A Stonehenge discovered in the Netherlands: a solar calendar in a sanctuary from 4,000 years ago | Culture

Around 4,000 years ago, at the end of the Stone Age and the beginning of the Bronze Age, the Rhine served as a natural corridor for the population of north-western Europe. It was a route of trade and exchange of ideas. A kind of highway from prehistory that has left the remains of open-air sanctuaries, some of which also served as solar calendars. One of these enclaves, unique in the Netherlands, was discovered in the municipality of Tiel. Three mounds and wooden pillars form corridors for ritual processions. Among the finds excavated since 2017 and presented this June is a glass bead from Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) that indicates contacts with people from the Ancient Near East. Although there is no stone in the Dutch Delta, the site has been compared to Stonehenge, the megalithic monument in England. Both marked solstices and equinoxes and both had human burials.

The size of the Tiel sanctuary, about 50 kilometers from Utrecht, is equivalent to the size of three football stadiums, and archaeologists determined a few months ago that the largest of the mounds discovered was a solar calendar. A ditch about 20 meters in diameter had been dug around it, through which the sun came in on certain days of the year. As it happens at Stonehenge. “For example, the sunbeam marked June 21, the summer solstice and the longest day. Or on December 21, the winter solstice and the shortest day,” explains archaeologist Cristian van der Linde, its discoverer, whose team has worked with urban experts.

This space also marked the beginning of spring and fall: March 21 and September 21, when day and night are of equal length. “In our current calendars there are still dates that are reminiscent of the solar calendar: Christmas, for example, is associated with the longest night. Or the May festivals between the spring equinox and the summer solstice,” adds Van der Linde. The place in Tiel was used for about 800 years. “We thought that the following movements of the sun were related to their religious beliefs; That’s why about 80 people are buried here.” The sun not only illuminated the living, the graves also contained objects that were considered sacrificial offerings, such as a bronze spearhead.

The calendar is very complete and this expert believes he used it to know how long the winter would last and when crops would be planted and the subsequent harvest. “It was a tool for survival and worship that leaves us with a unique picture of Bronze Age customs in our area. We recovered almost a million objects,” he says. During the excavations they also observed four inhabited areas, one of which appeared about 20 meters south of the level of the burial ground. The others, all wooden houses with room for families and animals, were scattered along a ravine. “Up to 100 people must have lived there, although there could be more farms beyond the part studied.”

And the crystal pearl from the east? “It’s a sign. We know that there were trade routes that went very far, and this account is the oldest in a very wide area. In addition, it predates other similar objects collected in north-western Europe by 500 years, and reflects how objects moved in the world. It’s not as if these traders showed up in Mesopotamia and brought back the piece themselves. “There were networks that even covered a distance of 1,500 kilometers, and the exchange took place when those networks intersected. Anyway, 4,000 years ago, people were moving a lot more than we might have thought.”

The excavations have been completed and the objects have been cataloged and sent to various locations. Among them are the National Museum of Antiquitiesfrom suffering, and the Museo Flipje & Regional Museum, by Tiel. The archaeological zone is already empty, but the story is not over yet. The land is now privately owned and little is known of the owner’s plans. “Dutch legislation requires a study to be carried out in order to apply for a building permit, and it was during this task that the enclave was born. In view of the importance of the finds, all options are open to us,” says Mieke Kat, spokeswoman for the municipality of Tiel. Archaeologist Van der Linde does not rule out that a replica could be built elsewhere, since the sanctuary is in a remote location. “That way we could see if the solar calendar was working.”