Herman Clerinx

Wetenschappen zoals archeologie evolueren behoorlijk snel. Dat blijkt ook uit dit boek: gepubliceerd in 2001 en intussen op veel vlakken achterhaald. Gelukkig publiceerde de auteur intussen een bijgewerkte en ruimere versie ‘Een paleis voor de doden’ (die ik helaas niet ter beschikking heb). Clerinx vermengt in dit oudere werk de beperkte wetenschappelijke informatie over hunebedden, dolmens en menhirs met heel wat mythen en verhalen, zodat dit boek evengoed een studie over volkscultuur is. Maar, zoals gezegd, levert vooral het proto-linguïstisch en het paleo-genetisch onderzoek de laatste decennia voortdurend nieuwe inzichten op. Dat maakt de kans groter dat er misschien een einde komt aan de kakofonie van speculatieve theorieën die er over deze stenen monumenten tot nu toe bestond.… (altro)

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3661986.html

Having hugely enjoyed the same author's book on Roman remains in the Benelux, I was delighted to find that he had also written this on the megalithic monuments of Belgium and the Netherlands (I didn't spot anything about Luxembourg). It's shorter (160 pages rather than 400), because there is much less to say. The first hundred pages look at the lore around the ancient stones, looking at mythology, history and the evidence from archaeology, not just locally but also in France, Britain and Ireland. The last sixty are a gazetteer to the Belgian and Dutch monuments themselves. This breaks down pretty easily geographically, because almost all of the megaliths in the Netherlands are hunebedden in the province of Drenthe, which are found nowhere else. (There's a few other bits and bobs near Eindhoven and Maastricht.)

I was pleased to see that I have been to at least half of the Belgian megaliths, though I am keen to fill out my list. (Maybe even next weekend.) I wish that Clerinx had also said a bit more about tumuli, of which we have several in the woods near us. I remain deeply sceptical of the widely held theory that most portal tombs were originally covered with earth or stones, which have worn off or been taken away over the years; I don't really see how that could work as a natural process, and I don't see why people would not have removed the large stones as well as the small. Clerinx points out that in fact relatively few of them seem to be associated with burials.

One interesting point: archaeology in the Netherlands is restricted to rescue digs on sites that are about to be destroyed by new construction, of buildings or roads or whatever. Since the Hunebedden are not under threat, there has been very little archaeological investigation of them. I realise that since so much of the land surface of the Netherlands has literally been brought above the waves in the last thousand years, there's not perhaps as much to find as in most countries, but it still seems to me that the Dutch are missing a trick here by ignoring relatively undisturbed environments.… (altro)

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3653046.html

This is a great book, whose title translates as both "Roman tracks" and "Roman traces", looking at vestiges of the Roman Empire in the Benelux countries (somewhat broadly defined as including Trier in Germany and Bavay in France - today's borders did not apply). There's a sensible structure moving from the historical cycle of events to more thematic issues such as religion, wellness and death. There are lovely illustrations, and GPS co-ordinates given for every monument mentioned.

Some have been lost. One dramatic story is what happened to the relics of the goddess Nehalennia, of whom about 30 inscriptions were found in the Zeeland town of Domburg in the 17th century. They were all stored in the church, which was struck by lightning in 1848 and completely destroyed. Spooky, eh? (Though many more have since been found, and the temple has been reconstructed.)

As someone who grew up in a country that was not conquered by the Romans, I was always a little envious of those who were, with all the extra layers of archaeology that they left. In fact in Flanders there is not all that much. Our part of the world was well known for one thing in Roman times: Menapian ham, a delicacy much enjoyed to the south. (A bit surprising that our local pigs tasted better than the Italian ones, but maybe that's branding.) The road from Bavay to Tongeren was to a certain extent an internal frontier, not too far off today's taalgrens, the Rhine (in its older more northern route) being the official fortified border. In between there wasn't a lot, basically farms feeding the garrisons and buildings which have mostly been disassembled by stone-hungry medievals.

There's more than nothing of course. One of the tumuli near our house is classified as Gallo-Roman, and there are more a bit father south. Near where B and U live are the Three Tumuli of Grimde, from which a cameo brooch of the Emperor Augustus was recovered, later stolen by Hermann Göring. But that's barely scratching the surface. Luxembourg has an underground Roman aqueduct, there's plenty from the forts in the Netherlands, and of course I've been to the museum at Oudenburg recently as well. Reading the book inspired me to go to Het Toreke museum in Tienen again, where there is an impressive tableau of the horse, dogs and woman (slave? lover? both?) found sacrificed in another tumulus near the town, as well as the remnants of a mithræum.

Anyway, I was relieved that my Dutch was good enough to get through the book, and excited to find that Clerinx has also written about Belgium's megalithic remains (so I bought that immediately).… (altro)