DEATH REVISITED. The excavation of three Bronze Age barrows and surrounding landscape at Apeldoorn-Wieselseweg (original) (raw)
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.
Analecta Praehistoric Leidensia, 2018
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.
The hills overlooking the north flank of the Rhine valley in the Netherlands are dotted with hundreds of prehistoric burial mounds. Only a few of them were ever investigated by archaeologists, and even nowadays the many barrows preserved in the extensive forests of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug are the oldest visible witnesses of a remote, but largely unknown prehistoric past. In 2006, a team of archaeologists of the Ancestral Mounds project of Leiden University set out to investigate these age-old monuments. Parts of two neighbouring mounds at Elst, in the municipality of Rhenen, were excavated, and numerous finds collected by amateur archaeologists were retrieved and studied. As a result, the research team was able to reconstruct the formation and histories of this barrow landscape from 2000 BC onwards. Contrary to what was initially thought, the Elst barrows appeared not to have been situated within a separate ceremonial landscape, but were rather closely linked with the world of daily living. Throughout the Bronze Age and Iron Age, people had been ‘living near the dead’. The finds discussed in this book include a rare example of an Early Bronze Age burial mound, examples of pottery deposition, remains of a Middle Bronze Age ‘Hilversum– Period’ settlement and many indications for mundane and ritual uses of the barrows in the later Iron Age.
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.
During a recent, large-scale excavation near the village of Twello (central Netherlands) a relatively well-preserved Single Grave Culture burial was found. This offered the rare opportunity to study this monument by using modern techniques and to analyse it in its local and wider archaeological and environmental setting. At fi rst sight, the burial does not appear to deviate much from ‘the standard’ for the Single Grave Culture in the Netherlands. However, when all excavation data and specialist analyses are combined some interesting patterns emerge. Whereas the Single Grave Culture is generally seen as a tradition that had strong links with the north and east, the stone axe head and fl int blade that were deposited in the grave rather point to a southern origin. Chemical residue analyses and palynological research indicate that the protruding foot beaker that was found probably contained a primitive type of wheat beer or porridge and may have been sealed with animal fat. Furthermore it is demonstrated that the burial played an important role in later landscape organisation and was still perceived as an important location many centuries after it had been erected.