DOI chapter:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI chapter:Molthof, Helle M.; Baetsen, Steffen: Two new Swifterbant settlements at Nieuwegein-Het Klooster, the Netherlands: preliminary site interpretation and overview of human remains
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0086
Stone Age Borderland Experience (MAN 60, 2022, 85 -97)
85
Two new Swifterbant settlements at Nieuwegein-
Het Klooster, the Netherlands: preliminary site
interpretation and overview of human remains
Helle M. Molthof and Steffen Baetsen
Abstract In 2017, for the first time in almost twenty years, a site with the remains of multiple individuals from the Swifterbant
culture was discovered at Nieuwegein in the Netherlands. Nowadays an industrial area on reclaimed land, the flat green
meadows are hiding a former river system of levees and peat-filled channels, which appears to have been intensively used by
Neolithic communities.
Together with the simultaneous excavations at Tiel-Medel, about 25 km to the southeast, the excavations at Nieuwegein
comprise the first large scale Swifterbant research in the central delta area of the Netherlands (Fig. 1). As such, both sites will
serve as key links between the known sites of the Swifterbant culture (spanning an area between Antwerp and Hamburg),
and the more or less contemporary sites of the Rbssen, Bischheim and Michelsberg cultures to the south and east.
The remains of at least sixteen human individuals were discovered at Nieuwegein-Het Klooster. Among them were the remains
of a baby, found in the arms of a young woman, the oldest burial of this kind ever found in the Netherlands. The analysis of
the DNA of both the woman and the baby made clear that the burial concerns a mother and her daughter.
Keywords Swifterbant culture, burials
Zusammenfassung Im da hr 20171st es nach nahezu zwanzig Jahren erst ma Is gel ungen, in Nieuwegein in den Niederlanden
einen Bestattungsplatz der Swifterbant Kultur mit zahlreichen Individuen zu entdecken. In dem heutigen Industriegebiet
lassen die grunen Wiesen das dort befindliche, fruhere Flusssystem, das Im Neolithikum offensichtlich intensiv genutzt wurde,
kaum noch erkennen.
Gleichzeitig werden auch Ausgrabungen in Tiel-Medel etwa 25 km sudwestlich von Nieuwegein durchgefuhrt und die beiden
Fundstellen embglichen die ersten groSflachigen Forschungen zurSwifterbant Kultur im zentralen Deltagebiet der Niederlan-
de. Sie sind a Is Schlusselfundplatze der Swifterbant Kultur zwischen Antwerpen und Hamburg sowie den mehr Oder weniger
zeitgleichen Fundstellen der Rbssener, Bischheimer und Michelsberger Kultur im Suden und Osten anzusehen.
In Nieuwegein-Het Klooster wurden die Uberreste von mindestens sechzehn menschlichen Individuen entdeckt. Unter ihnen
istauch ein Baby das in den Armen einerjungen Frau aufgefunden wurde. Es handeltsich urn das alteste Grab dieserArt, das
in den Niederlanden entdeckt wurde, und aDNA-Analysen zeigen, dass es sich urn die Beisetzung einer Muttter mit ihrer
Tochter handelt.
Paleogeography and excavation
The research at Nieuwegein was fuelled by the devel-
opment of a large business park, ‘Het Klooster’. An
intensive augering survey, consisting of more than
10,000 corings in a close grid, provided a detailed
insight into the palaeogeography (Sprangers 2019).
Dominating the area is the residual channel of the
river Wiersch, flanked by its levees and the flood-
plains beyond (Fig. 1-2). The Wiersch can be con-
sidered a predecessor of the Rhine. In the north of
the research area, a smaller river or stream branches
off from the main channel. Though this secondary
stream probably originated as a crevasse when the
Wiersch broke through its levees, it is likely that it
developed into a relatively small but permanently
flowing river branch.
The excavation areas are indicated in red and
blue. The site denominations derive from the plot
numbers of the future business park. The 2016/2017
campaign, which took place on site 1, yielded a large
settlement area on the western levee of the main
85
Two new Swifterbant settlements at Nieuwegein-
Het Klooster, the Netherlands: preliminary site
interpretation and overview of human remains
Helle M. Molthof and Steffen Baetsen
Abstract In 2017, for the first time in almost twenty years, a site with the remains of multiple individuals from the Swifterbant
culture was discovered at Nieuwegein in the Netherlands. Nowadays an industrial area on reclaimed land, the flat green
meadows are hiding a former river system of levees and peat-filled channels, which appears to have been intensively used by
Neolithic communities.
Together with the simultaneous excavations at Tiel-Medel, about 25 km to the southeast, the excavations at Nieuwegein
comprise the first large scale Swifterbant research in the central delta area of the Netherlands (Fig. 1). As such, both sites will
serve as key links between the known sites of the Swifterbant culture (spanning an area between Antwerp and Hamburg),
and the more or less contemporary sites of the Rbssen, Bischheim and Michelsberg cultures to the south and east.
The remains of at least sixteen human individuals were discovered at Nieuwegein-Het Klooster. Among them were the remains
of a baby, found in the arms of a young woman, the oldest burial of this kind ever found in the Netherlands. The analysis of
the DNA of both the woman and the baby made clear that the burial concerns a mother and her daughter.
Keywords Swifterbant culture, burials
Zusammenfassung Im da hr 20171st es nach nahezu zwanzig Jahren erst ma Is gel ungen, in Nieuwegein in den Niederlanden
einen Bestattungsplatz der Swifterbant Kultur mit zahlreichen Individuen zu entdecken. In dem heutigen Industriegebiet
lassen die grunen Wiesen das dort befindliche, fruhere Flusssystem, das Im Neolithikum offensichtlich intensiv genutzt wurde,
kaum noch erkennen.
Gleichzeitig werden auch Ausgrabungen in Tiel-Medel etwa 25 km sudwestlich von Nieuwegein durchgefuhrt und die beiden
Fundstellen embglichen die ersten groSflachigen Forschungen zurSwifterbant Kultur im zentralen Deltagebiet der Niederlan-
de. Sie sind a Is Schlusselfundplatze der Swifterbant Kultur zwischen Antwerpen und Hamburg sowie den mehr Oder weniger
zeitgleichen Fundstellen der Rbssener, Bischheimer und Michelsberger Kultur im Suden und Osten anzusehen.
In Nieuwegein-Het Klooster wurden die Uberreste von mindestens sechzehn menschlichen Individuen entdeckt. Unter ihnen
istauch ein Baby das in den Armen einerjungen Frau aufgefunden wurde. Es handeltsich urn das alteste Grab dieserArt, das
in den Niederlanden entdeckt wurde, und aDNA-Analysen zeigen, dass es sich urn die Beisetzung einer Muttter mit ihrer
Tochter handelt.
Paleogeography and excavation
The research at Nieuwegein was fuelled by the devel-
opment of a large business park, ‘Het Klooster’. An
intensive augering survey, consisting of more than
10,000 corings in a close grid, provided a detailed
insight into the palaeogeography (Sprangers 2019).
Dominating the area is the residual channel of the
river Wiersch, flanked by its levees and the flood-
plains beyond (Fig. 1-2). The Wiersch can be con-
sidered a predecessor of the Rhine. In the north of
the research area, a smaller river or stream branches
off from the main channel. Though this secondary
stream probably originated as a crevasse when the
Wiersch broke through its levees, it is likely that it
developed into a relatively small but permanently
flowing river branch.
The excavation areas are indicated in red and
blue. The site denominations derive from the plot
numbers of the future business park. The 2016/2017
campaign, which took place on site 1, yielded a large
settlement area on the western levee of the main