Burial gifts

Around the village of Lunteren in the Veluwe, diverse graves belonging to the Bell Beaker Culture (c. 2500-2000 BC) were found. They revealed that a small group of men had possessed important status, since their graves were rich with burial gifts. They contained items such as square anvils on which to beat copper, a richly decorated beaker, and miscellaneous arrowheads. The small, rare copper awl must once have belonged to a smith. Thin, perforated stone plates have also been found. These are wrist-guards or bracers, used to absorb the shock of a bowstring. It can be inferred that archers probably played an important part in this society.