Prehistoric
From 14,000 BC reindeer hunters roamed the tundra of the Lowlands. The reindeer hunters were a nomadic people that lived in tents and followed the herds. Around 8500 BC the climate slowly started changing. Where there used to be wide expanses of tundra, vast forests started growing. The reindeer hunters moved up north and were replaced by new inhabitants.
Along the coast small settlements formed, surviving from what they caught in the sea and rivers. Canoes and rafts were used as a way of keeping in touch with other communities. Hunting communities built their villages further inland. Smaller huts were erected away from the village and were used when gathering berries, herbs, vegetables, roots and for hunting trips.
Around 5300 BC farmers from the Donau-area in search of fertile land, settled in Limburg on the löss grounds. They cleared the forests, worked the soil, kept livestock and made woolen clothes. The farmers disappeared as mysteriously as they came around 4900 BC. However, over the years the fishermen and hunters started seeing the merits of farming as a way of supplementing what they caught in the sea or woods.
In order to farm, tools were needed to work the land, build accommodation and cut the trees. Tools that were durable, tools made of good quality flint. The best flint could be found in Maastricht, Mons and Liège area. Here a few people specialised themselves in making good quality tools and soon a thriving trade developed. Their tools became a valuable commodity and as the demand grew, so did the mining industry grow. Tunnels were dug up to 15m deep to get to the flint. Over the years the mining for flint decreased as stone was replaced by bronze and later iron.
Gradually agriculture became the main source of survival. North of the rivers, the farmers mostly lived on the Drenths plateau. Here they buried their dead in megalithic tombs. Many of them still remain, a silent testament to times long gone. South of the rivers, the hunters tried their hand at farming, clearing forests only to leave the land when the soil was depleted of minerals. This land would later form the base for the heath fields, where the farmers would graze their cattle.
Around 3000 BC nomads from the Far East and Asia arrive in Northern Europe looking for land to graze their cattle. This causes a lot of unrest in the region. But gradually as the years pass the settlers merge into the local population. New trade routes open up, more and more woods are cleared for agricultural purposes and settlements grow larger. When the sea level starts to rise, the inhabitants of the lowlands are forced to build their villages on higher ground, in the north the local population build mounds of earth, also referred to as terpen, onto which they move their farms and livestock. These terpen can still be found scattered around Friesland.
Slowly a middle class consisting of rich landowners and merchants emerges. In the Ardennes region, an area rich in iron ore and gold, the celtic tribes create sturdy fortresses and start using coins as a currency. These fortresses are initially the main reason that the advance of the Romans takes longer than usual.
