Project properties
Title Man and bogs beyond the Low Countries: a tentative history
Group Cultural Geography Group
Project type thesis
Credits 12(BSc)/36(MSc)
Supervisor(s) Maurice Paulissen (GEO) and Roy van Beek (GEO/SGL)
Examiner(s) Dr Roy van Beek (GEO/SGL)
Contact info Maurice Paulissen, maurice.paulissen@wur.nl, T 0317 481801
Begin date 2017/10/01
End date 2022/03/15
Description Large parts of the Low Countries were once covered by raised bogs (hoogvenen). Many bogs have disappeared since the Middle Ages due to reclamation and peat exploitation. What remains is natural and cultural heritage under pressure. The history of large-scale peat exploitation and reclamation in the Low Countries has been studied in several regional cases, and the currently ongoing Home Turf project will address remaining knowledge gaps on man’s past relations with bog landscapes (http://www.boglandscapes.eu/). The Home Turf project would benefit significantly from comparison with historical cases of human use of bog landscapes outside the Low Countries, i.e. cases from elsewhere in Europe or even beyond (e.g. Asia and the Americas).

Currently, up-to-date comparative overviews of foreign cases of past human bog use are virtually non-available. In this project, you will collect evidence about the long-term history of human use of one (BSc) or more (e.g. two or three, MSc) bog areas outside the Low Countries (e.g. the UK, Denmark, or Central Europe). You will develop a database describing the consecutive phases in human bog use, describe in at least basic terms the social powerscapes of the actors involved (e.g. insiders such as peasants, local elite, and outsiders such as reclamation and peat exploitation entrepreneurs or colonial institutions), and the phases or events of change marking their transitions. This allows to reconstruct ‘bog use and perception trajectories’ which can ultimately be compared to those of the Low Countries. Your sources are mainly published historical, palynological, or archaeological accounts (old or recent). You will be part of the Home Turf project team, and your project results will likely be used by ongoing and future studies on past and present human use and perceptions of bog landscapes.
Used skills
Requirements • Basic knowledge on landscape history, cultural history and/or ecology.
• GIS skills are not required, but useful.
• Enthusiasm for the subject.

Also possible as minor Master thesis.