In archaeological and historical geographical terms, the Salland and Achterhoek are among the least know areas of the Netherlands. Urbanisation, industrialisation, water management measures and nature development are rapidly beginning to take their toll on these coversand areas, and the buried history and landscape heritage they represent are coming under increasing pressure. An interdisciplinary project has been started to build a broad scientific base and to produce a biography of this coversand landscape from the late Palaeolithic to the beginning of the nineteenth century. By analysing existing databases and studying four areas in detail, and on an interdisciplinary basis an attempt will be made to understand the development of settlements and the layout and exploitation of lower-lying parts of the landscape, which will be the first comprehensive picture of the coversand landscape of the eastern Netherlands