Terp

A terp is an artificial dwelling mound built on the North European Plain to give safe ground during storm surges, high tides and river or sea flooding. The mounds are also called wierde, woerd, warf, warft, werf, werve, wurt or vaerft, depending on the language and dialect. They are found in the coastal regions of the Netherlands, especially Zeeland, Friesland and Groningen, and in southern Denmark and northwestern Germany, including East Frisia and North Frisia. People still live on terps on the Halligen islands without the protection of dykes. Frisian terps stand up to about 15 metres high, and building took place in successive periods beginning around 500 BC and ending with the spread of dykes about AD 1200. Over centuries, household waste fertilised the soil, and in the 18th and 19th centuries many terps were dug away for farmland. Some 1,200 terpen are recorded in Groningen and Friesland alone.