D30 stands right by the popular tourist road through the middle of the Exloo woods. It is a small hunebed which originally had 4 lintels, 3 of which still rest neatly on their uprights. The third was put back into place in December 1999. There are also two portal uprights. Unusually, the tomb is orientated North-South instead of the normal East-West position.
This hunebed was systematically examined by Van Giffen in 1918. At that time there were only two lintels and no one knows where the third one has come from. He discovered five floor layers in the chamber which, when completely exposed, measured 6.30 by 2.40 m. The bottom layer was 1.70 m lower than the underside of the lintels, suggesting that it was possible to stand upright in the burial chamber. Between the floors he found pottery shards, stone axes, arrowheads and a pile of burned remains of human bones. Three decorated bowls were found in the stone packing outside the chamber. Next to the hunebed stand two information boards and a boulder with a bronze nameplate.
In April 2005 the hunebed was painted in all colours of the rainbow with aerosol sprays. A few days later the monument was cleaned with high-pressure steam and the youthful culprits were caught, but some damage remains: the original appearance of the stones with their natural weathering and liken has unfortunately disappeared. Now the bronze nameplate has also been wrenched out of the stone and is missing.
Location of D30 in Exloo
Visit of Professor van Giffen in 1918
“The hunebed is indeed incomplete (2 lintels were missing) and yet the original condition can clearly be seen”, wrote Van Giffen in 1925. He also recorded the remains of the covering mound as being “very striking”. He counted 2 lintels, 2 keystones,8 uprights and 2 portal stones. All, apart from one lintel, more or less in place. The surroundings have changed radically: then it was ‘on the large still heathfield’ and now in the middle of the woods. The Province received the monument in 1871 as a gift from the private owner.
(Source: Atlas of “De Hunebedden in Nederland”, dr.A.E.van Giffen, 1925)
For more information about this and other hunebeds in Drenthe see
www.hunebedden.nl and www.hunebeddeninfo.nl
Text Hans Meijer
Translation Alun Harvey
Photography Hans Meijer and Davado
