kristallijnegidsgesteenten. Een
beschrijving van ruimtweehonderd gesteentetypen (zwerfstenen)
uitFennoscandinavië. Leiden: Brill.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Wim De Clercq is a senior lecturer in his-torical archaeology.
His research interestsinclude historic rural settlement
patterns,material culture, and house-building tradi-tions in
northern Flanders. More recentlyhe has focused on the late medieval
hin-terland of Bruges, investigating the newtown of
Middelburg-in-Flanders andworking on a
landscape-archaeologicalproject in the Zwin area.
Address: Department of Archaeology,Henri Pirenne Institute for
MedievalStudies, Ghent University, St-Pietersnieuwstraat 35, 9000
Gent,Belgium. [email: [email protected]]
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 25
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
mailto:[email protected]:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
Roland Dreesen is a geologist. After a shortcareer in research
(Palaeozoic sedimentarygeology and biostratigraphy) he moved
toapplied and economic geology in 1985, andwas based in Liège
(ISSeP) and then Mol(VITO). His research activities coveredseveral
topics within coal geology, geo-energy, and materials
characterization. Hiscurrent research interests include proven-ance
studies of historical building and dec-orative stones and
geoheritage.
Address: Department of Archaeology, HenriPirenne Institute for
Medieval Studies,Ghent University, St-Pietersnieuwstraat 35,9000
Gent, Belgium. [email: [email protected]]
Jan Dumolyn is a senior lecturer in medievalhistory. He
specializes in the political andsocio-economic history of the
medieval LowCountries and the commercial metropolis ofBruges,
especially its urban network.Address: Department of History,
HenriPirenne Institute for Medieval Studies,Ghent University.
St-Pietersnieuwstraat 35,9000 Gent, Belgium. [email:
[email protected]]
Ward Leloup is a historian and works as adoctoral researcher and
teaching assistant
at Ghent University and the VrijeUniversiteit Brussel. His
earlier investiga-tions focused on the history of the medi-eval
portuary network along the Zwinestuary and its constituent towns.
HisPhD research examines the socio-eco-nomic topography of late
medieval citiesin Flanders and Brabant, primarily Brugesand
Mechelen.
Address: Department of History, HenriPirenne Institute for
Medieval Studies,Ghent University. St-Pietersnieuwstraat35, 9000
Gent, Belgium. [email: [email protected]]
Jan Trachet is a doctoral student workingon a Research
Foundation Flanders(FWO) Research Project that aims tounravel the
medieval development andtopography of Bruges’ outer harboursalong
the Zwin. His research is landscape-archaeological in scope, and
integratesmultiple non-invasive prospection techni-ques with
historical, cartographical, andgeological data.
Address: Department of Archaeology,Henri Pirenne Institute for
MedievalStudies, Ghent University, St-Pietersnieuwstraat 35, 9000
Gent,Belgium. [email: [email protected]]
La Hanse et le ballast : les pierres erratiques dans le paysage
portuaire de Bruges auBas Moyen Age
La découverte d’un groupe remarquable de pierres arrondies,
vivement colorées et d’une provenancegéologique exotique dans les
monuments et les champs des anciens avant-ports brugeois du Bas
MoyenAge est à l’origine d’une étude multidisciplinaire portant sur
leur fonction, leur provenance et leurimportance économique.
L’étude géologique a démontré qu’il s’agit de pierres de ballast de
nature litholo-gique très variée et de provenance géologique
lointaine. Une grande partie de l’assemblage est constituéede blocs
erratiques arrondis qui ont été ramassés sur les plages à galets de
la mer Baltique. Un autregroupe de roches indiquerait la côte
nord-est de l’Angleterre comme source d’approvisionnement
addi-tionnel. En vue de la présence fréquente de ces pierres à
Hoeke, une attention plus particulière a étéportée aux liens
économiques entre Bruges et la Hanse, et au site portuaire
hanséatique de Hoeke,auquel appartenait le droit d’entreposage de
morue séchée ainsi que différentes autres activités
26 European Journal of Archaeology 2017
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
-
hanséatiques. L’article présent contribue également à la
discussion portant sur les pierres de ballastcomme catégorie
d’objets archéologiques importants, en particulier dans un contexte
méthodologique pluslarge, incorporant des études archéologiques,
géologiques et historiques. Translation by the authors
Mots-clés: ballast, Hanse allemande, Bruges, blocs erratiques de
la Baltique, commerce maritime
Die Hanse mit Ballast beladen: Findlinge aus Balto-Skandinavien
in derspätmittelalterlichen Hafenlandschaft von Brügge
Der Fund einer bemerkenswerten Gruppe von lebhaft farbigen,
gerundeten und geologisch exotischenNatursteinen in den Feldern und
in den Denkmälern der spätmittelalterlichen äußeren Hafenanlagenvon
Brügge hat neue multidisziplinäre Forschungen bezüglich ihrer
Funktion, ihrer Herkunft und ihrerbesonderen wirtschaftlichen
Bedeutung stimuliert. Geologische Untersuchungen haben gezeigt,
dass dieSteine als Grundgebirge Ballaststeine unterschiedlicher
lithologischer Art und entfernter geologischerHerkunft angesehen
werden können. Ein wesentlicher Teil ist durch erratische Gesteine
konstituiert, dieentlang der Baltoscandische Küste gesammelt
wurden. Eine andere Gruppe kann bis zu dennordöstlichen Küsten
Britanniens zurückverfolgt werden. Aufgrund der Gruppierung der
Steinen,konnte eines besondere wirtschaftliche Verbindung zwischen
Brügge und der Hanse und der hansea-tischen Siedlung von Hoeke,
welche das Stapelrecht für Stockfisch und andere hanseatische
Aktivitätenhatte, konstatiert werden. Der Beitrag erweitert die
Diskussion zu den Ballaststeinen als eine wichtigearchäologische
Objektkategorie, im Besonderen, wenn diese in einem breiteren
methodischen Kontext,unter Berücksichtigung archäologischer,
geologischer und historischer Forschungen, studiert
werden.Translation by J. Brettschneider
Stichworte: Ballaststeine, deutsche Hanse, Brügge,
Baltoscandische Findlinge, Seehandel
De Clercq et al. – Ballasting the Hanse 27
of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2Downloaded from
https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Vakgroep Politieke Wetenschappen,
UGent, on 24 Apr 2017 at 09:06:38, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms
https:/www.cambridge.org/core/termshttps://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2017.2https:/www.cambridge.org/core
Ballasting the Hanse: Baltoscandian Erratic Cobbles in the Later
Medieval Port Landscape of BrugesLater Medieval Bruges and its
Harbour NetworkBallast as an Archaeological Object CategoryExotic
Stones in a Stoneless LandscapeAssessing the Geological Origin and
Geographical Provenance of the Stone
AssemblageMethodologyLithologyMorphology and size
distributionGeological discussion
‘In novam villam de Dam : Baltoscandian Ballast in a Forgotten
Hanseatic Settlement in FlandersCogs, Stones, and SandConclusion:
Reconsidering Ballast in the Bruges Harbour Network as a Proxy for
Trade NetworksAcknowledgmentsReferences