Megaliths in the Netherlands

Megalithic architecture appeared in what is now the Netherlands during the Neolithic period, especially in the northeast. Megalithic structures, i.e. buildings made of large upright stones, occur in various forms and functions, mainly as burial sites, temples or menhirs (stones standing alone or in a formation). In the Netherlands, only burial complexes are known. These large stone tombs (Dutch: Hunebedden) were built between 3470 and 3250 BC^[1] by members of the Western Group of the Funnelbeaker culture (TBK) and were used until about 2760 BC. After the end of the Funnelbeaker culture in the Late Neolithic, the sites were reused by the Single Grave culture and the Bell Beaker culture during the ensuing Early Bronze Age and, to a lesser extent, into the Middle Ages.

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Distribution of megalithic tombs in the Netherlands:
preserved; destroyed; questionable attribution

Of the original 100 megalithic tombs in the Netherlands, 54 are still preserved today. Of these, 52 are located in the province of Drenthe. Two more are in the province of Groningen, one of which has been turned into a museum. There is also a site in the province of Utrecht whose classification as a megalithic tomb is uncertain. Destroyed megalithic tombs are also known from the province of Overijssel. Most of the surviving tombs are concentrated on the Hondsrug ridge between the cities of Groningen and Emmen.

The tombs attracted the interest of researchers early on. The first paper was published in 1547. A book published in 1660 by Johan Picardt, who believed that the tombs were the constructions of giants, was widely read. Titia Brongersma carried out the first known excavation of a Dutch megalithic tomb in 1685. In 1734, the first law was passed to protect the tombs, followed by others in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1846, Leonhardt Johannes Friedrich Janssen published the first nearly complete inventory of the tombs. In 1878, William Collings Lukis and Henry Dryden made the most accurate plans to date of many of the graves. Modern archaeological research on the megalithic tombs was initiated in 1912 by Jan Hendrik Holwerda, who completely excavated two sites. Shortly thereafter, Albert Egges van Giffen began further research. He measured all the sites, carried out numerous other excavations, and had almost all the graves restored by the 1950s. Van Giffen also developed a numbering system for the megalithic tombs that is still used today, with a capital letter for the province and a number ascending from north to south (and a lowercase letter for destroyed sites). Since 1967, there has been a museum in Borger dedicated exclusively to the megalithic tombs and their builders.

The chambers of the tombs were built of granite boulders deposited in the Netherlands during the Ice Age. The gaps between the stones were filled with dry stone made of small stone slabs. The chambers were then covered with earth. Some of the mounds also have a stone fence. Depending on whether the entrance to the chamber is on a long or narrow side, the graves are called dolmens or passage graves. Almost all sites in the Netherlands are passage graves, only one is a dolmen. The graves are similar in their basic structure but vary greatly in size. The length of the chamber ranges from 2.5 m to 20 m. Small chambers were built in all phases of construction, while larger ones were added only in later phases.

Due to the unfavorable preservation conditions, only small amounts of human bones were recovered from the graves. These were mainly cremated remains. Only very limited information is available on the age and sex of the deceased.

In contrast, the grave goods were exceedingly rich. In some graves, thousands of pottery shards were discovered, which could often be reconstructed into hundreds of vessels. Other grave goods included stone tools, jewelry in the form of beads and pendants, animal bones, and, in rare cases, bronze objects. The diverse array of vessel forms and decorations permitted the identification of multiple typological levels, thereby enabling insights to be gleaned about the construction and utilization history of the graves.