Articles

A group of tumuli on the 'Hooghalen' estate near Hijken (municipality of Beilen, province of Drenthe, the Netherlands). With an appendix by J. Gerritsen: How it was done

Authors

  • M. van der Veen
  • J.N. Lanting
  • J. Gerritsen

Abstract

In 1952-53 11 burial mounds of a group of 16 on the 'Hooghalen' estate near Hijken were excavated. Only a brief description of one of the tumuli, and a short summary of the results were published (van Giffen, 1956; van Zeist, 1955). Another burial mound on the estate had been excavated in 1937, shortly before it was leveled (van Giffen, 1939a).

In this paper the excavations are fully published, at last. The group comprised largely mounds of the Middle Bronze Age, but three Late Neolithic and 6 Middle Late Iron Age mounds are present as well. The dating of Dutch burial mounds in general, and of the Hijken-'Hooghalen' group in particular, is discussed. The discovery and the application of Gerritsen's rule on the centring of single, widely-spaced post circles is elucidated.

The palynological evidence, originally published by van Zeist (1955), is reconsidered.

Published

1989-12-15

Issue

Section

Articles