Strontium isotope dataset for ‘The Shapers of Holland’: Tracing human origins during the Great Reclamation (900–1300 CE)

This dataset contains Sr isotope measurements from 112 unique individuals excavated from medieval burial sites in the Dutch provinces of South Holland and North Holland, dating between 900 and 1300 CE. The data were generated as part of the “Ontstaan van Holland” (“Origins of Holland”) programme, initiated by the Province of South Holland to raise public awareness of the early medieval history of Holland and to extend the collective historical memory beyond the well-known Eighty Years’ War and Dutch Golden Age.

Following the decline in population after the Roman withdrawal from the region, parts of the Netherlands were sparsely populated or even uninhabited during the Early Middle Ages. Between 900 and 1300 CE, however, large-scale reclamation and cultivation projects transformed the landscape of West Netherlands, a process that marked the birth of medieval Holland. The dataset underpins research into the geographic origins of the people who carried out these reclamations.

This project was funded by the Province of South-Holland