Belvédère sand

At the end of each ice age the temperature rose, which turned the tundra into a steppe landscape. The River Maas had lost its wildness and, flowing more regularly and quietly, brought in and deposited fine sand .

In these sand layers remains have been found of three-coloured mice, hamsters, lemmings and steppe pika. As the ice sheets in the north started to melt, sea level rose. The maritime climate caused the steppe to disappear and extensive deciduous forests came into being. The River Maas deposited very fine sands and loam during this period. In these deposits the remains of small camp sites of hunters have been found: the Belvédère Hunters, the oldest inhabitants of the Netherlands.

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