Was it a child’s toy? Or was it a ritual figurine, used by a shaman to appease the gods? With a handle to better hold this ‘Man of Willemstad’? We will never know for certain.
What is certain is that the oak figurine is 7,500 years old. This makes it the oldest cultural-historical wooden object ever found in the Netherlands: 12.5 centimeters high, smaller than a hand.
It was on April 21, 1966 during the construction of the Volkerak locks in West Brabant that the figurine was found, eight meters below water level. It was stuck between the roots of an oak tree, which had also been well preserved due to a rapid rise in water level. On top of the sculpture lay a thick layer of peat. Through just such a protective peat layer, the much older ‘Shigir Idol’ of 11,600 years ago from Russia was also well preserved. That is the oldest wooden sculpture in the world.
Shortly After the Ice Age
The Man must have been deliberately placed there, or hidden, during the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic, 8800-4900 BC). It was the time of hunter-gatherers, who undoubtedly also caught fish near what would later become Willemstad. The origin of the wood has been determined using radiocarbon dating (C14) to around 5400 BC. Images of humans from this period have also been found elsewhere in Northwest Europe. The wooden figurine is therefore unique for the Netherlands, but not for the rest of Europe.
From the first hunter-gatherers who roamed through the Low Countries, we know that the dead were buried in graves after numerous rituals. A shaman, or priest/sorcerer, used various objects to maintain contact with the spiritual world. The Man could therefore have been a ritual object.
Hunters in the Swamps
But it could equally well have been a plaything, carved by a hunter with a sharp stone for a child. From studies of hunter-gatherer communities in North America, it is known that all kinds of richly decorated objects had a decorative and symbolic function. From the Netherlands, for example, we know stones from that time on which geometric motifs or images of people are engraved. In the North Sea, an engraved foot bone of a bison has been found.
Willemstad was located during the Stone Age in a large marshland that covered the entire west of the Netherlands. The marshes were rich in food, but inhospitable to live in. The inhabitants therefore sought higher areas, so-called ‘donken’ (sandy river dunes). Place names in Noord-Brabant among others still remind us of this, even in the carnival name of Den Bosch: Oeteldonk.
The figurine is exhibited at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden.
The Man also appeared in the first episode of the beautiful TV series ‘The Story of the Netherlands’ (at 8 minutes 44 seconds). This episode can be watched on NPO Start.
