Old land, new landExcavation of site 5 in the future national road N23, at Swifterbant
(N.B. latest news at the bottom of the page!)
New Land
Keeping in mind that just one century ago the polder Flevoland was a dangerous inland sea, it is easier to understand the nickname New Land. Cornelis Lely’s plan to enclose the Zuiderzee and partially drain it, was accepted early as 1918. The 30 km long Afsluitdijk from Wieringen to Friesland was finished in 1932, turning the Zuiderzee into a lake – the IJsselmeer. Five years later, reclamation of the Northeast Polder was initiated. In 1957 Eastern Flevoland fell dry, and in 1968 Southern Flevoland also became land.
Old times
When the new land fell dry, it brought back parts of history and prehistory as well. The new residents of the polders were not the first to live here, a fact that is still surprising to a lot of people, even today. Wrecks are expected in a former sea, but the remnants of Mesolithic societies of 9000 years ago are more difficult to comprehend.
In Mesolithic and Neolithic times this area was located in the wide delta of the Overijsselse Vecht. It wasknown as the home of the Swifterbant people. The excavations of the so called ‘culture of the Swifterbant people’ in the sixties and seventies of the last century, brought to light lots of finds and even skeletons of the former inhabitants of this early farming society. Both categories can be seen at the New Land Heritagecentre in Lelystad. The results of the excavation today show that the people who were camping out here, and who were fabricating flint hunting tools, were doing so ca. 2000 years before the Swifterbant people: around 7000 BC.
Beneath the road
The Province of Flevoland has decided the archaeological research at this location because of the damaging weight effects of this infrastructural project. It would cause the dune to move sideways, loosing all information.
After a systematic coring prospection the remains of an ancient dune were found at 2,5 m below ground level. Radiocarbon dating of the layers of peat at the slope and at the top of this dune indicated a period of possible use around 6000 BC. Fragments of charred hazelnut bread, charcoal and flint arrowheads were found to support this assumption. The last results at the excavation, mentioned above, set the date back to ca. 7000 BC.
In order to work safe, a sheet pile wall is constructed around the site. The bottom of this ‘box’ is made by injecting water glass (sodium silicate).
Parties involved
Client: Province of Flevoland
Contract supervision: Vestigia bv, Archeologie & Cultuurhistorie (Amersfoort)
Wikepedia - Flevoland, English text
Stone age grave in Swifterbant
September 28. 2010 - Last week archaeologists in Swifterbant found a grave with human skeletal remains. The grave has been preserved because it was located under the groundwater level. The age and sex of the person still remain unsure, at least for the coming weeks. The burial seems to be dating from the period 8000 – 4500 BC. It could turn out to be the oldest preserved skeleton of the Netherlands. So far this ‘title’ belongs to Trijntje uit Hardinxveld-Giessendam, who was discovered in 1997 during the excavations in the Betuweroute. She lived around ca. 5500 BC. News fragments and photo’s of last week are on this website. Look at ‘opgraving in beeld’.
It's a girl!
December 12. 2010 Radiocarbondating -and more refined techniques, if necessary- will take about four months, so the discovery of the absolute age of the skeleton will take some more time. We do know by now that the remains belong to a woman ca 25 - 35 years old. She was about 160 cm tall.
