Indications of severe drought during the 10th century AD from an inland dune area in the central Netherlands

Abstract

In the Kootwijkerzand on the Veluwe (The Netherlands) a settlement has been excavated that was buried beneath wind-blown sands and that was dated 750-1000 AD. For its water supply, this settlement depended on a nearby pool, which owed its existence to an impervious horizon in the subsoil. Since fluctuations in the water level of this pool could be reconstructed it could be established that the pool dried out relatively quickly in the 10th century. In addition a rainfall chart for the 8th- 10th centuries was constructed. It appears that the first half of the 10th century heralded a period of drought, of a severity hitherto unknown, which must have affected large areas of Europe. A relationship, either direct or indirect, is sought between the lack of rainfall and features which appeared on the Veluwe and elsewhere around 1000 AD, such as: 1. turf-manuring and the shift in emphasis from summer cereals 1o winter cereals (rye) on the high, sandy soils; sand-drifting, both inland and along the coast; the reclamation of part of the high moor in the western Netherlands.