Chalcolithic

Stone Age takes from 130,000 until 4,200 years before present, or no less then a huge period of 125,800 years. To understand this period better, archaeologists have tried to divide it into different phases, using certain criteria...

There are numerous copied artefacts. It is quite well possible to copy prehistoric objects. For a layman it is especially in the case of flint objects difficult to see the difference between a copy and an original. Archaeologists however can generally speaking discern such "fakes"...

Every period has its very typical range of objects like ceramics, tools, jewellery et cetera. Grouped by way of making or decoration an object can be assigned very precisely to a period of time (typology)...

When there are no ruins above the ground surface, it is not immanently clear if there is something to be found or not. If the place is built over in modern times, prehistoric finds or traces of settlements appear by accident during construction works...

Maybe! Old objects often are hidden deep under the present surface. To get to them, we need help from dredgers and the work of several archaeologists. However, in seldom cases there are objects which one can find at the surface. Those could be freed by the water or transported to the surface by the farmers' plough. Good luck in your search!

When in the past a settlement was abandoned by the inhabitants, the left much garbage behind like pottery, bones or tools and the remains of their wooden houses...

Archaeologists found the items below the present ground level during archaeological excavations. Some of the exhibits are so called 'stray finds', meaning loose finds, found by chance. Often these are objects which were found during construction works or moved to the surface by the plough of a farmer.

Estimations of population numbers in the Netherlands in prehistory are based in information from ethnography, burial places, traces from settlements and many assumptions...