15 Jun '15

Bourgeois opens Neanderthal Site attraction in Lanaken

Summary

A new tourist attraction has opened at a site in Limburg that contains evidence of humans living on the spot about 140,000 years ago

 

Oldest human settlement

Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois has opened an archaeological site in Lanaken, Limburg, that contains evidence of the oldest forms of human settlement ever discovered in Flanders.

The special historic value of the site is illustrated through three clay walls, with layers providing an overview of different periods in history. A 60-metre path represents a voyage through time, with every 15 centimetres standing for a period of 500 years.

The point marking 46,000 years ago shows traces of the region’s first Neanderthals, with a few thousand of them present. Archaeologists on the site found tools, silex stones and bones of mammoths, rhinoceroses and Arctic foxes.

The oldest traces of the Neanderthals found here date from about 140,000 years ago, making them the oldest traces of human settlement so far found in Flanders. The Neanderthals didn’t live on the site permanently, but different groups stayed there temporarily at various times.

The exhibition, meanwhile, takes visitors back in time about 200,000 years and explains the first tracks of modern humans discovered in Africa.

The development of the clay quarry cost €1.2 million, subsidised by the Flemish, provincial and municipal governments. The city of Lanaken owns the site, which can only be visited via guided group tours.

Photo courtesy Flemish Heritage Agency

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Tourism in Flanders

The majority of tourists visit Flanders from neighbouring countries like the Netherlands, the UK, France and Germany. The main destinations are the coast and the Flemish art cities.
West Flanders - West Flanders is the number-one destination for tourism in Flanders, including for residents living in the region. Visitors are flocking to the province for several reasons: The long coastline, the historical city of Bruges and the First World War memorial sites.
Art cities - The most popular tourist cities in Flanders are known as the “art cities”, which include Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Mechelen and Leuven. The most-visited city is Brussels, followed by Bruges. Other popular Flemish regions include the fruit-growing area of Haspengouw and the pastoral Maasland along the eastern border of Flanders.
World heritage - Flanders has five listings in Unesco's list of protected world heritage, including a series of 26 belfries and the entire historical city centre of Bruges.
5

percentage of local jobs in tourism

98

average amount spent per day by a tourist in euros

21 785 600

Number of tourists who visited Flanders in 2016

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