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| - During the last Ice Age, the territory we now call Northern Europe was locked under the polar ice of the North Pole. Evidence for this Ice Age can be found in throughout the northern regions of the Netherlands. Just outside Amsterdam, one can clearly see remains of those glaciers, and their moraines, consisting of higher sandy ground with gravel and boulders, slowly changing into low hills, when going east and north.
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| abstract
| - During the last Ice Age, the territory we now call Northern Europe was locked under the polar ice of the North Pole. Evidence for this Ice Age can be found in throughout the northern regions of the Netherlands. Just outside Amsterdam, one can clearly see remains of those glaciers, and their moraines, consisting of higher sandy ground with gravel and boulders, slowly changing into low hills, when going east and north. It was not until around 10,000BCE that the ice began to falter, and even so only ragged bands of hunter-gatherers would colonise the area. The end of the Ice Age did not change things instantly for the better — as the ice retreated and sea levels rose, it eventually transformed the frozen tundra into a treacherous wetland, crisscrossed by many creeks and dotted by many marshes and lakes. Although it meant that mass agriculture would prove difficult, it was nevertheless a perfect habitat for communities which depended on fishing and hunting (such as those of the Vlaardingen culture who were hunter-gatherers), and the vast amounts of water ensured that what arable land existed would be extremely fertile and productive, allowing for colonists from what is know today as the Linear Pottery culture of Central Europe (named so for the ceramic wares which they left behind) to flourish around the present-day region of Limburg, as well as the Funnelbeaker culture of Northern Europe to thrive in the north. The onset of the Metal Ages also resulted in a new role for the peoples of the Low Countries: international trade. We don't know specific details regarding events revolving around the dawn of the Bronze Age, but archaeology suggests that from the onset of the Early Copper Age to the Iron Age, the Low Countries were colonised by various different cultures. The Vlaardingen and Linear Pottery cultures were soon succeeded by the Corded War culture of Northern Europe, which is thought to have been among the first few European cultures to engage in metalworking. Copper, the primary ingredient of bronze, isn't native to the Netherlands, however, so most Copper Age and Bronze Age artefacts discovered in the Low Countries may have been imported or had their ingredients sourced from elsewhere in the world, implying that the Netherlands was a vital outpost in the prehistoric trade network in Europe.
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