In July 2015 a rescue excavation took place to recover the remains of a previously unknown ancient branch of the Senne river on the site of Tour & Taxis in Brussels (Belgium). Such a large-scale excavation of a river branch required the development of a specific approach, where the close collaboration of archaeologists and many natural science specialists showed to be a crucial factor. Multiple logistic and scientific challenges were met to accurately document and correlate the river and the traces of human activities during the salvation operation. In order to cope with these challenges a protocol was elaborated focussing on the realisation and geoarchaeological study of multiple sedimentary profiles across the river bed, the excavation of the archaeological features and structures related to the river management, and an extensive sampling campaign for the natural science specialists (geoarchaeologists, archaeozoölogists and archaeobotanists). This resulted in a large and varied dataset, permitting to document the evolution of the river bed and the impact of the management activities, but also to reconstruct the surrounding landscape (De Cupere et al., 2017). In the spring of 2019, the remains of the medieval harbour in the historical center of Brussels were discovered during construction works. This instigated the largest rescue excavation in Brussels where the stakes were high: documenting the evolution of the river, understanding the impact of the embankments, but also documenting the progressing urbanisation and its impact on the river in a very limited amount of time (Ghesquière et al., 2024). Armed with the experiences of the previous salvation operation, a large-scale operation was conducted, following an adapted protocol. The present contribution intends to discuss how the experiences of the two large-scale rescue operations forged our research framework for tackling comparable contexts in the future.
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Bioarchaeological studies of ancient wild and domestic animals provide critical insights into animal translocation and human-animal relationships over time. Domestic cats (Felis catus), in particular, have a long history of association with humans as companions and pest controllers. This makes them valuable bio-proxies for reconstructing human movements via sea and land routes, as well as dietary shifts in the anthropogenic niche. In this study, we performed genomic and stable isotope analyses on over 90 cat remains from two major trade hubs in northern Germany: the Viking settlement of Haithabu (AD 800 - 1050) and its medieval successor, the town of Schleswig (AD 1050 - 1250). Ancient DNA analysis showed no clear geographical pattern in mitochondrial DNA ancestries from the two sites, all of which belong to clade IV of F. s. lybica and are assigned to haplogroups A, C, and D. This likely reflects the widespread dispersal of domestic cats in Europe starting from the Roman era. Nuclear DNA analysis revealed limited gene flow from European wildcats, consistent with previous findings on ancient domestic cats from other regions in Europe. Stable carbon (δ13C µ = -19.1 ± 0.7‰) and nitrogen (δ15N µ = 10.5 ± 1.1‰) isotope ratio analysis of cats from both sites indicates that most cats had mixed diets involving some marine foods supplied by or scavenged from humans. This multidisciplinary approach enables a comprehensive reconstruction of human-mediated cat dispersals and their dietary patterns during pivotal socio-economic transformation.
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Non-exchangeable hydrogen isotope ratios (δ²H) are an underused proxy for studying past human-animal relationships, offering insights into diets, water intake, and ecological ranges. This study examines 218 bone collagen samples for δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, and δ²H values of wild and domestic terrestrial species, and marine fishes from Ottoman-period Aqaba Castle, Jordan (16th–19th century CE). In this hyperarid region, high δ¹⁵N values reflect the elevated δ¹⁵N baseline of plants, causing overlaps in taxa with varying trophic levels. δ²H helps mitigate this by acting as an additional trophic level indicator. Domesticated herbivores mostly possess δ²H values close to that of predicted local rainfall, while hypercarnivorous cats (Felis catus) exhibit the highest δ²H values, averaging +42.4‰ above herbivores. Fish also show high δ²H values, correlated with trophic level (r = 0.84, R² = 0.70) and estimated body size (r = 0.61, R² = 0.37). Cattle and chickens, have the lowest δ²H values of all terrestrial species, likely due to their significant water requirements and the consumption of ²H-depleted aquifer water. Mapping wild gazelle (Gazella sp.) and chukar (Alectoris chukar) δ²H values on rainwater δ²H isoscapes indicates limited home ranges in the surrounding hyperarid highlands, in line with their expected behaviours. We assess the utility of δ2H for determining fish consumption using Bayesian dietary models for cats and hyenas (Hyaena hyaena), revealing higher fish consumption by cats when δ²H is included alongside δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N. This study highlights the value for δ²H values to enhance interpretations of animal diets and behaviours in archaeological contexts.
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