Stone good cycle route
Dwingeloo, Holtinge, Diever
In the Middle Stone Age, around 4400 BC, a people we today call the Funnel Beaker people lived in Drenthe. We named this people after the shape of the most common earthenware cup found in their tombs. They made these crypts under monuments of heavy boulders, the dolmens.
The boulders, which sometimes weigh up to 40 tonnes, were brought to our country by huge glaciers during the Ice Age, about 150,000 years ago. Originally, they come from Finland and Sweden. The largest boulders were made into the frame, the flatter stones formed the roof and keystones were placed at the ends. In the Middle Ages, many hunebeds were destroyed and the stones used to build churches.
In the Netherlands, 54 hunebeds can still be found in various states of being. None is complete any more. In Groningen you will find G1 and G2 and in Drenthe D1 to D54. D33 has been demolished and, after investigation, D48 turned out not to be a hunebed after all. In the early twentieth century, Professor Albert van Giffen (1884-1973), commissioned by the Dutch government, was able to extensively examine the remaining hunebeds and their tombs. Apart from the funnel cups, bone remains, bottles, bowls and buckets were also found in the burial vaults. These finds have given us many insights into how people lived and dealt with the dead at that time. A number of hunebeds were also restored as a result of this research. With varying degrees of success, however; in a number of cases, according to some, Professor van Geffen sometimes departed too little from the facts.
This impressive cycle route takes you past a number of these hunebeds, which you absolutely must have seen if you have been to Drenthe. Besides megalithic tombs, you will also see the primeval nature of the Holtingerveld and the historic towns of Dwingeloo and Diever. These village greens are centuries old and this is reflected in the cosy streets. This route of about 50 kilometres introduces you to the real Drenthe, its nature and history. In short: Drenthe at its most beautiful!
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