Bronze Age ancestral communities. New Research of Middle Bronze Age burials in the barrow landscape of Apeldoorn-Wieselseweg (original) (raw)
2018, Analecta Praehistoric Leidensia
Dedicated to our tèacher, coileague and friend, prof. dr Harry Fokkens. In the natural resert;es of the veluwe in the centre of the Netherland,s, there are hundreds of mounds that are registered. as 'prehístoric burial mound.s, (Fontijn 2011, table 1.1). some are protected as Natíonal Heritage, but many are not. only a small part has ever seen professional archaeological ínvestigation, and there are many for which no more is known than tha.t they are likely to represent ,prehistoric burial sites'. rhis applies particularly to mound"s in the munictpalitlt of Apeldoorn, where Iarge numbers are known to exist and fortunately protected as neitøge, butwhere in most cases not much is known on their d.attng, nature or potential sígnificance as source of knowledge on the past. Thís article presents the results of a fi.eldwork campaign where three newly di.scoveree small barrows were investigated. thqt are part or a much larger barrow landscape on which so far nothing *oi kno*n. In spite of their small síze and the føct that some were heavily damaged by forest ptoughing, the research yielded detailed. ínformatíon on their use history ona int social 6¿nd, ritual sígnifi.cance that they had in the Bronze Age. Even the most ínconspicuous mound. of which it was initialty seriously d.oubted. whether it was a prehisioric monument, appears to contqin the remains of many special prehístoríc features.
Related papers
2018
In the natural reserves of the Veluwe in the centre of the Netherlands, there are hundreds of mounds that are registered as 'prehistoric burial mounds' (Fontijn 2011, table 1.1). Some are protected as National Heritage, but many are not. Only a small part has ever seen professional archaeological investigation, and there are many for which no more is known than that they are likely to represent 'prehistoric burial sites'. This applies particularly to mounds in the municipality of Apeldoorn, where large numbers are known to exist and fortunately protected as heritage, but where in most cases not much is known on their dating, nature or potential significance as source of knowledge on the past. This article presents the results of a fieldwork campaign where three newly discovered, small barrows were investigated that are part of a much larger barrow landscape on which so far nothing was known. In spite of their small size and the fact that some were heavily damaged by forest ploughing, the research yielded detailed information on their use history and the social and ritual significance that they had in the Bronze Age. Even the most inconspicuous mound, of which it was initially seriously doubted whether it was a prehistoric monument, appears to contain the remains of many special prehistoric features. It is argued that this small group of three barrows dates to the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, the period between the 18th and 15th centuries BC and probably represents what was perceived as one 'community of ancestors' among a larger ancestral whole. There are indications that it originated around a location that had an older-Late Neolithic-history. It is suggested that this monument had a special role and was the focus of ceremonial activities the likes of which have so far not been detected in the Netherlands: the deposition of loads of stones and pottery in a pit row directed at the location where a barrow would eventually be constructed. Deceased were buried at two locations nearby, both of whom were also covered by mounds. These were collective graves, in which many deceased of both sexes and all ages were buried and no clear distinctions between deceased were emphasized in the burial rituals. There are similarities in the mode of interment in both mounds, and we suggest these barrows are each other's successors. The fieldwork at the Wieselseweg shows the high potential small-scale research of inconspicuous and damaged burial mounds can have to further our knowledge on the prehistoric legacy of the Netherlands.
Death Revisited. The excavation of three Bronze Age barrows and surrounding landscape at Apeldoorn-Wieselseweg, 2019
This book presents a group of small and inconspicuous barrows that were recently discovered in the forest of Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. They are part of an extensive barrow landscape of which little was yet known. Fieldwork carried out in and around them yielded a wealth of new data. It was discovered that even the most inconspicuous and heavily damaged mound of this group still contained many special features. This special place was anchored around a site that probably had a particular significance in the Late Neolithic, and where special rituals were carried out during the Bronze Age, resulting in the construction of an enigmatic row of pits-rituals the likes of which have not previously been attested around barrows in the Netherlands, but which are known elsewhere in Europe. The dead were buried at locations that were probably only later covered by monuments. During the Bronze Age (between the 18 th and 15 th centuries BC) the mounds of this small barrow group were used as collective graves for what was probably perceived as one specific 'community of ancestors'. The burial practices in the mounds show strong similarities and it is argued that these barrows were each other's successors, representing the funeral history of people who wished to unite their fore-bears in death as one unproblematic whole without distinctions. The fieldwork showed that even small-scale, partial excavations of a seemingly minor barrow group can inform us on the significance of the extensive barrow landscapes they are part of-a knowledge that can help us to understand the prehistoric legacy of the Netherlands and to protect it for the future as heritage.
Revsiting Barrows: a Middle Bronze Age Burial Group at the Kops Plateau, Nijmegen
The article discusses the evidence of four levelled Bronze Age barrows, that contain a number of cremation graves. Analysis of the features and the bones indicate that we are dealing with a group of barrows that was visited for funerary practices for a longer time during the Bronze Age. They cannot, however, be seen as true family graves.
Groups of burial mounds may be among the most tangible and visible remains of Europe’s prehistoric past. Yet, not much is known on how “barrow landscapes” came into being . This book deals with that topic, by presenting the results of archaeological research carried out on a group of just two barrows that crown a small hilltop near the Echoput (“echo-well”) in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. In 2007, archaeologists of the Ancestral Mounds project of Leiden University carried out an excavation of parts of these mounds and their immediate environment. They discovered that these mounds are rare examples of monumental barrows from the later part of the Iron Age. They were probably built at the same time, and their similarities are so conspicuous that one might speak of “twin barrows”. The research team was able to reconstruct the long-term history of this hilltop. We can follow how the hilltop that is now deep in the forests of the natural reserve of the Kroondomein Het Loo, once was an open place in the landscape. With pragmatism not unlike our own, we see how our prehistoric predecessors carefully managed and maintained the open area for a long time, before it was transformed into a funerary site. The excavation yielded many details on how people built the barrows by cutting and arranging heather sods, and how the mounds were used for burial rituals in the Iron Age.
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