Deltares: Treasures of the Mammoth Beach (The Netherlands)

Deltares has announced that Bert van der Valk, geologist at Deltares, was a co-author of the book ‘Schatten van het Mammoetstrand. Over speuren in grondlagen, opgraven onder water en vissen naar fossielen’. (Treasures of the Mammoth Beach. About investigating in the earth, excavating below water and fishing for fossils.)

It recounts the construction of the second Maasvlakte and the geological, paleontological and archaeological research conducted before and during construction.

Fossils and other historical artefacts

As expected, during the dredging of sand from the bed of the North Sea for the construction of the second Maasvlakte, an extremely large number of different fossils and a number of archaeological artefacts were found.

The Rotterdam Port Authority decided to conduct a range of investigations; geological soil surveys, paleontological fishing expeditions, and archaeological excavations below the surface generated insights that are discussed in detail in the book. Deltares (Peter Vos, Ane Wiersma and Chris Mesdag) was closely involved in the geophysical and geological soil surveys before the excavation work started.

Rotterdam Port Authority teams up with others on research

Rotterdam Port Authority joined forces for this research with organisations that included the Rotterdam City Archaeological Research Agency (BOOR), the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), TNO, Deltares, and the universities of Groningen and Leiden.

Without the knowledge available at these organisations, it would not have been possible to conduct the investigations into the sites concealed below the thick estuarine deposits.

[mappress]

Press Release, January 30, 2014