D17

Hunebed D17 is a dolmen near Rolde in the Dutch province of Drenthe, northeast of the village, close to the cemetery and Sint-Jacobskerk on the es. A second dolmen, D18, stands nearby, although it was restored by Joan Lodewijk Gerhard Gregory and looks tidier than D17, which remains more of a ruin.

D17 was erected between 3400 and 3200 v.Chr. and is attributed to the trechterbekercultuur. It is 13,9 meter wide and 3,8 meter long, with a southern entrance. Eight capstones were recorded, although not all remain in place; 15 support stones, two closing stones and two portal stones also survive. The monument was restored between 1957 and 1965.

The first probable reference to the dolmen dates from 1547, when the “Zuilen van Hercules” were said to stand at Rolde. The account described an offering stone, a narrow passage and forced human sacrifices, giving the structure the name ‘s Duvels Kut. The report may instead have referred to hunebed D18 or D10. In 1706, S. Hofstede and schultes Kymmell examined D17 and found a blue pot with gilded stripes.

The dolmens of Rolde were sold to the Boermarke of Rolde for 150 gulden, but after the provincial authorities objected, they were bought for the state: D17 in 1872 and D18 a year later. William Collings Lukis and sir Henry Dryden recorded forty hunebedden on the Hondsrug in July 1878, measuring and describing them and producing watercolours. Their report was finally published by dr. Wijnand van der Sanden in 2015.

D17 is a dolmen in Aa en Hunze, Germany. Wikidata describes it as: dolmen in the Netherlands. A typological estimate: 3500 BCE to 2800 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Dutch article "D17 (hunebed)", shown in the original language.