Bear tooth

Over 5,000 years ago, a peat bog lay to the south of the Rhine and Maas estuary. A diverse cluster of small encampments sprang up along the 50-metre wide tidal stream that flowed there. For 300 years, the bank was inhabited – mainly in the summer months − by people of the 'Vlaardingen Culture', who built small cabins, carved flint, and made pottery there. Finds of pierced bear teeth and skulls suggest that bears may have been venerated. The people hunted and fished here, but they also kept livestock, and even grain has been found in this region. This combination of farming with a hunter-gatherer existence persisted for a long time in this watery region.