Ballasting the Hanse: Baltoscandian Erratic Cobbles in the ... · Ballasting the Hanse: Baltoscandian Erratic Cobbles in the Later Medieval Port Landscape of Bruges WIM DE CLERCQ

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

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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



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



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.




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.




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



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,




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.




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




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).




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).




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




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



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.




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).




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.




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




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




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




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




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.




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.

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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]]



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



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




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