Editing Netherlands (section)

===Prehistory (before 800 BC)===
{{Main|Prehistory of the Netherlands}}
{{multiple image |perrow=2|total_width=350|caption_align=center
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| image1 = 5500vc ex leg.jpg|caption1=The Netherlands in 5500 BC
| image2 = BronzAgeElp.png|caption2=Bronze Age cultures in the Netherlands
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The oldest human ([[Neanderthal]]) traces in the Netherlands, believed to be about 250,000 years old, were found near [[Maastricht]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roebroeks|first1=Wil|last2=Sier|first2=Mark J.|last3=Nielsen|first3=Trine Kellberg|last4=Loecker|first4=Dimitri De|last5=Parés|first5=Josep Maria|last6=Arps|first6=Charles E. S.|last7=Mücher|first7=Herman J.|title=Use of red ochre by early Neandertals|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=109|issue=6 |pages=1889–1894 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1112261109 |pmid=22308348|date=7 February 2012 |pmc=3277516 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109.1889R|doi-access=free| issn=0027-8424 }}</ref> At the end of the [[Weichselian glaciation|Ice Age]], the [[nomadic]] late [[Upper Paleolithic|Upper Palaeolithic]] [[Hamburg culture]] (13,000–10,000 BC) hunted [[reindeer]] in the area, using spears. The later [[Ahrensburg culture]] (11,200–9,500 BC) used [[bow and arrow]]. From [[Mesolithic Europe|Mesolithic]] [[Maglemosian culture|Maglemosian-like tribes]] (c. 8000 BC), the world's [[Pesse canoe|oldest canoe]] was found in [[Drenthe]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Van Zeist |first1=W. |title=De steentijd van Nederland |journal=Nieuwe Drentse Volksalmanak |volume=75 |pages=4–11 |year=1957}}</ref>

Indigenous late Mesolithic [[hunter-gatherer]]s from the [[Swifterbant culture]] (c. 5600 BC), related to the southern Scandinavian [[Ertebølle culture]], were strongly linked to rivers and open water.<ref name="Kooijmans1998">Louwe Kooijmans, L.P., "[https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/1108/171_060.pdf?sequence=1 Trijntje van de Betuweroute, Jachtkampen uit de Steentijd te Hardinxveld-Giessendam]", 1998, ''Spiegel Historiael'' 33, pp. 423–428</ref> Between 4800 and 4500 BC, the Swifterbant people started to adopt from the neighbouring [[Linear Pottery culture]] the practice of [[animal husbandry]], and between 4300 and 4000 BC agriculture.<ref>Volkskrant 24 August 2007 "[http://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/article455140.ece/Prehistorische_akker_gevonden_bij_Swifterbant Prehistoric agricultural field found in Swifterbant, 4300–4000 BC] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090919141403/http://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/article455140.ece/Prehistorische_akker_gevonden_bij_Swifterbant |date=19 September 2009}}"</ref> The [[Funnelbeaker culture]] (4300–2800 BC) erected the [[dolmens]], large stone grave monuments found in [[Drenthe]]. There was a quick transition from the Funnelbeaker [[Early European Farmers|farming culture]] to the pan-European [[Corded Ware]] [[Pastoralism|pastoralist]] culture (c. 2950 BC). In the southwest, the [[Seine-Oise-Marne culture]]—related to the [[Vlaardingen culture]] (c. 2600 BC)—survived well into the [[Neolithic]] period, until it too was succeeded by the Corded Ware culture.

The subsequent [[Beaker culture|Bell Beaker culture]] (2700–2100 BC)<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Harry |editor-last=Fokkens |editor-first2=Franco |editor-last2=Nicolis |title=Background to beakers : inquiries in regional cultural backgrounds to the Bell Beaker complex|date=2012|publisher=Sidestone|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-8890-084-6|page=131}}</ref> introduced metalwork in copper, gold and later bronze and opened new international trade routes, reflected in [[Copper Age Europe|copper artefacts]]. Finds of rare bronze objects suggest that Drenthe was a trading centre in the Bronze Age (2000–800 BC). The Bell Beaker culture developed locally into the Barbed-Wire Beaker culture (2100–1800 BC) and later the [[Elp culture]] (1800–800 BC),<ref>{{cite web|last1=Fokkens|first1=Harry|title=The Periodisation of the Dutch Bronze Age: a Critical Review|url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/19822/Fokkens_2001_The%20periodisation%20of%20the%20Dutch%20Bronze%20Age%20a%20critical%20review[1]_Redacted.pdf?sequence=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010141442/https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/19822/Fokkens_2001_The%20periodisation%20of%20the%20Dutch%20Bronze%20Age%20a%20critical%20review%5b1%5d_Redacted.pdf?sequence=1|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 October 2017|website=Open Access Leiden University|publisher=Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden|access-date=7 July 2017}}</ref> a Middle Bronze Age culture marked by [[earthenware]] pottery. The southern region became dominated by the related [[Hilversum culture]] (1800–800 BC).