The plant remains from Gouda-Oostpolder, a twelfth century farm in the peatlands of Holland

An excavation in the near surroundings of the town of Gouda revealed the remains of a wooden farmhouse. Radiocarbon dates and pottery indicate that the farm was built around A.D. 1120–1135. It belongs to the initial phase of land reclamation in the wetlands of the part of the Netherlands called Holland. Pollen and wood analysis show that the original vegetation consisted of ash and alder woodland on a subsoil of eutrophic peat. People used local wood very economically for the construction of the house. A triangular figure of splitPinus sp. andAbies alba branches near the entrance provides an exotic and probably ritual element. The farmers practised mixed farming based on the raising of cattle, pigs and crops comprisingTriticum dicoccum (emmer wheat),Hordeum sp. (barley).Avena sativa (oats),Linum usitatissimum (flax) andCannabis sativa (hemp). Conspicuously absent isSecale cereale (rye). There are no indications of an orchard.