The topic of this thesis is the Origin of the Dutch coastal landscapes during the Holocene. The landscape evolution is visualized in a series of palaeogeographical maps, and the driving mechanisms behind the environmental changes are discussed. The practice to make palaeogeographical map reconstructions in the Netherlands developed after the Second World War when a lot of regional geological and soil scientific mapping programs were carried out by government institutions and universities. The palaeogeographical map reconstructions were subsequently used for the understanding and modelling of the long-term coastal evolution, coastal management issues, landscape-archaeological purposes and for education and public information. The aim of this thesis is to describe how the palaeogeographical maps are compiled, what kind of data was used and what the goals were which had to be achieved with the maps. Palaeogeographical maps can be drawn on three scale levels: national, regional and local. The format of this book follows this subdivision. Geoarchaeology is involved in all these studies. Geological and palaeo-environmental data from archaeological excavations and surveys, ‘key sites’ in the landscape reconstruction, provided essential information for the palaeogeographical reconstructions. In the introduction (Chapter 1) the background of the landscape reconstructions is given, the geological / palaeo-environmental terminology and stratigraphic classifications are discussed, the role of archaeology in the coastal reconstruction treated, and the driving mechanisms in coastal evolution are elaborated upon. Chapter 2 discusses the compilation of 11 palaeogeographical maps of the Netherlands. Chapter 3 reports about three regional palaeogeographical studies. The flooding history of the Southwestern Netherlands is described in Chapter 3.1. The landscape history of the Oer-IJ tidal system (middle Noord-Holland) is the subject of Chapter 3.2. The landscape development of this system is described on a regional to ...