Esdek at Haamakkersweg

(Click on the bold words for more information, not available via the app, but available through the website.)
Anyone traveling from Ommel to Vlierden will see a large field complex on the left side. In 2007, archaeological research was conducted at location Haamakkersweg 2 archeological research*. During that research, a turf layer of 1 to 1.5 meters thick was observed. This turf layer formed because the fields were raised for centuries with heath sods. Underneath this turf layer were remnants of the original podsol soils. These developed in the Early Holocene on the sandy cover soils. After the Ice Age, the climate improved, and the sandy areas became covered with forests. It is plausible that hunter-gatherers from the Stone Age left traces in this podsol horizon up to around 5,000 BC. However, this cannot be established with certainty because this horizon was disturbed by later farmers.
* source: Planning area Haamakkersweg 2, municipality of Deurne; archaeological preliminary research: a desk and surveying field investigation.

The thick dark humic topsoil shows that we are dealing with a reversal soil mainly formed after the High Middle Ages (11th - 13th century). The fields were kept fertile year in and year out with manure from the stable. Initially, the stable manure was mixed with litter from the forests and heath. Due to increasing population pressure, more fields and more litter were needed. The forests and heath fields shrank, creating open areas and heath land. From the 15th century onwards, more heath sods were cut to obtain sufficient litter. (What a laborious task that must have been!) The sods from the depleted heath contained increasingly more sand. Due to the mixture of manure, organic material, and increasing amounts of sand, the fields became progressively raised. This mainly happened after the Middle Ages. A thick top layer does not necessarily mean that it is a very old reversal soil. On the edges of such a field complex, steep edges were formed on which hedgerows were planted. These provided the farmers with firewood and kept livestock and wildlife out of the fields. The stable manure system came to an end when artificial fertilizer became popular in the late 19th century.

Jos van Nistelrooy