Hunebedden in Drenthe

May 2011

• • • Click each image for a larger version • • •

In the northeastern province of Drenthe, between Assen and Emmen, lie some 50 passage graves (hunebedden) dating from Neolithic times. Built 5000 years ago from large erratic boulders transported from Scandinavia by ice during the Ice Age, these were used by the early settlers as burial places for their dead.

Originally, the hunebedden were covered by a mound of soil and stones, the large boulders simply providing the 'skeleton' for the hollow passage within. Over the millennia, this covering has been stripped away to reveal the structures we see today.