Reading the urban margin: an integrated geoarchaeological case study of late medieval riverside formation in Oudenaarde, Belgium

Urban open and marginal spaces are often regarded as archaeologically “empty”, although their deposits may preserve detailed evidence of urban development. This study examines a fifteenth-century Urban Dark Earth sequence at Broodstraat, Oudenaarde, Belgium. Soil micromorphology, integrated with archaeological and historical evidence, identified nine phases of recurrent alluviation, detritual inputs by river and human action, incipient soil development, and various post-depositional changes. These phases indicate repeated periods of alluvial accumulation, surface exposure and relative stability rather than a single dumping event. Anthropogenic inputs were heterogeneous but generally limited, including construction debris and occasional domestic and excremental waste, while traces of human and animal activity suggest intermittent or restricted access. The area therefore appears to have functioned as a dynamic buffer zone or protected urban margin rather than an intensively used open space. The study demonstrates how micromorphology can reveal the complex formation history of apparently homogeneous urban deposits and refine interpretations of medieval urban margins.