Holocene drift-sand activity in the northwest European sand belt is commonly directly linked to population pressure (agricultural activity) or to climate change (e.g. storminess). In the Pleistocene sand areas of the Netherlands, small-scale Holocene drift-sand activity began in the Mesolithic, whereas large-scale sand drifting started during the Middle Ages. This last phase not only coincides with the intensification of farming and demographic pressure but also is commonly associated with a colder climate and enhanced storminess. This raises the question to what extent drift-sand activity can be attributed to either human activities or natural forcing factors. In this study, we compare the spatial and temporal patterns of drift-sand occurrence for the four characteristic Pleistocene sand regions in the Netherlands for the period between 1000 BC and AD 1700. To this end, we compiled a new supra-regional overview of drift-sand activity based on age estimates (14C, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), archaeological and historical ages). The occurrence of sand drifting was then compared in time and space with historical-route networks, relative vegetation openness and climate. Results indicate a constant but low drift-sand activity between 1000 BC and AD 1000, interrupted by a remarkable decrease in activity around the BC/AD transition. It is evident that human pressure on the landscape was most influential on initiating sand drifting: this is supported by more frequent occurrences close to routes and the uninterrupted increase of drift-sand activity from AD 900 onwards, a period of high population density and large-scale deforestation. Once triggered by human activities, this drift-sand development was probably further intensified several centuries later during the cold and stormier ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA; AD 1570–1850).

Interdisciplinary, landscape-oriented studies from an archaeological viewpoint in the Low Countries mainly concentrate on cultural and economic research questions. Focal points are the physical setting of settlements and cemeteries, land use patterns and subsistence economy. As a result, the collected data are rather site-based and one-dimensional. As a counterweight, this study aims to look beyond the boundaries of settlements and cemeteries by offering a regional and diachronic perspective on the development of the landscape, vegetation and habitation of Twente (the Netherlands) since the Late Glacial. A detailed search for existing pollen data yielded 125 sites containing information from a wide variety of sampling contexts. A series of six evidence-based regional vegetation maps have been constructed by analysing relations between pollen data, soil data and topography. The maps serve as first-stage generalised models that predict regional trends, allow subsequent testing and place site-specific archaeological data in a wider context. The method developed is applicable to other regions. A comparison with contemporary habitation patterns, based on archaeological and historical data, reveals spatio-temporal trends in human influence on vegetation and in physical factors influencing site location. Five maps have been 'translated' into artist impressions.

In this study we apply an evidence-based approach to model population-size fluctuations and their corresponding impact on land use during the Roman and early-medieval periods in the Rhine–Meuse delta in the present-day Netherlands. Past-population numbers are reconstructed based on Roman and early-medieval settlement patterns. Corresponding impacts of these demographic fluctuations on potential land use are calculated by integrating the newly developed demographic overviews with archaeological and geoscientific data using a new land-use model termed ‘Past Land-Use Scanner’ (PLUS). The primary aims are to reconstruct first-millennium palaeodemographics and to explore the potential of simulation modelling for testing the feasibility of archaeological hypotheses regarding past land use. Results show that in the study area the first millennium AD was characterised by two periods during which major population growth occurred: the middle-Roman period (AD 70–270) and early-medieval period C (AD 725–950). A major demographic decline of 78–85% occurred during the late-Roman period (AD 270–450), after which first-millennium population numbers never again reached middle-Roman period levels. The modelling outcomes demonstrate that the impact of population fluctuations (growth vs decline) on the limits of the natural landscape during the first millennium in general was low. During these thousand years, the natural landscape almost without exception (only scenario D deviates) provided sufficient options for arable farming, meadows and pastures and was not a limiting factor for population growth. These results underline the added value of simulation modelling for testing the feasibility of archaeological hypotheses and analysing human–landscape interactions in the past.

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Large changes in landscape, vegetation, and culture in northwestern (NW) Europe during the first millennium AD seem concurrent with climatic shifts. Understanding of this relation requires high-resolution palaeoclimate reconstructions. Therefore, we compiled available climate reconstructions from sites across NW Europe (extent research area: 10°W–20°E, 45°–60°N) through review of literature and the underlying data, to identify supraregional climatic changes in this region. All reconstructions cover the period from AD 1 to 1000 and have a temporal resolution of ≤50 yr. This resulted in 22 climate reconstructions/proxy records based on different palaeoclimate archives: chironomids (1), pollen (6), Sphagnum mosses (1), stalagmites (8), testate amoebae (4), and tree rings (2). Comparing all temperature reconstructions, we conclude that summer temperatures between AD 1 and 250 were relatively high, and the period between AD 250 and 700 was characterised by colder summer conditions. The period from AD 700 to 1000 was again characterised by warmer summers. These temperature shifts occurred in the whole of NW Europe. In contrast, the compilation of precipitation reconstructions does not show a common pattern across NW Europe either as a result of a heterogeneous precipitation pattern or the lack of suitable and consistent precipitation proxies.