In recent years, archaeologists have already found traces of prehistoric habitation in the Daalkampen district in Borger. Now they also hoped to find something special during the excavations on the west side of the N34. And that worked. Although it was from a completely different part of history than expected.
An excavator carefully scrapes a layer of earth from the bottom. And then Harm Homan takes action. He checks the excavated soil meter by meter with a metal detector. And when it beeps, it digs a hole.
“I already had a piece in my hand. The tail piece,” says Harm. “And you don’t know what is still underground.”
It turns out to be a piece of the tail of a mortar shell. That’s some kind of bomb, probably from World War II. It landed in this area, but did not go off.
“That was quite a shock. You don’t know whether something like that is stable or not,” says Harm. He volunteers at the excavations in Borger and comes to help about three to four times a week.
The Defense Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service arrived to defuse the bomb. And when examining the entire excavation area, they found another mortar shell. As a result, the archaeologists’ work was delayed by two weeks.
Harm was actually looking for traces of much earlier history. Since August, archaeologists from RAAP have been digging in the area south of the Koesteeg. A new residential area will be built here in the future.
In the 7 hectare area, remains of farms have been found that belong to a large prehistoric settlement that was previously found in Daalkampen. Special finds have also been made from the Bronze Age and Iron Age, such as ceramic shards, a spinning stone that was used for spinning wool and a fibulaa Roman mantle pin.