The opening and use of the region came about according to practical and economic considerations. A climatically and geologically favourable spot was chosen and then cleared. All too often, two settlements arose right next to each other and their growth led them to spread out, and into the short stretch of land between them. When both settlements’ clearing work met in the middle, the question of the boundary between the two always came to a head. New settlement, working the land and repopulation took their turns over the centuries as the opening of the Hunsrück spread from existing settlements in the surrounding river valleys up into the heights themselves. The whole process was largely completed by about 1200.