Tomb mounds Half Mijl - Veldhoven

The many burial mounds in the forest of the hamlet of Halfmijl are of archaeological interest. They date back to the Stone Age (up to about 1600 B.C.) and the Bronze Age (1600-1000 B.C.). The discovery of the mounds proves that people already lived in De Kempen in the prehistoric and Bronze Age. You can find them in all kinds of designs: with or without poles around them, with or without a trench, or with or without both of the natural decorations.

It is not clear where the settlements of the inhabitants were located. It is also not clear which inhabitants were buried in the burial mounds, as too few remains have been found to assume that each inhabitant was interred at the burial mound.

In earlier times, it was often believed that the burial mounds caused ominous events and that witch-dances were performed there. The expression 'Te Halver Mile was 't aovondspiele' may have something to do with that. The name Halfmijl, or Halve Mijl, does not help either. Half' would indicate sinister, remote places. The word 'mile' may have come from the medieval word 'banmile', which stands for jurisdiction. It may be derived from the French word 'banlieu' (suburb), in which 'lieu' also means mile.