Archaeologists unearth 4,000-year-old ‘Stonehenge of the Netherlands’

 

Religious site contains burial mound serving as a solar calendar as well as remains of about 60 people.

Dutch archaeologists have unearthed an approximately 4,000-year-old religious site – nicknamed the “Stonehenge of the Netherlands” – that includes a burial mound that served as a solar calendar.

The mound, which contained the remains of about 60 men, women and children, had several passages through which the sun shone directly on the longest and shortest days of the year.


The town of Tiel, where the site was discovered, said on its Facebook page: “What a spectacular archaeological discovery! Archaeologists have found a 4,000-year-old religious sanctuary on an industrial site.”

It added: “This is the first time a site like this has been discovered in the Netherlands.”

Digging on the so-called open-air sanctuary started in 2017 in the small village, about 31 miles (50km) south-east of Utrecht, and the results were made public on Wednesday.

Studying differences in clay composition and colour, the scientists located three burial mounds on the excavations, a few miles from the banks of the Waal River.

Story: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/21/archaeologists-unearth-stonehenge-netherlands