GORINCHEM – The researchers from the House of Paffenrode have been on the Gorcumse all last week Barracks Square, been busy sifting through the bags of bear (poo). The bear was put into bags the week before, after a bear cellar had been discovered and emptied. 'It's a dirty job,' frowns Martin Veen. 'We're covered in historical poop and water. But a lot of nice things were found.'
From the bear, the history seekers have retrieved beads, many buttons, a fragment of a fan and glass and pottery shards. 'The nicest discovery, from the bear cellar, was wax seals of letters, according to researcher Martin Veen. 'Based on this,' says Veen, 'we can trace the resident's network of relationships. He apparently threw many of his letters down the well. The paper has rotted, but the seals have been preserved.'
From left to right: Peter von Hout, Martin Veen, Daan van Aelst, Eva Dansen and Ton Wijkamp
Time consuming process
Conservator and restorer Peter von Hout, takes all the excavated materials in hand. This is a very time-consuming process. For example, he is still busy working on excavated items of the Happy Corner. 'A project like this consists of ten percent digging and ninety percent interior work,' Von Hout explains. 'I first have to dewater the wooden and leather objects. Then, when the water in the material has been replaced by acetone, the whole lot goes into a kind of liquid plastic, which strengthens the cell walls.' Peter van Hout has been involved in his hobby of archaeology since he was twelve, twenty-four years now. In all those years, he has never come across a wax seal before. For him too, this is a unique find. 'I'm not going to get involved in that,' he says. 'A wax seal is too fragile and too complex for me. I leave that to others.'
City canal
The excavators hope to find the main cesspit this week, because it has not yet been discovered. They do have an idea of the boundaries of the house. This is based on the foundations that are increasingly being exposed. A part of the old Gorcum city moat has also been exposed. At that time, it appeared to be twice as wide as the current one. A fifteenth-century spearhead was found in the moat.
Compass Active
September 2, 1997
by Jan Robijns