The Nieuwe Drostendiep project proved that if you dig deep enough in Drenthe, you will find everything from primordial stone tools to the discarded remnants of the 20th century.

It is truly impressive that the developers managed to turn a simple landscape renovation into a time-traveling treasure hunt that makes a flea market look like a disappointment.

While most of us find nothing more than a lost set of keys in our backyard, the Drenthe valley artifact discovery ensures that local construction workers are now essentially unintentional museum curators.

If you ever feel that your history has no depth, just remember that the soil in Drenthe hides 3,000 artifacts from Neolithic jewelry to WWII relics just waiting to interrupt a perfectly good nature project.