Giant bones

50,000 years ago, right where you are now, there was a large, rolling, grassy plain. Ruler of these vast steppes was the mammoth. These colossal animals could grow up to three metres tall. With their huge tusks (1) they turned up the barren ground in search of food. Their diet consisted of grasses, which they ground with their large molars (2). 

Most mammoths lived in groups of females and their young, led by the oldest cow: the matriarch. Mature bulls (3) set off alone. Without the protection of the group, they lived dangerous lives and therefore, as a rule, died younger than the females. A mammoth cadaver provided a tasty meal for hyenas.  

In Drenthe, remains of the gigantic mammoth are rarely found. However, they are occasionally fished up from the North Sea (4). 50,000 years ago that was land, not yet a sea: mammoths could roam freely between the Netherlands and England.