Prehistory

About 3000 burial mounds are known to exist in the Netherlands. Most of these can be found in Gelderland, particularly in the Veluwe. Grave mounds appeal to the imagination: they are the first tangible remains of our distant ancestors. Later inhabitants had no idea where the mounds came from and often made up all sorts of exciting stories.

Ice Age
The landscape of Gelderland was largely formed during the second last Ice Age, about 150.000 years ago. Land ice from the north created enormous moraines and the Veluwe even has the largest moraine in Europe. The Ice Age created not only hills, but also mysterious holes in the landscape, such as the lake of Uddelermeer and the large hole in the ground Solse Gat near Drie. A rewarding source for mysterious sagas and legends.

Hunters on the Veluwe
Shortly after the last Ice Age, 12.000 years ago, groups of hunters migrated to spots across the Veluwe, such as Houtbeek in Stroe. Around 3000 BC, one of the most important revolutions in the history of mankind took place in this region: the transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers. People no longer had to travel around to find food and started to live permanently in the Veluwe. They probably believed in life after death, as the dead were buried with great devotion. Large mounds are raised above the graves.

Burial mounds
In total, thousands of these types of burial mounds have been erected of which several hundreds are still visible in the landscape. Special burial mounds can be found near Garderen, Stroe and Schovenhorst. Some are now located on the grounds of estates such as Warnsborn and Lichtenbeek near Arnhem. A row of several kilometers of burial mounds can be found between Epe and Vaassen, exactly in one line. Near Ede, a prehistoric farm has been reconstructed and the original fields – Celtic fields – have been made visible again.