Fly Tipping in Medieval Amsterdam

We are very much in a throw-away consumer society. 

We are spoilt by a fantastic choice and range of products and goods with the promise of the latest version of something being the absolute pinnacle of technology and intelligence and yet within a matter of weeks even that revolutionary gadget or gizmo has been superseded by the next best thing and so on. 

I have always had the perception that our ancestors possessed so very little that they cherished and looked after things so much better. 

That idea has to a large degree been ridiculed by the discovery of hundreds of thousands of objects across the Dutch city of Amsterdam which, over its 800 or so year history as a settlement, were dropped or thrown, by accident or intentionally into the canals and waterways that are a major characteristic and landmark of that European Capital. 

The poor handling of generations of citizens came to light during a major civil engineering project to the Metro line over a 9.7km North to South axis which gave archaeologists an unrivalled opportunity to form a cross section of the life and times of Amsterdam over the ages. Construction actually started back in 2003 but such were the complexities and challenges of boring tunnels through soft clay soils and at a depth of 20m to 30m below ground level that the project is, to my understanding, still underway but expected to be completed this year (2018). 

The importance of the archaeological considerations were evident immediately within the scheme and research focused on the vertical excavation pits rather than along the linear run. The profile of the vertical cuts covered landscape periods from 124000 to 10000 BC and various climatic and geological eras including a prehistoric warm sea and deposits from the last ice age. The upper soil layers down to around 12 metres were from 10000 BC to the present day and comprising the peat bog and fen landscape that would be reclaimed for agriculture followed by the founding of Amsterdam around 1200 AD. 

The richest areas of archaeological discoveries were not the solid soils but the streambeds, the bottoms of the natural and man made waterways which had never been built upon or developed. The stretch of open water and a former sea inlet known as the IJ, the River Amstel and canals were all unspoilt territory and began to yield some 700,000 items as unique records of the development of Amsterdam. The shipping history of the area was documented in findings associated with trade and actual vessels ranging from items that probably just fell overboard as well as shipwrecks and parts of boats. 

On shore activities contributed bits of buildings, crafted and manufactured remnants but the biggest category was for items of human origin and use that were lost or dumped and so found their way into the mud and sediments of the watercourses. Illegal disposal of refuse and detritus was a problem as far back as the Medieval period in Amsterdam and indeed all of the rapidly expanding towns and cities across Europe. The network of waterways in the city were obviously very tempting to those looking to get rid of surplus items and general refuse and such fly tipping was widespread given the sheer volume of excavated items during the engineering project. 

The waste from multiple households and businesses as well as the lost property of individuals gave an insight into the rich cultural, economic and social composition of the inhabitants over the ages. 

Past conflicts either defending the city or from aggressors accounted for many military finds from weaponry including cannonballs, bullets, arrowheads and nasty looking daggers to other equipment, uniform buttons, cap badges and regalia. Commercial activities contributed a vast array of coins, tokens, semi or fully finished items of metalwork such as knives and brassware, ceramics and tableware including many fragments of hand painted pottery. Former bridges often included crude toilet amenities over the water and it appears that those frequenting these facilities also took it as an opportunity to discard their debris as well. The bulk of the finds consisted of ceramics (350,491), followed by bone (126,367), metal (91,849), leather (58,597), pipe clay (26,225), glass (21,218) and building ceramics (10,405). The bone discoveries were mainly cow, sheep and goat from slaughter house, tannery sites and a few specialist butchers including Kosher. 

Other categories of finds were labelled under games and recreation and personal artefacts and clothing. 

Some 58 jewellery rings were amongst the finds which must all have had their own story as to how they found their way into the bottom of the watercourse. 

Other items included 55,847 nails, over 6,249 wall tiles, 1,737 roof tiles, 1,186 paving stones and 2,688 window-pane shards.

Portable heating devices, among which were 4,423 braziers and 2,063 chafing dishes were testament to a cold European climate. The sanitary ware included 4,513 chamber pot fragments. Users must have lost their grip on the handle when emptying the pot contents into the river.

In the builders’ hardware category 195 keys and 172 locks were retrieved. Associated with horse-drawn transport were fragments of tackle (220, 114 of which were belt fragments) and horseshoes and farrier nails (110). Modern transport was also represented with finds associated with bicycles (211 fragments) and car remains (75 fragments).

In industrial proccesses sugar production was the most prevalent with 20,384 fragments of sugar jars and funnels and syrup jugs found. Leather processing could be recognised by the 7,780 fragments of production waste, textile processing by almost 3,104 objects associated with sewing, including over 2,805 pins, and metalworking by 1,140 fragments of manufacturing waste. 

In the category of cutting, piercing and splicing tools, such as axes, adzes, drills and files, 531 artefacts were retrieved, and for dyeing and tarring 444 objects. Evidence of pottery making was found in the form of 676 fragments, the majority biscuit ware, a semi-finished product that had been fired but not yet glazed.

Food remains were present in abundance with over 101,697 finds (especially bone waste).

 A further 32,636 finds were associated with beverages and their storage, including over 13,418 mineral water bottles (stoneware) and more than 7,354 wine bottles (glass). Crockery for food preparation accounted for 34,750 finds, some 27,187 of which were cooking pots. Tableware amounted to 35,507 fragments, two-thirds of which were plates. Cutlery was also fairly well represented with more than 2,559 finds, including 713 spoons and 1,394 table knives. In total 26.677 finds were tobacco smoking related, among which 16.485 fragments of clay tobacco pipes.

The 932 objects of the weaponry finds present a chronologically continuous picture from the late Middle Ages to the present. Dating from the early periods are the arrowheads (114) and daggers, including a series of 49 fifteenth-century ballock daggers.The transition to early modern weapons is illustrated by 265 lead bullets, and ends with modern rifle and pistol cartridges from the late nineteenth and twentieth century (58 items), a modern Browning FN-5 pistol and an anti-riot smoke bomb.

At 4,846 objects, the numerically largest group within this category are coins (2,947), ranging from a Roman sestertius to euros. 

A second important group is the lead textile weights (436 items), which afford an insight into the textile trade in the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. 

Various finds are associated with hand-written and printed communication, varying from a wax tablet, stylus, slate pencil, slate and bic ballpoint pen to printing type (180) and the remains (89) of book covers and book clasps from the late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.

Judging by the numbers found, marbles (550) and ‘throwing bones’ (381) were the playthings children were most likely to lose, Large numbers (345) of miniature toys, such as tin soldiers and children’s crockery (especially plates), were retrieved. Fragments of musical instruments (160) were also found.

The bulk of the clothing lost in the Amstel over the centuries was from leather footwear (42,049 fragments). The second largest group (3,244 finds) consists of fasteners, such as buttons (908 finds), aglets (1,188 finds), belts (267 finds) and buckles (771 finds). 

Among the medical items (1,292 finds), ointment jars were well represented (919 fragments).

The vast collection of artefacts are well illustrated on the web site for the project entitled Below the Surface and with an exhibition at one of the Metro Stations along the line.