Archaeologists from the Netherlands revealed on Wednesday their unique archaeological discovery, the Stonehenge of the Netherlands, which is a roughly 4,000-year-old religious area that has a burial mound that works as a solar calendar.
Stonehenge of the Netherlands
According to Science Alert, the mound contained the remains of roughly 60 children, women, and men. It was also found to harbor several passages where the Sun shone directly during the year's shortest and longest days.
Overall, archaeologists were able to find three burial mounds during the excavations. The main one has a diameter of roughly 20 meters. Its passages could have served as a solar calendar used to pinpoint vital dates, such as harvest or festival dates.
Dutch national broadcaster NOS also explains that the hill area resembled the well-known Stonehenge in Britain, where such a phenomenon also takes place.
Both animal and human skull offerings were found in the areas where the sun beamed directly through. Alongside these findings were other valuables, such as a spearhead of bronze, the New York Post reports.
Two other small mounds were also found. All three were used as burial areas for around eight centuries, the archaeologists note.
The discovery followed six years of digging. The sanctuary was then found in the town of Tiel.
The town of Tiel expressed on its Facebook page that the archaeological discovery was quite spectacular and that it was the first time such a site had been spotted in the Netherlands.
Glass Bead
Interestingly, the archaeologists were also able to find another unique discovery in the area: just one glass bead piece within the grave. Analysis revealed that the bead was from Mesopotamia, or present-day Iraq.
According to CNN, this bead is the oldest one that has ever been found in the Netherlands. The bead also served as evidence that people in the area were in touch with others who were nearly 5,000 kilometers away.
Professor Stijn Arnoldussen from the University of Groningen explains that glass was not made in the area. Hence, the bead could have been incredibly unique for the people in this region, as its material was unknown.
Professor Arnoldussen adds that, during this period, items were already being exchanged. The bead could have been on the ground for hundreds of years before it eventually arrived in the town of Tiel.
It took the archaeologists six years to examine over a million excavated items that date as far back as the Iron Age, the Bronze Age, the Stone Age, the Middle Ages, and the Roman Empire.
Per ARTnews, a selection of items retrieved from the site will be displayed in the local museum of Tiel and in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities.
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