Peel, Netherlands

De Peel is a region in the southeast of the Netherlands that straddles the border between the provinces of North Brabant and Limburg.

Intensive commercial excavation began in 1853, but the industry soon declined as a result of several national economic crises.

Archaeologist W. C. Braat speculated that a Roman horseman had accidentally stumbled into the bog, but more recent analysis shows that the artefacts are more likely to have been deliberately and ritually deposited.

[3] An area that has remained partly untouched by the peat-cutting was turned into a National Park, the Groote Peel.

It is one of the most bird-rich areas in Western Europe, with resident black-necked grebes and sometimes migrating common cranes in October/November.