Exchanging Medieval Material Culture Studies on archaeology and ...

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Koen De Groote
working with the concept of the Grote Markt as the centre of
development10, but later they left this idea and started to situate
the rise of Aalst from diff erent older centres11. Th e lack of
education and methodology meant that inventions, stories,
heroism and myths continued to play an important role. Th e
rising historical understanding was still trapped in prejudice,
causing the strangest statements. About early medieval Aalst,
Van der Heyden wrote in 1945: “…Aalst wasn’t but a hamlet,
consisting of a group of miserable huts; the inhabitants were a
bunch of thief and murderers.”12
Only eight years aft er this publication, Courteaux published a
study in which he put all historical data of the early development
of Aalst in the right perspective. For the fi rst time, the
evolution was drawn as we now generally accept it, defi nitively
without the Grote Markt as the historical centre13. Th is
article was the basis on which thirty years later Callebaut
published his study, in which he systematically gathered all
known historical, cartographical and topographical material,
drawing the framework for the topographic development of
the town14. From then on only the archaeological information
was missing, to fi ll it in, confi rm or deny some hypotheses,
and provide new insights.
Archaeological research in Aalst started in 1982 with an excavation
by the National Service for Excavations (ndo), lead by
Callebaut, with an excavation on the place of the former
Zelhof15. In the second half of the 1980’s and the beginning
of the 1990’s the Association for Archaeology in Aalst (ava)
carried out many of small interventions and observations
on all kinds of building sites16. In 1989, the ndo did a preventive
archaeological research in the H.-Geest-Chapel17. Th e
Institute for the Archaeological Heritage (iap) started in
1993 a programme for preventive research on building sites
in the late medieval town centre. A lot of attention was given
to the issue of the urban spatial development. Until now 19
preventive excavations and 9 rescue excavations have been
carried out. Th e Flemish Heritage Institute (vioe), the successor
of the iap, organised in 2004-2005 on the Hopmarkt
the fi rst large-scale archaeological project in town, with an
excavated area of 3500 m².
In the beginning of 2000, a new synthesis about the formation
of Aalst was published, confronting the historical studies with
the archaeological data18. Th e emphasis lay on the archaeological
information, placed within the historical-topographical
framework. Th is paper is the next step in this research.
10 Van Nuff el 1918.
11 Van der Heyden 1945.
12 Ibid., 5.
13 Courteaux 1953.
14 Callebaut 1983a.
15 Idem 1983b.
16 For an overview of their activities, see:
Callebaut et al. 1994.
17 Pieters et al. 1994.
18 De Groote 2000a; 2000b.
19 Idem 2000a, 239-240.
20 Haers Van der Meulen 1961, 1.
21 Berings 1986a; De Groote 1988, 41-45.
3 The pre-urban structure
3.1 Topography (fig. 2)
Th e centre of Aalst is situated on the left bank of the river
Dender, on the changeover between loam and sandy loam soils.
Th e medieval town developed where a north-eastern spur of a
loam ridge has formed a steep edge with the alluvial area of the
river. At this place the river bed is very close to the ridge. Th e
archaeological research proved clearly that the winter channel of
the river reached the edge of the loam ridge in early medieval
times19. Between the alluvial edge and the highest point of the
north-eastern side of the loam ridge − a distance of about 180 m
− the diff erence in height is 6 m. Th e south side of this loam
ridge was bounded by the brook valleys of the Hoezebeek and
the Siesegembeek, which empty into the river Dender aft er their
confl uence north of the ridge. Th e original micro-topography
and soil conditions of the north-eastern part are not known
because of the actual built-up surface. But gathered information
in the actual town, consisting of topographical, pedological and
archaeological data, makes clear that the original ridge with fertile,
naturally drained loamy soils had an exceptional extent for
that region. Th e southern side is formed by the Hoezekouter,
which almost completely consists of well-drained loamy soils.
From the highest point of the Hoezekouter, the loam ridge soft ly
runs down in north eastern direction. Th e so-called Aalsterkouter,
mentioned in medieval written sources (oldest mention in 1248:
cultura de Alost20), probably formed the north eastern part of it.
Th e total surface area of the loam ridge occupies about 130 ha.
Th is is very large, compared with the total surfaces of the
surrounding ridges in the loam and sand loam area21.
3.2 Pre-urban landscape
Th e favourable topographical and pedological situation of this
area, with high, well-drained fertile loam soils and sharply cut
brook valleys, must have been very attractive since prehistorical
times. Several place names in the region originate in the
period before the invasions of the 5th century and have pre-
Germanic roots22. Th ere are indications of occupation in the
area in prehistoric and Gallo-Roman times. Also the name
‘Aalst’ has a pre-Germanic origin. Th is Belgian settlement name
goes back to the word alhusta-, a Germanic deformation of
alkustom, being a derivation of the Belgian word alkos, what
means ‘sanctuary’23.
Archaeological research makes clear that this area was well
developed in the Roman period. Th e systematic presence of
22 Verhulst 1995, 118-119.
23 In Gotic alhs, in Old-English ealh : Gysseling
1978, 6.