6 Site typology in the core region of Venray

6.1 Distribution patterns

The core region of Venray is one of the four research regions in the Meuse Valley Project where museum and amateur collections have been catalogued in detail. The artefact composition of the surface sites has been accurately described, but still only part of that information is used for the site-typological analysis. Due to (post)depositional and research factors it has been necessary to reduce the data to an ordinal level of measurement. Furthermore there are only three phases for which there are sufficient 'clean' sites available: the late Mesolithic, early Neolithic (Michelsberg phase) and late Neolithic (Beaker period).

Regarding the late Mesolithic there is a fairly dense distribution of sites within the research area, with two clear concentrations. One is in the western part, where the brooks spring, and another in the east, in the transition zone and in a small cluster on the coversand, a short distance away.

On the basis of these three cut-outs in time a trend can be discerned, despite the relatively low number of sites. During the Neolithization process the location of the settlements moves increasingly towards the River Meuse. It is remarkable that the historically ancient villages in this area, for instance Tienraij, Wanssum and Meerlo, are located here as well. The transition zone to the moorland of the Peel is deserted over time. The central part of the research area is always relatively empty, although it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that this is also the result of distorting factors.