Uddelermeer Lake is an unusual lake. It is a geological phenomenon left over from the last glacial period called a pingo ruin: a collapsed ice formation. Next to the lake there is a medieval circular sconce known as the Huneschans. For centuries, the lake and the sconce have been a source of much fascination.
Pingo
Uddelermeer Lake originated in the last glacial period some 15,000-20,000 years ago. The land was created by an enormous wedge of ice that erupted out of the ground like a pustule. ‘Pingo’ is an Eskimo word meaning small hill. When the ice melted, the hill collapsed, leaving a circular crater called a pingo ruin. The cavity left behind, slowly filled up with sediment, and for geologists and archaeologists, this cavity is as good as a bestselling scientific novel, one that contains information from thousands of years of climate change, vegetation and habitation.
Huneschans
For prehistoric man, Uddelermeer Lake appears to have been an attractive place to live. There is evidence of habitation by the Funnel beaker culture, all around the lake. The farmers here were in fact cultivating some of the earliest domesticated varieties of wheat, einkorn wheat and emmer wheat here, in the small fields around their houses.
Still visible right next to the lake, is an immense earthwork sconce dating from the Middle Ages. The position of this fortified sconce, or ‘Huneschans’ on a crossroads between two thoroughfares, made it a strategically important stronghold. Its moats were fed by water from the lake.
Donar
There is a local legend from a time when the Veluwe region was supposedly inhabited by giants a tale about the sconce and how it was created. The legend tells of the giant from Uddel, who was woken up with a start one night by an enormous thunderbolt, followed by an almighty crack. Donar, the god of thunder and archenemy of all giants, had passed by the giant of Uddel, making the most deafening noise. Then, with one single blow of his hammer, he smashed the giant’s bread oven. All that was left was the edge of the oven, which is what we can still see today: the Huneschans sconce.
