Spijksedijk 2, 2a, 4 and 6 (2017)

Spijksedijk 2, 2a, 4 and 6

Hamaland Advice has been commissioned by the National Real Estate Agency an archaeological desk study and an exploratory drilling study were carried out for the plan area Spijksedijk 2, 2a, 4 and 6 in Gorinchem. A building file study was also carried out. 

This concerns an area with buildings/​warehouses with a surface area of ​​10.185 m². The research was carried out in connection with the planned sale of the object and associated land, whereby a risk analysis is made of the expected archaeological values ​​in the plan area. No concrete planning has yet been planned at the time this report is published. The results of the archaeological research are the guideline for the further redevelopment of the plan area, so that archaeological values ​​are disturbed as little as possible. The future user is not yet known.

Prehistory to the Middle Ages

The northern part of the plan area is located on the archaeological expectation and policy advice map of the municipality of Gorinchem in an area with a high expectation at or near the surface for the period from prehistory to the Middle Ages. The northernmost point of the plan area is in the water and has no expectation. The southern part is categorized with a very high expectation for the period from the late Middle Ages and modern times due to its location in the historical core. In areas with multiple expectation values, the requirement of the highest expectation applies, namely the very high expectation. The municipal requirement is that in the event of soil disturbances deeper than 30 cm ‑mv and over a larger surface than 30 m², an archaeological investigation is necessary.

Conclusion

The desk study shows that the plan area is expected to contain archaeological sites from all periods from the Late Paleolithic to the Modern Period. The plan area has been built on since around 1936. Before that, it was a pasture area and was located near the fortifications of Gorinchem. An as yet unknown soil disturbance has occurred due to the construction, the construction of the fortifications and the moat. Based on the building file study carried out, it can be concluded that for the entire plan area, a soil disturbance of between 1936 m‑mv and 0,45 m‑mv has occurred over a maximum area of ​​1,06 m² due to the current construction (from 4.467). This is 43% of the total area of ​​the plan area. The results of the drilling research indicate that the soil was raised sub-recently (from 1850) by approximately 1,5 metres for the purpose of realising the industrial estate on the Spijksedijk. Potential archaeologically valuable levels are located directly under the sub-recent raising from a depth of 1,5 m-mv in the river clay deposits and the bank and bed deposits of the Linge.

Advice

That is why Hamaland Advies advises in its report future buyers and/or users of the site not to carry out any soil interventions that reach deeper than 1,5 m‑mv outside the existing buildings. If deeper soil interventions are planned, it is advised to investigate the presence of sites by means of test trenches (excavation research).