About 3,500 years ago the first inhabitants of the area of Eersel were builders of sepulchre hillocks or burial mounds of the Tumulus culture. Following them in the late Bronze Age the people of the Urnfield culture continued living there as has been proved by the urn with cremating ashes that has been found in ‘Schadewijk’. Before the Romans occupied this area, which they called Toxandria, the Eburones lived here. From the Roman period there are also archaeological finds. Many shards of Roman pottery are found between the church of Eersel and the hamlet ‘Schadewijk’. The Salian Franks that settled the area in the 4th century became known as Toxandrians. After the Roman time the region has been virtually depopulated.