The absolute datings of tracks of this so-called Harderwijkerweg appeared to correspond largely with the archaeological interpretations and historical sources (datings between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries). After a small-scale archaeological campaign, samples from a medieval trading route in the Veluwe area (central Netherlands) on sandy soils have been dated with OSL, in order to compare these with archaeological and historical data of the same route. Nevertheless, various physical dating methods have been developed for this purpose, including Optical Stimulated Luminescence (OSL). It is very difficult to obtain absolute historical datings of road features found at archaeological excavations. By reconstructing the interaction between political processes, imagination, and the shaping of identities, we can understand how a political community like Guelders, notwithstanding its complexity and lack of unity, could exist, function, and get coherence. Successively, the formation of the dynasty, the structure of the territory, and the imagination of the dynasty, the territory, and its inhabitants pass in review. He does this by analyzing the interaction between political processes, state-formation and the shaping of identities. Dynastie, land en identiteit Aart Noordzij describes the development of a political identity in Guelders between 11. According to them, these labels were the essence of the Guelders identity. Some Guelders historians, however, used these negative stereotypes in order to create a positive image of their compatriots: they described the people of Guelders as natural, brave, and as lovers of freedom. These stereotypes had come into existence during the many wars with the Burgundian and Habsburg princes, who wanted to conquer the duchy.

They were reputed to be lumpish, barbaric, belligerent, and rebellious. In the late middle ages, the inhabitants of the duchy of Guelders had to deal with a number of negative stereotypes.

Gelre by Aart Noordzij