Two lion bones found during the restoration of the Binnenhof government complex in The Hague will go on show as part of Above Ground, an exhibition about extraordinary finds in 25 years of national archaeology at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden.

Workers found the lion bones during excavation work on the Buitenhof in The Hague, a square opposite one of the entrances to the parliamentary complex.

The bones were found in 2021 but their discovery was only recently made public.

The bones date from the first half of the 14^th century, before the period in which count Aalbrecht, who ran Holland and Zeeland on behalf of his brother Willem V, had a small zoo on the square.

The exhibition features some 500 objects found at 200 sites, including the oldest sock in Europe, dating from the 16th century, and found at a dig in Groningen.

“The show illustrates how deeply rooted archaeology is in our society and how the objects we find can rewrite history,” a spokesman for the museum told broadcaster NOS.

In April, the Binnenhof excavations led historians to rethink its history after revealing signs of an extensive medieval ruler’s palace.

Historians already knew that the Binnenhof was extended in around 1280 by Count Floris V, but the new discoveries suggest that it had already been a “power centre of structure” in the time of his predecessor, Count Willem II.

Above Ground is on until September 7.