Megalithic research in the Netherlands, 1547-1911 : from giant's beds and pillars of Hercules to accurate investigations / Jan Albert Bakker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bakker, J. A. (Jan Albert)

Contributor:

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Archaeology--Netherlands--History.

Archaeology.

Megalithic monuments--Netherlands.

Megalithic monuments.

History.

Netherlands--Antiquities.

Netherlands.

Antiquities.

Physical Description:

vii, 317 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Leiden : Sidestone Press, [2010]

Language Note:

Summary and appendix in German.

Summary:

The impressive megalithic tombs in the northeastern Netherlands are called 'hunebedden', meaning 'Giants' graves'. These enigmatic Neolithic structures date to around 3000 BC and were built by the Funnelbeaker, or TRB, people. The current interpretation of these monuments, however, is the result of over 400 years of megalithic research, the history of which is recorded in this book.

The medieval idea that only giants could have put the huge boulders of which they were made into position was still defended in 1660. Others did not venture to explain how hunebeds could have been constructed, but ascribed them to the most ancient, normally sized inhabitants. 16th-century writings speculated that Tacitus was referring to hunebeds when he wrote about the 'Pillars of Hercules' in Germania.

Titia Brongersma is the first person recorded to do excavations in a hunebed, in 1685. The human bones she excavated were from normally sized men and suggested that such men, not giants, had constructed the hunebeds. Other haphazard diggings followed, but much worse was the invention of stone covered dikes which required large amounts of stone. This launched a widespread collection of erratic boulders, which included the hunebeds. Boundary stones were stolen and several hunebeds were seriously damaged or they vanished completely. Such actions were forbidden in 1734, by one of the earliest laws protecting prehistoric monuments in the world.

From the mid 18th century onwards a variety of eminent but relatively unknown researchers studied the hunebeds, including Van Lier (1760), Camper and son (1768-1808), Westendorp (1815), Lukis and Dryden (1878) and Pleyte (1877-1902). This intriguing history of ancient hunebed research ends in 1912, when the modern, systematic excavations of complete hunebeds began and continued until 1985.

In the Introduction, a brief general review is given of the present knowledge and ideas about the Hunebed Builders, who lived some 5000 years ago during the Stone Age.

The book is illustrated with a large number of drawings and prints from the 16th to the 20th century. An extensive summary in German is included. A brief description of all 53 existing hunebeds and 21-24 excavated demolished ones is included in the appendices. Book jacket.

Contents:

A General Introduction 5

A1 What hunebeds are 6

A2 Modern hunebed research began in 1912 16

B Research of Dutch hunebeds before 1912 25

B1 General remarks 25

The word hunebed 28

'Giants' become 'devils and demons' 33

Proper names for Dutch hunebeds 34

The terms 'altar' and 'dolmen' 35

B2 From Schonhovius (1547) to De Wilde (1904-1910) 36

1547: Schonhovius 36

1660: Picardt 40

1685 / Van Leeuwen Leeuwen, Van 51

1685: excavation of a megalithic tomb at Cocherel, France 52

1685-1694: excavation in D27-Borger (Brongersma, Smids) 54

1687 and 1700: Tollius's trip through Germany and Von Hennin's giant hunebed builders 57

1706: excavation in hunebed D17-Rolde 57

1711: Smids returns to the giants 59

1730-1734: the shipworm and the legal protection of the hunebeds in Drenthe 60

1732: Schoemaker, Pronk and De Haen visit hunebeds 64

1756-1760: Van Noorde's drawing and Van Lier's investigation of hunebed D13-Eext, and Vosmaer 67

1768-1769: De Pauw 90

1768-1781: Petrus Camper's hunebed drawings 91

1774: Van Brussel 100

1790: Engelberts 100

1796-1808: Adriaan Camper and the prize contest about the ethnicity and date of the builders of the hunebeds 103

1809: discovery of hunebed D41-Emmen under a barrow 105

1811-1822: Westendorp 108

1841: Magnin's attempt to give legal protection to the Drenthe hunebeds and barrows 120

1841 and 1849: Arend and Stratingh 121

1840-1868: Janssen 121

Ownership, prohibition of destruction and of excavation of the hunebeds 133

How was a hunebed constructed? 134

The life of the hunebed builders 137

1853-1856: the Hilversum hoax 138

1856-1862: Hofdijk 141

1856-1887: the origin of the large hunebed stones 143

1861 and 1867: excavation and destruction of hunebed D49-Papeloze Kerk 145

1867-1886: Gratama's successful action to protect the hunebeds 147

1871-1879: Franks, Lukis & Dryden 149

1867-1883: Pleyte, Leemans and Hooft van Iddekinge 160

Ca. 1868 and following years: photographs of hunebeds 166

1885: a wall painting of hunebed building, in Assen 170

1904-1910: De Wilde 173

1886-1911: undocumented 'exploration' of hunebeds goes on 179

Regional Groups and the concept of a 'TRB culture' 181.

Notes:

"Dedicated to the memory of Konrad Jażdżewski (1909-1985) ... Heinz Knöll (1911-1989) ... Ulrich Fischer (1915-2006) ... Albert Etto Lanting (1945-2004) ... Jürgen Hoika (1941-2006)."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-269) and indexes.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9088900345

9789088900341

OCLC:

491934600

Publisher Number:

99943809900