!The 4,000-year-old “Stonehenge of the Netherlands” finally unearthed
After 6 years of excavations, it's official, archaeologists have unearthed a 4,000-year-old religious site in the Netherlands! Because of its configuration and its use as a solar calendar, experts have dubbed it the "Stonehenge of the Netherlands".
This sanctuary was discovered in 2017 in the village of Tiel, located 50 kilometers southeast of Utrecht. After years of work, the archaeologists were finally able to reveal their discoveries on this site which has no equal in the Netherlands.
The configuration of the Stonehenge of the Netherlands
The outdoor religious site is made up of three burial mounds that would serve as a solar calendar, but also as a burial center. The remains of around 60 people, men, women and children, were also found at the site. According to archaeologists, the three mounds of the site would have served as burial for a period of approximately 800 years!
The main mound is approximately 20 meters in diameter. It was configured to allow the Sun to illuminate the various aligned passages and to clearly show the longest and shortest days of the year. Thus, this monument allowed the community to " determine the important moments, in particular the days of celebration and harvest ", communicated the archaeologists.
Since the Stonehenge monument in Britain recreates this same phenomenon, archaeologists have dubbed the Tiel site the "Stonehenge of the Netherlands".
A mysterious pearl rich in history
But there are other enigmatic discoveries on this site! A mysterious glass bead, from around 5,000 kilometers away and of Mesopotamian origin, was found at the site, inside a tomb. According to archaeologists, it would have arrived through exchanges from Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq, 4,000 years ago. " The glass was not made here, so the pearl must have been a spectacular object, because for people at the time it was an unknown material ", formulated Stijn Arnoldussen, professor at the university. from Groningen.
What other secrets could the “Stonehenge of the Netherlands” still reveal to us?
Source: websites