The newly revealed skeleton silhouette beneath the Paardenmarkt in Alkmaar.
Image credit: Radio & Televisie Noord-Holland
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The prehistoric grave unearthed during construction work at the Paardenmarkt in Alkmaar.
Image credit: Radio & Televisie Noord-Holland
The silhouette of the burial beneath the Paardenmarkt in Alkmaar
Image credit: Gemeente Alkmaar
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In June-August 2010 large scale excavations were executed on the cemetery belonging to the monastery, an area now termed the Paardenmarkt, by Hollandia Archeologen in cooperation with Leiden University. During the course of nine weeks, the students from the former minor Human Osteoarchaeology excavated and cleaned over 180 single coffin burials and 20 secondary inhumations. Interestingly, also two mass graves dating to the Siege of Alkmaar with 9 and 22 individuals were encountered. All the remains are housed in the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University and are currently undergoing the osteological analysis.
Read more about this in English.
Archaeologists digging in the Paardenmarkt (Horse market) square in the centre of the Dutch town of Alkmaar have discovered a prehistoric grave.
The remains show a person buried in the crouched position, which is typical of the Iron Age. The grave was found under a layer of sand found earlier in Alkmaar and known to date from the same period, between 700 BC and the beginning of the Christian era.
The dig in the centre of town is now in its final phase.
Earlier, archaeologists found a collective grave dating from 1573 and containing 15 skeletons and several musket balls and traces of shot. The siege of Alkmaar by the Spanish and the subsequent relief by William of Orange took place between August and October 1573. Other discoveries include a monastery graveyard and the remains of an historic street plan.
The dig is due to end later this month, after which the square will be subject to a major redesign.
From Radio Netherlands Worldwide:
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).