Editing History of Belgium (section)

== Prehistory ==
[[File:Belgian flint knives.jpg|thumb|right|[[Flint]] knives discovered in Belgian caves]]
On Belgian territory [[Neanderthal]] fossils were discovered at [[Engis]] in 1829–30 and elsewhere, some dating back to at least 100,000 BC.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Descriptions of Fossil Neandertals |url=http://www.boneandstone.com/neandertal/neandertal_descriptions.html#engis |access-date=2012-11-07 |publisher=Bone and Stone}}</ref>

The earliest [[Neolithic]] farming technology of northern Europe, the so-called [[Linear Pottery culture|LBK culture]], reached the east of Belgium at its furthest northwesterly stretch from its origins in southeast Europe. Its expansion stopped in the [[Hesbaye]] region of eastern Belgium around 5000 BC. The Belgian LBK is notable for its use of defensive walls around villages.<ref>{{Citation |title=Boerderij uit de jonge steentijd ontdekt in Riemst |url=http://www.archeonet.be/?p=7562 |access-date=2011-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401010810/http://www.archeonet.be/?p=7562 |archive-date=2016-04-01 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="vanmontfort">{{Citation |last=Vanmontfort |title=Bridging the gap. The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in a frontier zone |work=Documenta Praehistorica |volume=34 |pages=105–118 |date=2007 |doi=10.4312/dp.34.8 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-06-07 |title=100,000 Year-old DNA Sequence Allows New Look At Neandertal's Genetic Diversity |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060607084833.htm |access-date=2012-11-07 |publisher=Sciencedaily.com}}</ref>

So-called "Limburg pottery" and "La Hoguette pottery" are styles which stretch into northwestern France and the Netherlands, but it has sometimes been argued that these technologies are the result of pottery technology spreading beyond the original LBK farming population and being made by hunter gatherers.<ref>{{Citation |last=Constantin |title=Pots, Farmers and Foragers: How Pottery Traditions Shed a Light on Social Interaction in the Earliest Neolithic of the Lower Rhine Area |date=2011 |editor-last=Vanmontfort |editor-last2=Kooijmans |editor-last3=Amkreutz |chapter=La Hoguette, Limburg, and the Mesolithic |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |last2=Ilett |last3=Burnez-Lanotte}}</ref> A slightly later-starting Neolithic culture found in central Wallonia is the so-called "Groupe de Blicquy", which may represent an offshoot of the LBK settlers. One notable archaeological site in this region is the [[Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes]].<ref name="vanmontfort"/>

Farming in Belgium failed to take permanent hold at first. The LBK and Blicquy cultures disappeared and there is a long gap before a new farming culture, the [[Michelsberg culture]], appeared and became widespread. Hunter gatherers of the [[Swifterbant]] culture apparently remained in the sandy north of Belgium, but apparently became more and more influenced by farming and pottery technology.<ref name="vanmontfort"/>

In the third and late fourth millennia BC, the whole of Flanders shows relatively little evidence of human habitation.<ref name="vanmontfort2">{{Citation |last=Vanmontfort |title=Inhabitées ou invisibles pour l'archéologie |work=Anthropologia et Praehistorica |volume=115 |date=2004 |url=https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/141810/1/Vanmontfort_2004_AP.pdfflandres.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/141810/1/Vanmontfort_2004_AP.pdfflandres.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Seine-Oise-Marne culture]] spread into the Ardennes, and is associated with megalithic sites there (for example [[Wéris]]), but did not disperse over all of Belgium. To the north and east, in the Netherlands, a semi-sedentary culture group has been proposed to have existed, the so-called Vlaardingen-Wartburg-Stein complex, which possibly developed from the above-mentioned Swifterbant and Michelsburg cultures.<ref name="rooijmans">{{Citation |title=Tussen SOM en TRB, enige gedachten over het laat-Neolithicum in Nederland en België |work=Bulletin voor de Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiednis |volume=54 |date=1983 |url=https://www.openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/1887/2799/1/171_027.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070726054327/https://www.openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/1887/2799/1/171_027.pdf |archive-date=2007-07-26 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The same pattern continues into the late Neolithic and early [[Bronze Age]]. In the last part of the Neolithic, evidence is found for the [[Corded Ware]] and [[Bell Beaker]] cultures in the south of the Netherlands.

The population of Belgium started to increase permanently with the late Bronze Age from around 1750 BC. Three possibly related European cultures arrived in sequence. First the [[Urnfield]] culture arrived, then, coming into the [[Iron Age]], the [[Hallstatt culture]], and the [[La Tène culture]]. All three of these are associated with [[Indo-European languages]]. From 500 BC [[Celt]]ic tribes settled in the region and traded with the [[Mediterranean]] world. From c. 150 BC, the first coins came into use.