The impressive stones of the Oosterbos

On the edge of the Oosterbos woods a few boulders lie close together. They are all made of the same granite. Not only that, but at one time they were all probably part of one enormous boulder. Many erratic boulders were broken into fragments by the force of the ice. Or they cracked under the influence of the cold and ice during the last ice age.

Covered by the peat

These boulders once lay here in the sand on a bare slope of the Hondsrug. Ten thousand years ago the climate improved. Plants, shrubs and trees began to grow. And the peat also began to grow. Over the course of time it grew upwards against the Hondsrug.

Centimeter by centimeter the peat covered the boulders until eventually they vanished completely under the thick layer of peat. The whole of the Hondsrug to the south of Emmen became covered by the peat…