A niche construction approach on the central Netherlands covering the last 220,000 years

This paper shows what a niche construction theory (NCT) approach can contribute to the long-term social and environmental history of an area when applied to both sedentary and non-sedentary communities. To understand how communities create and respond to environmental change, hominin presence of the central Netherlands within the last 220,000 years is used as a case study. For this case study we studied the interrelationship between hominins, water and landscape gradients for four periods of interest within this long-term hominin presence. During each of these periods the study area had a specific environmental setting and (possible) traces of hominin presence. These periods cover the (1) Middle to Late Saalian (~220-170 ka), (2) Late Glacial (~14.7-11.7 ka, (3) Mid-Holocene (6000-5400 BP) and (4) Late Holocene (1200-8 BP). This review shows that traces of niche construction behaviour related to water and landscape gradients in the central Netherlands can be shown for both sedentary and non-sedentary communities. Furthermore, in this review it is shown that the transition from inceptive to counteractive change in ecosystem management style in the central Netherlands took place between the Mid- and Late Holocene periods.