Tjerk Vermaning

Who was Tjerk Vermaning?

Tjerk Vermaning was a Dutch amateur archaeologist who is now mostly remembered for the court case and media frenzy that followed the assessment of professional archaeologists that he had forged certain of his prehistoric archaeological 'finds'.

Before the forgery came out Tjerk Vermaning was a well-respected collector who in 1966 received the Cultural Prize of Drenthe for his contributions to furthering the understanding of the prehistoric heritage of the province. On 18 March 1975, however, he was arrested on a forgery charge. The accusations were made by the province of Drenthe, based on the findings of archeologists professor H.T. Waterbolk and his associate D. Stapert of the University of Groningen. An arduous court case followed, in which several well-known Dutch and European professional archaeologists supported the accusations. Several amateur archaeologists, on the other hand, were convinced of Vermaning's innocence and mounted their own campaign to get him acquitted. Vermaning was initially found guilty of fraud and was sentenced to one month in prison in 1977, but he appealed the verdict. In 1978 Vermaning was acquitted on appeal because it had not been proven, in the eyes of the judge, that he had himself forged the artefacts in question.