This two-part lecture focuses on the work Peat Oaks II by artist Wilma Wilbrink. For the exhibition Beyond the Banks, she used wood from oak trees that had lain beneath the peat for two thousand years. The spotlight is on peat oak Z1800040, an oak with that registration number (keycode) dating from the year 49 AD.
In the first part, Wilbrink discusses the creation of her artwork. The wood from this oak has been analysed using its annual rings to map out floods during the first millennium. These rings provide information about growth, drought and water levels during that period. What did the landscape look like two thousand years ago? What can these oaks tell us about it?
In the second part, Jos Bazelmans, professor by special appointment at the Faculty of Archaeology in Leiden, will explore the research in greater depth and discuss its relationship with landscape development and climate.
Venue: Orangerie, Museum de Fundatie, Heino
Time: 14:30 – 15:15
Admission: free
In 2013, the ‘Room for the River’ project began excavating the channels along the River IJssel near Zwolle. During the excavation of the channels, ancient oak trees were uncovered which had been preserved for 2,000 years beneath a layer of peat. Visual artist Wilma Wilbrink found these trees so fascinating that she preserved a large number of them.
More than half of these preserved peat oaks were included in the research carried out by Prof. Dr Esther Jansma of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. Using the growth patterns of the oaks, Jansma conducted research into the floods that occurred during the first millennium AD. The research was published in September 2020.