Formerly surrounded by bogs on three sides, the village of Hollen is - still today - situated off all major traffic routes on the eastern fringe of the district of Leer. Its old age was attested by a mention as “Holanla” in the Werden Urbaria and was even raised by rescue excavations in 1986-8. These revealed groundplans of Medieval farm houses and their outbuildings on some 1.2 ha of sandy soil. Several generations of local stability caused a complex pattern of building features with many overlaps. The site began with finds and features of the 1st/2nd century A.D. The Medieval settlement from A.D. 800 until before 1350 produced local pottery [grey wares, shell grit wares] and Rhenish imports [Walberg, Badorf, Pingsdorf, Paffrath wares], loom weights, iron objects, iron working, stone tools, bones, and waggon and ship components. The building features represent at least 70 buildings [28 houses, 42 granaries], wells, pits, and ditches of what is one of the largest known Medieval settlements of Northern Germany. Farmsteads consisted of 1 to 2 single-aisled houses, often with convex longitudinal walls, several small granaries and/or hay barracks, and a well, usually built of sods.