Among the bovids occurring in Europe during the Late Pleistocene, the aurochs (Bos primigenius), the steppe bison (Bison priscus) and the European bison (Bison bonasus) went extinct in the wild. To trace and understand their population decline, species identification of archaeological bones is essential, but, when diagnostic morphological characters are insufficient, ancient DNA can be a powerful tool to document past biodiversity. To document the population decline of bovids during the Late Pleistocene - Holocene transition, we analysed the ancient DNA of two bovid bone fragments, collected in Belgium and dated to 14.93-14.31 ka cal. BP and 11.97-11.76 ka cal. BP. Shotgun sequencing of the two samples yielded 25.5% and 0.1% of endogenous DNA, with average lengths of 53 and 50 bp and covered more than 90% and 15% of the mitochondrial genome, respectively. Resulting mtDNA haplotypes of both samples matched a lineage of European Bison that went extinct in the early Holocene (ca. 9 ka) and that diverged ca. 97 ka from the lineage including extant European bison. Based on current knowledge, the extinct bison lineage contracted in range while expanding northwards into Scandinavia at the end of the Pleistocene before its extinction. These results reveal the presence of the extinct lineage at more southern latitudes than expected during its decline 14-11 ka ago.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2026
Since the 1990s, the modern town of Huy, located at the borders of the river Meuse (Liege province, Belgium), has undergone several preventive archaeological excavations in the context of urban development. Each of these excavations brought to light numerous traces of human activity, mainly from the mediaeval period. A publication project aims to bring together the numerous data collected over the last 30 years through this substantial fieldwork, which leads to close cooperation of many specialised disciplines, including archaeozoology. A major effort invested in the study of the ceramics made it possible to provide a fine chronological phasing allowing a more in-depth diachronic analysis. The rich archaeological material uncovered includes more than 50,000 animal remains, both collected by hand and by sieving. Although the fauna[ material collected ranges chronologically from the late Roman period to the early modern period, we will focus mainly on remains attributed to the Early and High Middle Ages, periods that are well represented. The sites analysed are scattered on both banks of the river, some of them are present close to the primitive core of the town, while others represent peripheral craft areas. The study of these different settlements makes it possible to illustrate the food practices and meat supply strategies since the redeployment of the core of human occupation in the early mediaeval period.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
