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I discovered one other Dutch report that is highly relevant, although unfortunately only in Dutch. It concerns a BIAX report, to be downloaded from: http://www.biax.nl/resources/content/report_file_283_181.pdf
Two samples have been analysed, and in both flax stem fragments comprise 95% of the sample matrix! Both are from the 12th century AD.
I thought that Wim van Zeist had also published one or more samples with flax stems, but I cannot retreive these with the Dutch archaeobotanical database, and have not yet found it in my PDF collection. If I do succeed later, another mail will follow.
I think it is also important to narrow down the discussion to archaeological periods, as the use of flax fibres is only once demonstrated for the Neolithic in the Netherlands and much more common in the medieval period...
oTTo
I wonder if the following was the paper that Ruth mentioned:
Cox, M, Chandler, J, Cox, C, and Tinsley, H, 2001 The archaeological significance of patterns of anomalous vegetation on a raised mire in the Solway Estuary and the processes involved in their formation, J Archaeol Sci, 18, 1-18
Elizabeth