Geldrop

Geldrop is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo.

Geldrop was a separate municipality until 2004, when it merged with Mierlo. [Ad van der Meer and Onno Boonstra, "Repertorium van Nederlandse gemeenten", KNAW, 2006. [http://www.knaw.nl/cfdata/publicaties/detail.cfm?boeken__ordernr=20061061] ] Mainly to keep out of the municipality of Eindhoven.

Archaeology in Geldrop

Geldrop has proven a fertile ground for archaeological diggings, unearthing finds from a various historical and prehistorical eras.

The exact age of Geldrop isn't known. Trough the years, several archaeological finds were made which testify to prehistoric occupants.

Where over 10.000 years ago reindeer hunters of the so-called Ahrensburg culture placed their tents, the finds on the Geldrops grounds included, among other things, two toes with engraving. On one of them a reindeer horn was represented, on the other one a dancing little girl who got nicknamed "The Venus of Mierlo".

Finds in the south of Zesgehuchten (a district of Geldrop) indicate small settlements from the New Stone Age (about 3000 BC).

Finds from the Roman Period and the early Middle Ages have been found off Genoenhuis and Hoog Geldrop (districts in Geldrop). In the autumn of 1989, archaeological diggings were carried out at the nearby 't Zand Cemetery, with a remarkable result: four settlements were found, from the late Roman Period and the Middle Ages: a period which covers the years between 350 and 1225 AD.

Famous people from Geldrop

* Pieter van den Hoogenband (1978) Famous swimmer, Winner Olympic Gold
* Ernest Faber (1971) Famous footballplayer for PSV and Holland National Team
* A. F. Th. van der Heijden Writer

References

External links

* [http://www.kuijsten.de/atlas/nb/geldrop.html Map of the former municipality in 1868]
* [http://www.geldrop-mierlo.nl Website Geldrop]
* [http://www.geldrop-foto.nl/Foto/Algemeen/2006/Graffiti_2006/index.htm Graffiti in the Coevering, Geldrop (2006)]