Who are my Indigenous Ancestors?

Photo taken from a Hunebed near Havelte, DR, Netherlands, by Matthias Groeneveld

Living in Canada has brought me a gift I didn’t know I needed. It started 2 decades ago, when I lived in Haida Gwaii for 5 months, volunteering for the Haida Gwaii Museum (while The Haida Heritage Centre at Ḵay 'Llnagaay was being built). While I was writing a business plan for the heritage centre’s future gift shop (I was studying for my BA in Business Administration), they first had me read many books on the history of the Haida and Haida Gwaii. I didn’t get it at the time; didn’t they want me to research all there was to know and write up about their ideal customer, online and in person gift shops, marketing and more? Reading their history (both before and after European settlement) was really interesting, though, so I sure didn’t complain. The beautiful, rich culture that the Haida had (and to some extend still have) was amazing to delve into. I was very fortunate to not just read about it - my 5 month stay started with a beautiful, traditional Haida wedding upon my arrival that I was able to attend with my sister and her husband, friends of the bride and groom. I learnt in real life about their gift culture, their songs and language, their traditions, feasts, and more.

Fast forward a few years later, while applying for my Canadian Citizenship. Part of that was studying the history of Canada for a citizenship test. I was a bit surprised about the history lesson, not in a good way, and suddenly humbled about the history deep dive I was asked to make during my time at the Haida Gwaii Museum years prior. Suddenly I realized a layer I had missed about colonization - to this day the oppressor was dictating the narrative around that. The history as presented during my Citizenship study didn’t quite line up; it was presented almost as if the Europeans saved the First Nations of Canada from doom and gloom… Not exactly how I had learnt about it before in Haida Gwaii, and if I could have a ‘do over’ like in parenting, I sure would have wanted the First Nations to have reminded the Europeans of their own indigenous heritage and sent them back with some home work.

While living in Canada, I kept hearing about the word Indigenous over and over. I always thought of it as something foreign and exotic. To be Indigenous or to have Indigenous ancestors meant you had a rich culture. Not like my own modern, fast paced culture. In Indigenous cultures there are songs in traditional language, dancing, musical instruments made of natural materials, and special clothing that is ‘much better’ than what The Netherlands has in its fishing towns with people dressed in traditional outfits. To be indigenous or have indigenous ancestors means you can still speak to the land directly, have oral story telling, understand the totem meaning of animals, and to you the stars in the sky are all known intimately. To not even start about plant medicine, shamans/medicine people, and a different approach to illness altogether.

One day it hit me. If indigenous means ‘of place’, then who are my Indigenous ancestors? What was their language? What songs did they sing? Did they play hand drums, flutes, or something else?

I suddenly remembered the ‘Hunebeds’. Hunebeds are ancient megalithic tombs built by the Funnelbeaker culture between 3400 and 2850 BC in what is now the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Denmark. These structures are the oldest surviving monuments in the Netherlands. They are dolmens, meaning they consist of large boulders arranged to form a burial chamber. The stones were transported by glaciers during the Ice Age and later used by Neolithic farmers to construct the tombs. I was reminded of these because I grew up at The Gooise Heide (Gooi Heathlands), an area with ancient burial mounds from the Bronze Age - not quite like the Hunebeds, though. So were these Funnelbeaker peoples my Indigenous Ancestors, and if so what language did they speak and what culture did they have?

The Netherlands is like a giant park, where all the trees are neatly planted in a row. Even the ‘wild parks’ are highly monitored and managed. Other than these Hunebeds there are not a lot of clues about my ancestors’ lives and culture.

I then had a look at the word colonization. “Colonization is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples for the purpose of cultivation, exploitation, trade and possibly settlement, setting up coloniality and often colonies, commonly pursued and maintained by, but distinct from, imperialism, mercantilism, or colonialism.”  Well, didn’t that just sum up the past 2,000+ years of Dutch history? That sure is how I would have summed up the German occupation during WWII. What about Napolean and the French occupation around 1800 for about 20 years (4x WWII length…)? What about the Spanish occupation for about 80 years around 1600? What about the Vikings, the Romans? Our language that is spoken today is influenced greatly by these occupations, and so is our culture. When you look at Europe from this definition of colonization, you realize just how violent its history is.

Did the Romans encounter my Indigenous Ancestors? Nope, they did not. (Romans controlled parts of The Netherlands from around 57 BC to 400 AD.) Prior and around that time, c. 500 BC – 1500 AD various tribes from the Eurasian Steppe, including those from the Caucasus and Central Asia, significantly shaped both Europe and Asia over a period of about 1,000 years. The Eurasian Steppe—a vast grassland stretching from Eastern Europe to Mongolia—was home to nomadic warrior cultures that repeatedly expanded into both Europe and Asia, influencing civilizations in profound ways. The Netherlands was part of this, and so were India, Iran, and many other places, hence similarities in language, for example Nam in Sanskrit, Name in English, Nom in French, and Naam in Dutch all meaning the same. Scythians and Sarmatians (c. 500 BC – 300 AD) as well as the Huns (c. 370–500 AD) are some key players in the key migrations and conquests that shaped Eurasia.

