During the Holocene the lower parts of the coversand landscape of the Netherlands gradually disappeared under water or under layers of peat, clay, or sand as a consequence of the rising sea level. For the occupants this drowning caused a continuous displacement to (still) dry land. Within this ecological setting, Fokkens studied the occupation of a part of the drowning landscape, largely the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. He challenges old models of `environmental crises' to explain settlement change and proposes a new methodology.