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The study of archaeological remains of charcoal kilns is a fast growing field of research. The history and evolution of different types of (pre)historical charcoal production features is still poorly understood however. Based on a large number of radiocarbon dated charcoal kilns from Belgium and the Netherlands, covering c. 2500 years, a typology and chronology of charcoal kilns is presented. The oldest charcoal production features date to the late Iron Age, though many of these dates seem to suffer from an old-wood effect and might actually date to the Early Roman period. Both Iron Age and Roman period charcoal production is done in rectangular pit kilns. During the Early Middle Ages, there is a shift to circular pit kilns which become the dominant kiln type during the High Middle Ages. From c.1300 CE onwards, charcoal is no longer produced in pit kilns, but a new kiln type, i.e. the mound kiln is used. The size of the charcoal (pit) kilns decreases from the Roman period till c. 1300 CE when, with the use of mound kilns the volume of produced charcoal dramatically increases. These changes in kiln size most likely reflect changes in both the organisation, scale and technology of iron production in the Low Countries. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a review of records of pollen and botanical macroremains of a selection of food plants from late and post-medieval cesspits (12th century-19th century ad) in the Netherlands and northern Belgium. The presented data demonstrate that several food plants remain largely invisible in the macrobotanical records. These are all plants from which the flowers or flower buds (Borago officinalis, Capparis, Carthamus tinctorius, Crocus sativus, Syzygium aromaticum) or leaves (Anthriscus cerefolium, Spinacia oleracea) are eaten, or that are typical components of honey (Cistus). As a result, little is known about the import or local production and consumption of these food plants in these times. This review now shows that past use of some of these plants is reflected in the pollen assemblages of (post-) medieval cesspits. For the first time, a large archaeobotanical dataset is presented, including pollen, providing information on the past use of these plants between the 12th and 19th century ad in the Netherlands and Belgium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the medieval and post-medieval periods, charcoal production was a major industry in numerous forested regions of Northwest Europe. Utilizing LiDAR maps and field research, more and more remnants of charcoal production sites (relic charcoal kilns) are discovered. The charcoal fragments preserved in these remains are used in a wide range of scientific research, for instance, former forest composition, woodland exploitation, fuel production, and how biochar may affect soil properties. All of these fields of study necessarily require a chronological framework, which is most frequently established by 14C dating of charcoal. This method, however, is of very limited use for post-1650 CE features. For instance, the de Vries and Suess effects cause plateaus in the 14C calibration curve, implying that events from the last 350 years cannot be resolved in time. We previously reported on the potential of OSL dating of heated sediments associated with these past charcoal production, in particular for application to post-1650 CE features [1,2]. Here, we apply the same approach to kiln remains that are known to post-date 1930 CE and pre-date 1945 CE. The relict charcoal kilns were sampled in the Veluwe region, Central Netherlands. From a historical point of view, there was no real need to try and date these features. Their interbellum to end of World War II is well-established and inferred from aerial photographs, newspaper articles, and other written accounts. However, from an OSL-perspective, they are interesting. Can these features be dated as accurately? We use OSL signals from small (2 mm diameter) multiple-grain aliquots of quartz from the fine-sand fraction (125-180 µm) to document the OSL characteristics in terms of signal composition, sensitivity, dose-response, and the diagnostic tests commonly used to determine the suitability of the single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol for examining the distribution of equivalent dose (ED) in the samples. The outcomes are compared to known historical sources and will be presented during the meeting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the original publication, the caption of Fig. 1 is partly missing. It has been updated in this correction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]