Flevoland (central Netherlands) is an area of long-term discontinuous deposition that has been reclaimed from the Zuiderzee in the 20th century. Before the reclamation, the Zuiderzee had been in a phase of enlargement, threatening inhabitants on the islands and the shores, since the Medieval Period. During this phase, a surficial clay cover was deposited on the island of Schokland (World Heritage Site: Noordoostpolder, northern Flevoland). We have studied the clay sequence in order to reconstruct the island’s flooding history during the last 1200 years. The depositional history of the youngest clay deposit on Schokland is inferred from a literature study, analyses of a digital elevation model, six coring transects, three new 14C accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates and laboratory analyses. The laboratory analyses include thermogravimetric analysis, grain-size end-member modelling (unmixing grain-size distributions), foraminifera, bivalves and ostracods. The geological data were combined with information from historical archives. Together, the results show that a combination of embankments and proximity to the coastline determined the sedimentation history and spatial distribution pattern of the sediment. The results also indicate that sedimentary remains of Late Holocene storm events are still present in the clay deposit on Schokland.

This paper shows what a niche construction theory (NCT) approach can contribute to the long-term social and environmental history of an area when applied to both sedentary and non-sedentary communities. To understand how communities create and respond to environmental change, hominin presence of the central Netherlands within the last 220,000 years is used as a case study. For this case study we studied the interrelationship between hominins, water and landscape gradients for four periods of interest within this long-term hominin presence. During each of these periods the study area had a specific environmental setting and (possible) traces of hominin presence. These periods cover the (1) Middle to Late Saalian (~220–170 ka), (2) Late Glacial (~14.7–11.7 ka, (3) Mid-Holocene (6000–5400 BP) and (4) Late Holocene (1200–8 BP). This review shows that traces of niche construction behaviour related to water and landscape gradients in the central Netherlands can be shown for both sedentary and non-sedentary communities. Furthermore, in this review it is shown that the transition from inceptive to counteractive change in ecosystem management style in the central Netherlands took place between the Mid- and Late Holocene periods.

The artefact size of the Early Middle Palaeolithic (EMP) assemblages in ice-pushed Rhine–Meuse deposits in the central Netherlands decreases northwestward. This trend correlates to the downstream fining direction of the Rhine–Meuse fluvial system, the source of the rock material, showing that locally available material was used. Furthermore, also in line with the fluvial trend, the gravel and cobble trends indicate that EMP artefacts could be present in the buried part of the ice-pushed ridges in the northern part of the central Netherlands (southwest Flevoland). Based on the gravel and cobble data, combined with the literature study, we argue that the artefacts date to marine isotope stages (MIS) 7–6. The review of published data shows that during the time of deposition of the artefact-bearing layer (early MIS 6), the Rhine–Meuse study area was part of a braidplain located in a slightly incised valley. To the north a polar desert was present.

In this research locations are selected in Southern Flevoland (Central Netherlands) which are most likely to contain archaeological remains dating to the Younger Dryas (YD) (12,900-11,700 cal BP). To map and determine these locations two steps are performed: 1) The Pleistocene surface of Southern Flevoland is classified into landforms using a GIS application based on Topographic Position Index. 2) Data on the geomorphological setting and the distance to the nearest freshwater source of well-dated YD archaeological sites in the Northwest European Plain are extrapolated to the study area. The inductive predictive model indicates that elevated areas in close proximity to a freshwater source have the highest probability to contain YD archaeological remains. For potential Federmesser remains a maximum distance of 1500 m from the Eem fluvial system is estimated and for potential Ahrensburgian remains a maximum distance of 2500 metres. The areas with potential YD archaeological remains constitute less than 10% of the total study area. The detailed and well-preserved Pleistocene surface in the study area, combined with potentially wellpreserved YD remains due to the Holocene sediment cover, is of major importance for future studies on landscape exploitation by prehistoric hunter -fisher -gatherers. Reconstructing landscape exploitation opens up new avenues to study subsistence economy, settlement patterns and spatial organisation of past societies.

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