Long before the villages of Veldhoven, Zeelst, Oerle and Meerveldhoven are documented, the area sustained a small group of people. At the end of the last Ice Age, 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, the landscape resembled a tundra, a vast plain covered with plants resistant to cold. That doesn’t mean that the ground was continuously frozen, or that an ice cap was present here. In summer, pleasant temperatures were reached and plants could thrive.
Reindeer were also found on this tundra. As soon as food in an area ran out or the temperature dropped, the reindeer herds moved south. During the summer months, many reindeer stayed in the area that we now know as the Kempen. It was an area of sand ridges, stream valleys and swamps. Reindeer grazed primarily on the edges of the sand ridges and the stream valleys finding sufficient edible plants and drinking water in the immediate vicinity. The inhabitants at the time were however not permanently residents of this area. They mainly lived off the reindeer and thus moved with the herds. Hunting, fishing and collecting edible tubers, nuts and berries were their main sources of sustenance.
These reindeer hunters used bows and arrows for hunting. The arrowhead was usually made of flint. These hunters also used flint scrapers to prepare the skins of the reindeer or other game. The necessary flint was found in South Limburg or Germany. The tools were made by the hunters themselves, sometimes in an encampment erected near the plain where the reindeer grazed. Archaeologists have recovered the flint tools, stone waste materials and sometimes reindeer antler tools from such encampments. All other traces have perished over time. Others tools have also been found in the Kempen, they are at least 10,000 years old and were once used by these reindeer hunters.
When the climate warmed, reindeer migrated permanently to the north. In “de Kempen” a different type of vegetation slowly began to establish itself and with it other types of animals appeared. The population of the areacontinued to live by means of hunting but became more focused on smaller game such as birds and fish. As new types of edible vegetation became established there was sufficient food to sustain the hunter gatherer population. The stone tools used by these people were in general smaller than those used in the preceding period. People in this region lived in built up areas consisting of small primitive hut dwellings. These were, however, not permanent communities.
During the New Stone Age (5300 to 2100 BC), the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and cattle breeding took place. To date, no habitational traces have been found from that timeframe in the surroundings of the current municipality of Veldhoven, however stone tools and pottery have been found.
The period following the New Stone Age, is called the Bronze Age (2100 to 700 BC), as it was a period characterized by the use of bronze objects. Migrant or traveling bronze casters sold bronze axes and spearheads to the population, or rather, exchanged them for cattle or grain. These traders/craftsmen came from England. There, the raw materials copper and tin were found, which were necessary for the manufacture of the bronze objects.
The population of this area was religious. The burial mounds, with urns and other buried items, indicate a belief in an afterlife. Various burial mounds from the Bronze Age were excavated in the municipality of Veldhoven. Abundant interest in these burial mounds dates back to the 19th century. Treasure hunters would dig a hole in a burial mound, hoping to find an intact urn. Although many finds have found their way to museums in the Netherlands and Belgium, because of the treasure hunters’ retrieving methods, the information from these finds is incomplete and often unusable. Between 1948 and 1951, the National Office for Archaeological Research (Rijksdienst Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek – ROB) carried out an expert soil analysis in Oerle, providing important contributions to our current knowledge of the Bronze Age in the Netherlands.
In the hamlets of Toterhout and Half Mile, now part of Oerle, there are still a large number of restored Bronze Age burial mounds. Bronze plaques have been placed at these burial mounds by the municipality, providing information about the different types of monuments. Various special urns were found there, clearly showing that the inhabitants of that era were in contact with the south of England. The urn of Toterfout, which is kept in Den Bosch, is internationally acknowledged in archeology.
In the Iron Age (700 to 50 BC), the remains of the dead were placed in an urn and buried in a burial mound, urn field or burial field. Burial ceremonies also took place. Thanks to a number of excavations in Veldhoven, apprehension for this period has increased considerably in the past five hundred years. Museum ‘t Oude Slot in Veldhoven and the Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch preserve objects from this period that have been found in Veldhoven throughout history.
During the Iron Age, small farmer settlements existed in all parts of the current municipality. The Iron Age indigenous people are considered to be Celts, as the Romans (50 BC to early 4th century AD) annexed the Celts’ territory to the Roman Empire.
In Roman times, the Kempen was inhabited by native tribes and some Roman legionaries;, probably former Roman soldiers who retreated to the countryside or who settled in their native region. Many remains from Roman times have been excavated in Veldhoven, including, plans for housing, pottery from Roman pottery centers or from local production, Roman coins, pottery figurines of Roman gods as well as jewelry.
It is suspected that a Roman road or route ran from the city of Tongeren (Belgium) to Rossum, crossing the territory of Veldhoven. This could provide explanation for the large number of finds from that period, especially those found in the stream valleys. In the course of time, countless Roman objects have been found in the Veldhoven hamlet of Heers. The Roman Empire came to an end at the beginning of the 4th century. Depopulation of this area probably took place then.
