De militaire domeinen in Vlaanderen, bewaarplaatsen van archeologische en landschapshistorische relicten.

The Significance of military domains in Flanders regarding archaeology, history and landscape.

In 2005 an investigation was made of 12 military domains. This was done within the framework of the heath restoring campaign LIFE, by the VUB (Free University Brussels), commissioned by the former division of Monuments & Landscapes. As these were designed as military domains, they were not affected by the 19th and 20th century processes which transformed the surrounding landscapes. Thus these areas include nearly fossilised forest and heathland from the early 19th century which makes them archaeologically and historically valuable. Especially the heathland has been marked by the different phases of deforestation, heath development, exploitation and afforestation, each leaving their traces in the cultural landscape. The archaeological research was based on the data of the Central Archaeological Inventory (CAI), completed with soil map, hydrography and topography as well as the results of the digital Height Model Flanders (DHM). For the historical part of this study, the available historical maps have been compared. On top of that, the main toponyms for the landscapes reconstruction were selected and analysed.
research of additional litterature was to provide more information regarding the institutional background and the historical arrangement of the military domains. two test areas were selected and studied in detail, Brasschaat and Leoploldsburg.
Beacuse of the absence of formation processes on these vast domains (often up to thousands of hectares large), archaeological sites stand a fairly good chance to be preserved undisturbed.
Together with the first evaluation of the heriatge value of these domains, instructions could be made regarding ecological management of the grounds.