Wetenschappen zoals archeologie evolueren behoorlijk snel. Dat blijkt ook uit dit boek: gepubliceerd in 2001 en intussen op veel vlakken achterhaald. Gelukkig publiceerde de auteur intussen een bijgewerkte en ruimere versie ‘Een paleis voor de doden’ (die ik helaas niet ter beschikking heb). Clerinx vermengt in dit oudere werk de beperkte wetenschappelijke informatie over hunebedden, dolmens en menhirs met heel wat mythen en verhalen, zodat dit boek evengoed een studie over volkscultuur is. Maar, zoals gezegd, levert vooral het proto-linguïstisch en het paleo-genetisch onderzoek de laatste decennia voortdurend nieuwe inzichten op. Dat maakt de kans groter dat er misschien een einde komt aan de kakofonie van speculatieve theorieën die er over deze stenen monumenten tot nu toe bestond. ( )

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3661986.html

Having hugely enjoyed the same author's book on Roman remains in the Benelux, I was delighted to find that he had also written this on the megalithic monuments of Belgium and the Netherlands (I didn't spot anything about Luxembourg). It's shorter (160 pages rather than 400), because there is much less to say. The first hundred pages look at the lore around the ancient stones, looking at mythology, history and the evidence from archaeology, not just locally but also in France, Britain and Ireland. The last sixty are a gazetteer to the Belgian and Dutch monuments themselves. This breaks down pretty easily geographically, because almost all of the megaliths in the Netherlands are hunebedden in the province of Drenthe, which are found nowhere else. (There's a few other bits and bobs near Eindhoven and Maastricht.)

I was pleased to see that I have been to at least half of the Belgian megaliths, though I am keen to fill out my list. (Maybe even next weekend.) I wish that Clerinx had also said a bit more about tumuli, of which we have several in the woods near us. I remain deeply sceptical of the widely held theory that most portal tombs were originally covered with earth or stones, which have worn off or been taken away over the years; I don't really see how that could work as a natural process, and I don't see why people would not have removed the large stones as well as the small. Clerinx points out that in fact relatively few of them seem to be associated with burials.

One interesting point: archaeology in the Netherlands is restricted to rescue digs on sites that are about to be destroyed by new construction, of buildings or roads or whatever. Since the Hunebedden are not under threat, there has been very little archaeological investigation of them. I realise that since so much of the land surface of the Netherlands has literally been brought above the waves in the last thousand years, there's not perhaps as much to find as in most countries, but it still seems to me that the Dutch are missing a trick here by ignoring relatively undisturbed environments. ( )