Post-Doc, Archaeology
Thesis Title: Ph.D.-thesis From river valley to estuary: the early-mid Holocene transgression of the Rhine-Meuse valley, The Netherlands
About
Present job
The recent finding of a fragment of a Neanderthaler skull in the North Sea have again illustrated the importance of the North Sea as an archaeological site. In the last million years, sea levels have fluctuated between the present level and 120 m below the present level. This means that at certain times, large parts of the present North Sea were land and populated. In a joint project with Utrecht University and the Geological Survey of the Netherlands (Deltares) I will analyze existing seismic and core data from the North Sea and subsequently draw archaeological expectancy maps. The focus will be on the Dutch part of the North Sea between Hoek van Holland and the Belgian border. The maps will benefit archaeological research, but will also be used in planning locations for offshore sand mining. Dependent on the objectives, areas with high archaeological potential can be used for sand mining and simultaneous archaeological research, or the areas can be spared.
Ph.D.-thesis
Very recently I finished my Ph.D.thesis that I will defend December 23th 2009. The main subject of my Ph.D.-thesis was the transition of the Rhine-Meuse system from fluvial to estuarine in the early-middle Holocene as a response to rapid sea-level rise. The study area was centred around Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The research focused on:
1. early-middle Holocene sea-level rise
2. the different lithofacies within the Rhine-Meuse system
2. the spatial and temporal changes in depositional environments
3. the palaeogeographical development of the Rhine-Meuse system and the associated back-barrier tidal basins.
4. a comparison of the development of the Rhine-Meuse system to other early-middle Holocene estuaries.
My study area is situated within the heavily urbanised western part of the Netherlands and therefore a lot of subsurface information is available. I use tens of thousands of borehole descriptions and cone penetration tests, together with seismic data, diatom/pollen analysis as well as radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dates.
Contact Information
http://archaeology.leiden.edu/organisation/staff/hijma.html
