This is a follow-up to the News Item by ‘Sweetcheat‘
A 2010 excavation of the remains of a Franciscan monastery that stood below Alkmaar’s present-day Paardenmarkt between 1448 to 1574, uncovered a mass grave dating from 1573, the year when Alkmaar was besieged by the Spaniards.
But more excitingly, further research below a layer of drift sand revealed a unique prehistoric tomb dating back to the Iron Age – around 700 BCE.
The sandy soils of the Netherlands rarely preserve remains of this age (not even bones), but remarkably, a silhouette was discovered, in the customary squatting interment position of that era. The silhouette was protected by a coating of lacquer and removed in its entirety for preservation.
You read more about these excavations in this Leiden University report (in English).