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the History of WieringenPrehistoric times
About 75000 years B.C. the last iceage, the Weichselien starts. The low countries are not covered underneath the ice in this period, but the climate changes to that of a polar tundra. In this period, lasting until about 10000 years B.C., modern man first sets foot to this region. When the first groups of modern people reached Wieringen and surroundings is unknown, but it is certain that it is a very long time ago. The discovery of a primitive stone tool near Hippolytushoef suggests that the earliest settlement of Wieringen might have been 70000 years ago. If this finding is authentic it may even mean that Homo Sapiens Neandertalensis (Neandertal-man) could have wandered in this area. It is not surprising that only a very limited number of finding remembers of these first inhabitants, but they certainly were here. People from these early cultures left not many material objects behind and on top of that the majority of the settlementareas from the later stoneage, bronze age and iron age (mostly just behind the dunes that used to be west of the present coastline) have been flooded by the sea for some time. Around 2000 B.C. the living circumstances in North-Holland are that bad that it is almost impossible to live here. Only higher areas like Wieringen and Texel are still inhabitable. (see map of Noord-Holland 2500 B.C.) This means the chance of finding prehistoric artefacts on Wieringen is significantly higher than in other parts of northern North-Holland. However, this doesn't mean stone tools are around in high numbers. Finding them still remains a matter of luck. The most spectacular finding in this respect was that of a prehistoric camp near Slootdorp in the Wieringermeer some years ago. A stoneage hunting camp has been dug up there. From the findings it became clear that a group of people lived here who belonged to the culture of the megalithbuilders from the eastern part of the Netherlands.
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