I kept looking further, longing to find my indigenous culture, in particular language, myths and songs. I found out that the Swifterbant culture (5500–4000 BC) and Funnelbeaker culture (3400–2850 BC, the ones who built the Hunebeds) were early farming societies in the Netherlands. They likely had ritualistic or shamanistic music, possibly played during ceremonies, funerals, or agricultural events. However, the best I could do at language was to find out that before written records, hunter-gatherers and early farmers in the Netherlands (like the Swifterbant culture and Funnelbeaker culture) spoke unknown prehistoric languages. These could have been pre-Indo-European languages, possibly related to ancient European hunter-gatherer or Neolithic farming communities. Yet no certainty.

Around 3000 BC, Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the ancestor of many modern European languages, started spreading across Europe, including the Netherlands. This was likely brought by ‘Corded Ware culture’ settlers (related to later Germanic, Celtic, and Balto-Slavic peoples). By the Bronze Age (2000–800 BC), early forms of Proto-Germanic and Pre-Celtic languages developed in the Netherlands. Celtic tribes, such as the Eburones and Batavians, lived in the southern Netherlands and may have spoken early Celtic dialects. The northern regions were home to Germanic-speaking tribes, the ancestors of the later Frisians, Saxons, and Franks. So I guess this will have to do for Indigenous language, and it is a handful rather than a single language or culture.

Two influences in my search are Marija Gimbutas (1921–1994), a Lithuanian-American archaeologist and anthropologist best known for her research on Old European cultures and pre-patriarchal goddess traditions, and Sylvia V. Linsteadt, an award-winning writer, wildlife tracker & scholar born in California. Both with a keen interest in pre-patriarchal Europe, just like me. Gimbutas argued that from 6500–3500 BCE, much of Europe was dominated by a peaceful, agrarian civilization she called “Old Europe.” This culture was matrilineal, with societies centering around goddess worship, fertility, and nature cycles. She identified thousands of female figurines from Neolithic sites, interpreting them as evidence of a widespread Great Goddess religion. Gimbutas claimed that around 4500 BCE, Indo-European steppe nomads (Kurgans) invaded, bringing a male-dominated, hierarchical, and warlike culture, leading to the decline of the goddess-centered societies. Linsteads has since continued on from Gimbutas’ work in her own research and writing.

Again, it came to my attention how much the oppressor dictates the history we learn. Modern day archeology is male dominated and male oriented. It has become clear that archaeological documentation on findings have left out anything not supporting the modern day patriarchal culture. Like the Haida history, we are taught what is in the best interest of the oppressor, rather than what factually happened. Therefore, I’ve devoured many books on matrilineal culture and Goddess Traditions, in a hope to reawaken something ancestral in me.

I would like to point out that here in this particular writing I am only looking at migration of peoples of pre-historic Europe. If you look at a map, you may quickly realize that The Netherlands is basically an estuary to some of Europe’s rivers. If you’ve ever seen a wild river or estuary, you’ll quickly realize there are many changes to the landscape. Due to this, part of The Netherlands was inhabitable during its history. So even if I could track down the earliest settlers of The Netherlands, that still doesn’t necessarily tell me anything about my own bloodline’s indigenous ancestors.

I didn’t find an answer to my question of who my indigenous ancestors are… So, was this all in vain? It sure brings up grief, ironically especially living in a land where some indigenous culture is still available, while they are fighting hard to keep it and have reconciliation. It made me become starkly aware that I have no idea about my own, seeing the beauty of theirs. I’d say at least I have a much bigger drive to preserve the Canadian indigenous cultures. I now understand that feeling of being a bit lost without connection to ancestral traditions. It also makes me aware of another layer of the devastation of war; both Ukraine and Palestine hold ancient treasures of pre-historic human times, that may be (or already are) destroyed due to bombs.

At the same time, the knowledge that before patriarchy there was a matrilineal Goddess tradition has had me rethink my own life and significance. Which brings the next question… now that I live on ‘Turtle Island’, so called North America, do I follow the land or do I follow my bloodline while exploring these cultures? I actually don’t think I need to choose, as both roads lead back to the same. However, stay tuned, as this has been such a rich search and discovery that I am unwilling to now declare myself done on this topic. Who knows what else I’ll uncover!

It made me rethink my maternal grandmother’s weaving and spinning hobby. I am afraid I only reconsidered this part of her once she passed, and so I don’t know what got her into weaving and spinning. Yet I am hoping to pick up this tradition soon. It made me rethink also how I loved weaving a basket, 20 years ago, during a one-day workshop in Sandspit on Haida Gwaii. Was this an ancestral heritage? Probably. This is also something I’d love to pick back up. Oh, and let’s not forget about pottery - I loved working with clay as a child, and would love to do a pottery course one day. All part of a rich, meandering history of my ancestors.

Ok, well I think this is long enough of a write up about something that I have no answers for. :)