After the short note posted by Canan Çakırlar, here we send a somewhat longer obituary.

Dear colleagues,

 

We were saddened to learn of the death of our old colleague and friend, Dick Brinkhuizen.

 

Hijlke Buitenhuis, Canan Çakırlar, Kinie Esser, Annemie Kersten, Robert Kosters, Tom Jacobs, Roel Lauwerier, Marcel Niekus, Wietske Prummel, Esther Scheele and Jørn Zeiler

 

In memoriam Dick C. Brinkhuizen, 1946-2016

 

Dick was born in Groningen, the Netherlands, on the 10th of April 1946. After his secondary education at the Heymanslyceum he started as a medical student, but then switched to geology. However, Dick was also interested in archaeology, and after his bachelor examination he turned to the study pre- and protohistory at the Biologisch-Archeologisch Instituut (BAI), the predecessor of the Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA). Around 1974 he met Anneke Clason. At that time there was considerable international interest in the development of fish-archaeozoology. Shortly afterwards, Anneke Clason asked him to be her research assistant in building up a fish reference collection at the BAI, and to study fish remains from archaeological excavations.

 

At this time Dick was engaged on several excavations in the Netherlands. He also participated in the excavations carried out by the BAI at the Neolithic site of Gomolava (Vojvodjina, Serbia) in order to collect and study fish remains. There he met his future wife, Jasmina Milojković, who participated as a student of archaeology from the University of Belgrade.

 

For his master thesis, awarded cum laude, Dick investigated methods of fishing. He described both recent fishing gear and methods as well as archaeological finds of fishing-tackle. He published this extensive survey in Palaeohistoria 23 (1983): ‘Some notes on recent and pre- and protohistoric fishing gear from Northwestern Europe.’ The words ‘some notes’ are typical of his modesty and prudence.

 

Career

Dick received a grant for his doctoral research from the University of Groningen and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). He focused on the development of methods for fish-archaeological research, especially on methods to calculate the size of fish based on skeletal elements. He applied this new method on fish from the Roman castellum Velsen. In 1989 he gained his doctor’s degree, again awarded cum laude.

 

In 1985 Dick organized in cooperation with Anneke Clason a very successful fish conference at the BAI in Groningen. Many of the participants collected fish for their own reference collections at the Groningen Friday fish market. The highlight was a trip in a prawner on the Wadden Sea; again for many a possibility to add to their reference collections. The proceedings of the conference ‘Fish and Archaeology. Studies in osteometry, taphonomy, seasonality and fishing methods’ is still a frequently cited publication.

 

After his PhD, Dick was appointed to several projects at the BAI. Among other things he investigated the fish eaten by the otters in the northern Netherlands then facing extinction. It was part of the research into the extinction of this animal in the Netherlands; the last specimen was killed by a car in 1989. Since then otters have been reintroduced into the Dutch landscape successfully.

 

When the possibilities for project-jobs at the university dried up , Dick got a job at the city of Groningen non-profit organisation ‘Monument & Materiaal’. There he built up a new reference collection and studied the archaeozoological remains from the city. In his spare time he worked on a freelance basis on fish remains from numerous sites in the Netherlands, often in cooperation with Jørn Zeiler, who investigated the mammals and birds of these assemblages. One of the highlights was his study of the fish remains from the important Neolithic settlement of Schipluiden, on the Dutch North Sea coast,.

 

As a volunteer worker at the BAI, Dick gave lectures on fish archaeology every year. He was always willing to help students, colleagues from Groningen and elsewhere with their fish research. The Groningen Institute of Archaeology owes much to Dick for building its fish reference collection and for helping students and colleagues.

 

Other interests

His greatest interest remained fish. However, in the 1990s, under the influence of his colleagues Jaap Schelvis (then researching mite remains at the BAI), an experienced birdwatcher, and Jørn Zeiler, also a birdwatcher, he also became interested in birds. He passed his interest on his sons Dušan and Lazar who became real specialists.

 

In the meantime Dick developed another passion, for the Neanderthals of the northern Netherlands and their stone tools. He was a dedicated member of a small group organised by Marcel Niekus who surveyed fields and eventually discovered a camp site near Assen. Dick, accompanied by his dog Tjaf, was very successful in finding tools: with no less than five flint handaxes he was record holder, possibly for the entire Netherlands! Dick participated in the excavation and publication of this very special site.

 

Dick also had a great interest in modern art, especially earthenware of several twenty century potters. He built up quite a collection of works of art and pottery.

 

Illness and death

In 2007 Dick was diagnosed with cancer. For a considerable time he remained stable. However in 2015 it turned out that the illness had come back. Fortunately he was able to attend a small conference on fish, fowl and lithics colleagues offered to him as a surprise for his seventieth birthday. Up to shortly before his death Dick continued to analyse fish remains, together with Jørn Zeiler, and he studied stone implements from the Neanderthal campsite near Assen. On the 17^th of November, aged seventy, Dick died at home in Groningen.

 

Dick was a fine friend and colleague. His family, friends and colleagues will miss him.

 

For Dick’s long list of publications see:

www.bioarch.nl/nieuws/2015/literatuur-dick-brinkhuizen-2015/