“Ontellicke boomen” or “countless trees”: reconstructing the late medieval vegetation surrounding the 16th century St Margaretha Convent, Leiden, The Netherlands

Abstract

At an excavation of the late medieval St Margaretha Convent in Leiden (The Netherlands), archaeobotanical results could be compared with historical data. Both wood and macroremains were analysed to reconstruct the local vegetation and seek evidence of the cultivation of plants. The historical sources available for this estate are a charter prepared in 1572, which listed all trees present just after the abandonment of the convent, and an illustration from 1574 of the convent and its grounds. The charter mentions Salix and Alnus as the most numerous trees present, followed by several other taxa. The archaeological evidence from the wood remains, mostly construction timber with a dominance of Quercus, shows the use of indigenous taxa and some non-indigenous material, which was partly re-used. It is possible that some of the Coniferae were very early home-grown specimens. The trees represented in the macroremains were most probably growing in the immediate vicinity. They specify some of the taxa found as wood or mentioned in the historical text. The identified cultivated plants could all have been grown locally. The vegetation is in general represented by ruderal taxa and plants growing in wet conditions, which form an assemblage typical of an abandoned rural area.