8 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Archaeologists find 4,000-year-old Sanctuary in Netherlands

Archaeologists discovered a 4,000-year-old sanctuary during excavations of the model industrial estate in the town of Tiel, located 72 kilometers from the Hague in the Netherlands.

The sanctuary is made up of a number of raised mounds, the largest of which has a diameter of 20 meters. It also has a shallow ditch with a number of passage openings that line up with the sun on the summer and winter solstices.

For 800 years, the site was used for sacrificial festivals, rituals, and celebrations. People also buried their dead there.

The site was excavated in 2017, but its significance has only now become clear. The complex, which covers an area of about four football fields, is described as a unique discovery.

“What a spectacular archaeological discovery! Archaeologists have found a 4,000-year-old religious sanctuary on an industrial site. This is the first time a site like this has been discovered in the Netherlands,” the town of Tiel said on its Facebook page.

Photo: Municipality of Tiel

According to the researchers: “The sanctuary must have been a highly significant place where people kept track of special days in the year, performed rituals and buried their dead. Rows of poles stood along pathways used for processions.”

The researchers excavated a total of about one million objects, including a 1,000-year-old glass bead. The oldest objects were estimated to date back to 2,500 B.C.

“This bead traveled a distance of some 5,000 kilometers, four millennia ago,” said chief researcher Cristian van der Linde.

“Glass was not made here, so the bead must have been a spectacular item as for people then it was an unknown material,” added Stijn Arnoldussen, professor at the University of Groningen.

Photo: Municipality of Tiel

In the vicinity of the sanctuary are numerous burial mounds, in which archaeologists have found the remains of more than 80 individuals either as cremated burials or inhumation burials. The largest of these mounds contained the remains of men, women, and a large concentration of children.

The largest mound is said to have functioned as a solar calendar. On the shortest and longest day of the year, the sun’s rays could shine directly onto the mound through special notches in the ditch. Excavations also found ritual offerings of animal skeletons, human skulls, and a bronze spearhead, which were deposited in the openings at the precise spot where the sun shone during the solstices.

Beginning Friday, some of the discoveries will be on display at a local museum. Others will be displayed at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, close to The Hague.

Cover Photo: Alexander van de Bunt

Municipality of Tiel

Related Articles

Medieval Love badge with the written “Love conquers all” discovered in Poland

18 February 2024

18 February 2024

Polish archaeologists have discovered a late medieval badge: a piece of tin shaped into a turtle dover and with the...

1.5 tons of bronze coins found in east China

19 December 2022

19 December 2022

An ancient coin hoard containing 1.5 tonnes of coins from the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties has been discovered...

Genetic Analysis Reveals A Woman As The Highest-Ranking Individual In Copper Age Spain: ‘Ivory Lady’

6 July 2023

6 July 2023

According to a study published Thursday (July 6) in the journal Scientific Reports, the highest-status individual in ancient Copper Age...

2.3-meter sword found in 4th-century tomb in Japan

27 January 2023

27 January 2023

The largest bronze mirror and the largest “dako” iron sword in Japan were discovered at the Tomio Maruyama burial mound...

1,500-Year-Old Stained Glass and Mosaics Discovered at Harran Cathedral Excavation in Türkiye

7 February 2025

7 February 2025

Recent excavations at the historic Harran archaeological site, which is included on UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List, have yielded rare...

INAH Archaeologists recover the coyote-man of Tacámbaro

26 January 2022

26 January 2022

Archaeologists win the coyote-man trial that lasted 30 years in Mexico. The litigation regarding the coyote-man of Tacámbaro, an important...

3 Bronze Shields and Helmet of 2700 Years Old Belonging to Urartians Found in Ayanis Castle

8 September 2024

8 September 2024

Three bronze shields and a bronze helmet dedicated to Haldi, the chief god of the Urartians, were discovered during excavations...

Archaeologists discover the Americas’ oldest adobe architecture

7 December 2021

7 December 2021

On the north coast of Peru, researchers have discovered the oldest adobe architecture in the Americas, constructed with ancient mud...

Historical Armenian church 500-year-old in southeastern Turkey set to be restored

6 February 2022

6 February 2022

Work has been initiated to transfer the historical Armenian Church, which was built in the 16th century in the province...

Artifacts used for ancient magic rituals discovered on Darb al-Hajj route from Cairo to Mecca

11 September 2023

11 September 2023

The artifacts, found in the 1990s on the ancient Darb al-Hajj route from Cairo to Mecca, may have been in...

Archaeologists have unearthed part of Hadrian’s Aqueduct, one of the Largest Hydraulic Works of the 2nd century AD, and Extremely Rare Greek Coins

11 January 2024

11 January 2024

Archaeologists have unearthed part of Hadrian’s aqueduct, one of the largest hydraulic works of the 2nd century AD, and a...

In Poland’s “Death Valley,” new evidence of Nazi atrocities

18 August 2021

18 August 2021

In October 1939, between 30,000 and 35,000 Polish intellectuals, Polish civilians, Jews and Czechs, and German prisoners from psychiatric institutions...

Researchers use AI to read words on ancient Herculaneum scroll burned by Vesuvius

13 October 2023

13 October 2023

Researchers used artificial intelligence to extract the first word from one of the first texts in a charred scroll from...

An inscription containing 15 headless falcons and unknown ancient rituals found in an ancient Egyptian temple

8 October 2022

8 October 2022

Archaeologists have discovered a shrine containing previously unknown ancient rituals during excavations at Berenike, a Greco-Roman port in Egypt’s eastern...

1st Century BCE Medusa Mask Mold Discovered in Ancient Finziade, Sicily

24 January 2025

24 January 2025

At the Finziade archaeological site in the Sicilian town of Licata, archaeologists have discovered a mask mold that could represent...