Emmen, Odoorn, Schoonoord

Dolmens. No archaeological phenomenon in the Netherlands appeals to the imagination as much as these burial grounds. But by whom were they made and why? To answer these questions, we have to go back to the New Stone Age, which began about 5,000 years ago.

During this time, the Funnel Beaker Culture emerged, named after the typical funnel-shaped pottery dating from this era. Research into this pottery, found among other things as grave goods in the dolmens, provided a lot of historically important information. The Funnel Beaker Culture did not only occur in the north of the Netherlands, but also in Scandinavia, Germany and Eastern Europe.

For the first time in history, our ancestors settled in small settlements and slowly abandoned hunting and gathering. Agriculture had existed for thousands of years in the Middle East, and around 7000 BC, farming began in southern Limburg. The first farmers in the north of the Netherlands, some two thousand years later, were the Funnel Beakers.

Living in a fixed place brought other customs. People lived together in groups of 30 to sometimes 150 men. They kept cattle and grew grain. There was now time for other things besides gathering food. The Funnel Beakers started making earthenware pots through which food could be preserved. It is believed that at the same time, the rituals around burying our ancestors also arose.

The burial chambers we call dolmens were once watertight spaces meant to bury and honour the dead. The Funnel Beakers believed that the deceased went on a journey to the afterlife and gave grave gifts such as jewellery, skins and beautifully decorated earthenware pots full of food and drink. Presumably, people also sacrificed and feasted around the dolmens.

Hunebeds are often located on a hill. They may have been created by outside influences or the Funnel Beakers may have thought of it that way. The hunebeds we see today are only skeletons of the original graves.

The construction of the dolmens must have been an enormous trial of strength. The boulders sometimes weighed up to 40 tonnes. Possibly they were moved into place by laying down tree trunks and rolling the boulders over them but we don't know for sure. The results of investigations by archaeologist Van Giffen, who documented and restored the dolmens in the early 20th century, did not provide all the dreamed-of scientific evidence. The construction of the dolmens remains largely a mystery and, like the construction of the pyramids and Stonehenge, for instance, continues to capture the imagination enormously for this reason.

Although we do not know everything for sure, there is much more to tell about dolmens and the Funnel Beaker culture. A visit to the hunebed centre in Borger is therefore definitely worthwhile.


Photo Funnel cup: Drents Archive, Memory of Drenthe Collection.

This Premium cycle route was compiled by our editor: Yvonne Vlaskamp.