Discovery of a 4,000-Year-Old Sanctuary in the Netherlands

Archaeologists have discovered a 4,000-year-old sanctuary made up of pits and burial mounds - earthen hills often built over ancient cemeteries - in central Netherlands, which they believe likely had a purpose and function similar to that of Stonehenge. According to Reuters, this site - constructed with earth and wood and covering an area at least the size of three football fields - was built to align with the sun during the summer solstices, much like the famous stone circle in southern England. The excavation site is located in the town of Tiel in central Netherlands. According to a statement from the municipality of Tiel, a city 70 kilometers from Rotterdam where the excavation is located, archaeologists also discovered offerings including animal skeletons, a human skull, and valuable items such as a bronze spearhead in areas where sunlight shone through gaps. A bronze spearhead found at the excavation site. The statement noted: "The largest mound acted as a solar calendar, something akin to the famous stones of Stonehenge in Britain." The statement added, "This sanctuary must have been a very important place where people calculated specific days of the year, performed religious ceremonies, and buried their dead." During excavations at this site in 2017, archaeologists also uncovered several cemeteries. One of the graves belonged to a woman buried with glass beads from Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). A green glass bead from Mesopotamia discovered in the 4,000-year-old grave of a woman in central Netherlands. These are the oldest beads ever found in the Netherlands and researchers say they prove that people in this region were in contact with those 5,000 kilometers away at that time. Archaeologists spent six years examining over a million artifacts and excavated items from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman Empire, and Middle Ages. Some of these artifacts will be displayed in a local museum in Tiel and at the National Museum of Antiquities in the Netherlands.