Living near the dead: The Barrow Excavations of Rhenen-Elst - Two Millenia of Burial and Habitation on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug [Paperback] [Jan 15, 2011] Fontijn, David

ISBN 10: 9088900558 / ISBN 13: 9789088900556

Published by Sidestone Press, 2011

About this Item

Some shelfwear to the extremities of the book. A few marks on both sides. Content clean and readable throughout, a decent paperback.

Seller Inventory # 103962-6a

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Living near the dead: The Barrow Excavations of Rhenen-Elst - Two Millenia of Burial and Habitation on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug [Paperback] [Jan 15, 2011] Fontijn, David
• Publisher: Sidestone Press
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9088900558
• ISBN 13: 9789088900556
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

The hills overlooking the north flank of the Rhine valley in the Netherlands are dotted with hundreds of prehistoric burial mounds. Only a few of them were ever investigated by archaeologists, and even nowadays the many barrows preserved in the extensive forests of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug are the oldest visible witnesses of a remote, but largely unknown prehistoric past. In 2006, a team of archaeologists of the Ancestral Mounds project of Leiden University set out to investigate these age-old monuments. Parts of two neighbouring mounds at Elst, in the municipality of Rhenen, were excavated, and numerous finds collected by amateur archaeologists were retrieved and studied. As a result, the research team was able to reconstruct the formation and histories of this barrow landscape from 2000 BC onwards. Contrary to what was initially thought, the Elst barrows appeared not to have been situated within a separate ceremonial landscape, but were rather closely linked with the world of daily living. Throughout the Bronze Age and Iron Age, people had been 'living near the dead'. The finds discussed in this book include a rare example of an Early Bronze Age burial mound, examples of pottery deposition, remains of a Middle Bronze Age 'Hilversum-Period' settlement and many indications for mundane and ritual uses of the barrows in the later Iron Age.

From the Back Cover

The hills overlooking the north flank of the Rhine valley in the Netherlands are dotted with hundreds of prehistoric burial mounds. Only a few of them were ever investigated by archaeologists, and even nowadays the many barrows preserved in the extensive forests of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug are the oldest visible witnesses of a remote, but largely unknown prehistoric past.

In 2006, a team of archaeologists of the Ancestral Mounds project of Leiden University set out to investigate these age-old monuments. Parts of two neighbouring mounds at Elst, in the municipality of Rhenen, were excavated, and numerous finds collected by amateur archaeologists were retrieved and studied. As a result, the research team was able to reconstruct the formation and histories of this barrow landscape from 2000 BC onwards. Contrary to what was initially thought, the Elst barrows appeared not to have been situated within a separate ceremonial landscape, but were rather closely linked with the world of daily living. Throughout the Bronze Age and Iron Age, people had been 'living near the dead'.

The finds discussed in this book include a rare example of an Early Bronze Age burial mound, examples of pottery deposition, remains of a Middle Bronze Age 'Hilversum-Period' settlement and many indications for mundane and ritual uses of the barrows in the later Iron Age.

This publication is part of the Ancestral Mounds Research Project.

Nederlandse beschrijving:

De Utrechtse heuvelrug kijkt uit op de Rijnvallei en is bedekt met honderden prehistorische grafheuvels. Slechts een paar van die heuvels zijn ooit onderzocht door archeologen ook al vormen zij het oudste en meest tastbare bewijs van het prehistorische verleden in dit gebied.

In 2006 voerde een team archeologen van het Ancestral Mounds Project van de Universiteit Leiden een opgraving uit bij twee van deze monumenten. Delen van twee heuvels gelegen bij Elst (gemeente Rhenen) werden opgegraven. Daarnaast werden talloze vondsten geļnventariseerd en onderzocht die de afgelopen jaren verzameld waren door amateur-archeologen. Uiteindelijk kon het onderzoeksteam de oprichting en geschiedenis van dit grafheuvellandschap reconstrueren welke reeds rond 2000 v. Chr. begon. In tegenstelling tot wat vaak gedacht wordt lagen de heuvels bij Elst niet in een apart dodenlandschap, maar lagen zij juist vlakbij de wereld van de levenden. Gedurende de Brons en IJzertijd woonde men vlakbij deze grafheuvels.

Dit boek behandelt een zeldzaam voorbeeld van een grafheuvel uit de Vroege Bronstijd, voorbeelden van aardewerk deposities, de resten van een nederzetting uit de midden Bronstijd (Hilversumcultuur) en een scala aan zowel profane als rituele activiteiten in de latere IJzertijd.