The asteroid belt makes no sense to me without it, particluarly because of the large size of irregular mineral "particles," but now that we see so many crossing orbits, it becomes more obvious that such is only a matter of time.
You might find it fascinating that this perspective of preparation for eventual catastrophe is elemental to an honest understanding of Genesis. It surely ain't no ex nihilo Creation story.
The main asteroid belt was at one time thought to be the debris of either a planet that got destroyed in a collision, or the potential material that never quite formed as a planet in that location. Nowadays it's generally thought to be material of various origin that has been shepherded into a ring of debris by Jupiter and the Sun.