Wednesday 4 July 2018

History in my backyard: a day at the Hunebed Center in Borger

It was a beautiful sunny Tuesday in the beginning of Summer, when I decided that it was time for me to go somewhere I should have gone a long time ago. A place that connects the past to the present and tells a story of the people that lived in the North of the Netherlands around 4000 years ago. I am talking about the Hunebed Centre in Borger, Drenthe.
As an inhabitant of the North, born and raised just a ten minute drive away from the nearest Hunebeds, I have always been aware of the archaeological structures that are part of the history of this land and its people. Their story is told in Borger, at the Hunebed Centre which one of the ‘expedition gates’ in the UNESCO Hondsrug Geopark area: the expedition gate of the Ice Age and Prehistory. (There are 7 more expedition gates, these will be mentioned at the bottom of this page.)
When driving to Borger, I couldn´t help but wonder why I have never been to the Hunebed Centre when I was younger. Not with my parents, but also not as a school trip. It felt weird to have been walking past Hunebeds so many times, without having known their full story. My husband has not even seen a Hunebed before in his life. I was excited to go on a refreshing expedition in my own familiar environment.

When we arrived at the Hunebed Centre, I felt like I was back in time instantly. The story started at the Boulder Garden where we became familiar with all the different types of boulders that have been shifted by ice from Scandinavia all the way up here around 150.000 years ago. Seeing things this old, even though they are just rocks, made me feel some type of way. It shows how small our human life is in terms of time. How quick we are to disappear from this earth, yet these rocks have existed almost forever. 

When we walked into the museum, we finally learned how experts think the Hunebeds were created through an exposition. They were constructed by a folk named the Funnel Beaker People. They lived in the North of the Netherlands, the North of Germany, Southern Sweden and in parts of Denmark. We saw a reconstruction video of how 30 strong men used to roll the huge rocks over a few tree trunks and then put them on top of each other using ropes and a lot of force, eventually forming underground chambers used for the burial of up to forty dead people. The aim of this part of the Hunebed Center which is also the Expedition Gate, is to really give shape to the heritagescape of the Prehistoric and Ice Age expedition by giving visual information about the how’s and why’s.

When continuing our little expedition, we walked from the indoor museum right into the Prehistoric Park. We learned that this quick transition has just been made availablev a few months ago, before people had to walk a long way to get there. This transition suits the experience from story to reality much better. The Prehistoric 
park really contributes to the amazingly lively heritagescape: it brings life to the silence of geological heritage. It brings life to the story told inside the museum. It was not just a beautiful park in the midst of nature. I was walking through time. I was nowhere near the Drenthe as I have known it in my 23 years of existence. I sat next to a small Prehistoric farm as I watched the Prehistoric people demonstrate how life used to be. Simple. Hard. Nothing like I will ever know. I watched them make fire and saw a Prehistoric man help my husband to use a bow and arrow. There are Prehistoric houses which look more like small tents as we know them nowadays. Even the funnel-shaped pottery of which the Funnel Beaker People lend their names can be seen inside the houses.
The Iron Age Farm in the Prehistoric Park

Hunebed D27, Borger
When de day ended and my 2-year old became tired of all the new impressions this day back in time brought, we decided to finish our little expedition at D27: the biggest Hunebed in Drenthe. It is 27 meters long and 4 meters wide and it does not look like it has been here for thousands of years. It is an impressive first actual Hunebed for my husband to see. He told me how amazing it is to live so close to these huge traces of history. Other Hunebeds can be found throughout the Hondsrug Geopark, which spreads from the city of Groningen to the 
city of Coevorden. There are 54 Hunebeds in the province of Drenthe, and 1 in Groningen: they can be found here.

When you want to continue the expedition from the Hunebed Centre into the landscape of Drenthe, the choice can be made to be guided by a simple booklet or by downloading the app ‘Annodrenthe.’ Since I am that kind of person that can’t let go of photo’s on my phone, meaning that I never have any space left on my phone for new apps, we chose to take the expedition booklet home for when we find the time to continue our expedition. When driving back home, I realized how much I have missed out. I realized that there is so much to discover in my own backyard. I now know so much more about the beautiful landscape of the Hondsrug UNESCO Geopark, yet there is still so much more to discover. And we will.

S.B.


Expedition gates of the UNESCO Hondsrug Geopark:

Ice Age & Prehistory - Hunebed Center, Borger
Peat - Veenpark, Barger Compascuum Nature - Visitors' Center Homanshof of the Drentsche Aa area, Anloo Traces of Battle - Arsenal, Coevorden Forests - Boomkroonpad, Drouwen Art - Van Gogh House, Nieuw Amsterdam Water- De Bloemert, Midlaren Farmers - Nabershof, Emmen.


Sources:

Geopark de Hondsrug. (2018, July 3). Hotspots en expeditiepoorten. Opgehaald van Geopark de Hondsrug: http://www.geoparkdehondsrug.eu/ambassadeurscursus/hotspots-en-expeditiepoorten/