A black circle in the yellow sand. It is not a cryptic message from Aliens, but the remainder of a burial mound. Because the municipality of Aa and Hunze wants to expand the Bloemakkers business park at Gieten, there must first be a kick in the ground. The yield: a burial mound, pot remains, pieces of flint and maybe even more.
Elma Schrijer, project manager at cultural -historical research agency Baac: “This is the final phase in archaeological research. If we come, we will clean up everything.” All archaeological treasures from the period from the hunebed builders to the Bronze Age must be removed from the ground. This happens with both large machines and by hand. This not only secures history, but also the soil prepared for the business park.
Little is left of the burial mound. Schrijer: “That’s because a farmer has argued here. That was not the most recent farmer, but could also have happened 150 years ago.” Yet the black circle in the sand for the archaeologist is proof that there has been a burial mound here. “A burial mound stands out. It is circular and there is nothing to think of in nature what a circular shape makes.” It is precisely these human traces that the archaeologist recognizes.
The sand deep in the field is yellow, all other colors indicate a so -called disruption, according to Schrijer. But not all discolorations indicate archaeological treasures. Agriculture, moles, plant roots, all leaves the traces. It is up to the group of archaeologists to distinguish the historically interesting ground from the rest.