The evolution of prehistoric occupation in Sandy Flanders from an environmental perspective

The present project aims at an interdisciplinary, GIS-related study of the land-use systems in Sandy Flanders (NW Belgium) from the late Stone Age (ca. 13,000 uncal. BP) until the Roman period. The main aim is to investigate the role and impact of the environment (vegetation, climate, soil) on the preshistoric settlement system in a multitemporal framework. The project will focus on 3 to 4 core-areas, 2 with a low site-density ("empty areas"), combining different research methods and techniques: palaeoecological analyses (pollen, seeds, fruits, etc.), absolute dating (AMS, OSL), morphological and soil modelling (using DHM, SoilGen, etc.), geophysical survey (drillings, electromagnetic survey) and land evaluation.