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The Rapid Spread of Early Farming from the Aegean into the Balkans via the Sub-Mediterranean-Aegean Vegetation Zone
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Close examination of the geographic position of Early Neolithic settlements in SE-Europe shows that the oldest sites are almost exclusively situated in some very specific biogeographic areas. These earliest Neolithic settlements are all concentrated in a region that Pavle Cikovac calls the Sub-Mediterranean-Aegean biogeographic region. It covers the northern and north-western edge of the Aegean, including Thessaly, Greek Macedonia and Greek Thrace, and extends further into the Balkans, but only along the valleys rivers of the Vardar (Axios), Struma (Strymon) and Mesta (Nestos) rivers. Surprisingly, although Thrace is the closest landscape to Anatolia, it does not contain any sites of the earliest phase of the Neolithic at all beyond the narrow zone of the northern Marmara. In the present paper we explain this remarkable situation in terms of the natural environment in this particular region of the southern Balkans. To begin, we propose that the lack of oldest Early Neolithic settlements in Thrace is related to the extreme microclimate of this region. As shown by modern vegetation analogues, Thracian oriental hornbeam-downy oak forests are exposed to stronger continental influence with frosts in the winter and average temperatures during the coldest months that are ca. 2-3 °C lower than those in the Central Balkans that have Sub-Mediterranean vegetation. In general terms, what we may expect is that the earliest Neolithic groups would first appear in regions with similarly mild conditions, on a yearly average, to those in the Mediterranean. Such mild conditions are indeed present in the Sub-Mediterranean biogeographic region. On the other hand, before moving further to the north along the north-south oriented river systems of the Central Balkans, the Neolithic economy based on agriculture and stockbreeding would first have to be adapted to the relatively harsh winters in the Balkans. In consequence, it would have been possible to apply the new Neolithic lifestyle in the neighbouring areas of Thrace, Walachia, Dobrudža and the Carpathian Basin only after a certain period of adaptation. Available 14C-data show that the adaptation period is identical to the time-span of Rapid Climate Change (RCC: 6550-6050 calBC) as defined in previous studies.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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Fuel for debating ancient economies. Calculating wood consumption at urban scale in Roman Imperial times
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Abstract Estimating wood extraction rates from forests based on archaeological and historical evidence is an important step in evaluating the sustainability of past social-ecological systems. In this paper, we present a calculation tool to estimate human wood resource use for a selected location during a defined period in the past. We illustrate the method by its application to the ancient town of Sagalassos (South-west Anatolia, Turkey) during the Roman Imperial period, with a focus on pottery production and the Roman Baths. Based on archaeological data, thermodynamic formulas and calorific values, an estimation is provided of the amount of wood used within a time step of one year. Because quantitative information on ancient technology and lifestyle is rather scarce and uncertain, input values consist of ranges. In order to take this uncertainty into account, a Monte Carlo procedure is included, offering a probability distribution of possible outcomes. Our results indicate that wood consumption in 2nd century Sagalassos was quite high, with a lifestyle including frequent hot bathing, export driven pottery production and a climate that required heating during winter months. Based on the available woodland area, we conclude that the community of Sagalassos was intensively using the surrounding forests.
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Exploring the shell-based taxonomy of the Sri Lankan land snail Corilla H. and A. Adams, 1855 (Pulmonata: Corillidae) using mitochondrial DNA
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Vestibular sensitivity and locomotor behavior in early paleocene mammals
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The end-Cretaceous extinction triggered the collapse of ecosystems and a drastic turnover of mammalian communities. During the Mesozoic, mammals were ecologically diverse, but less than extant species. Modern ecological richness was established by the Eocene, but questions remain about the ecology of the first wave of mammals radiating after the extinction. Postcranial fossils are often used to determine locomotor behavior; however, the semicircular canals of the inner ear also represent a reliable proxy. These canals detect the angular acceleration of the head during locomotion and transmit neuronal signals to the brain to allow stabilization of the eyes and head. Accordingly, vestibular sensitivity to rapid rotational head movements is higher in species with a larger canal radius of curvature and more orthogonal canals. We used high-resolution computed tomography scanning to obtain inner ear virtual endocasts for 30 specimens. We supplemented these with data from the literature to construct a database of 79 fossils from the Jurassic to the Eocene and 262 extant mammals. We compared data on canal morphology and another lifestyle proxy, the size of the petrosal lobules, which have a role in maintaining eyes’ movements and position. We find that Paleocene mammals exhibited a lower average and more constricted range of Agility Indices (AI), a new measure of canal radius size relative to body size, compared to Mesozoic, Eocene and extant taxa. In the early Paleocene, body mass and canal radius increased, but the former outpaced the latter leading to an AI decline. Similarly, their petrosal lobules were relatively smaller on average compared to other temporal groups, which suggests less ability for fast movements. Additionally, Paleocene mammals had similar AIs to extant scansorial and terrestrial quadrupeds. In contrast, the lack of canal orthogonality change from the Mesozoic to the Paleocene indicates no trend toward lower vestibular sensitivity regardless of changes in body size. This result may reflect functional differences between canal orthogonality and radius size. Our results support previous work on tarsal morphology and locomotor behavior ancestral state reconstruction suggesting that ground dwelling mammals were more common than arboreal taxa during the Paleocene. Ultimately, this pattern may indicate that the collapse of forested environments immediately after extinction led to the preferential survivorship of more terrestrially adapted mammals. Funding Sources Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions: IF, European Research Council StG, National Science Foundation, Belgian Science Policy Office, DMNS No Walls Community Initiative.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
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Evolution of European carnivorous mammal assemblages through the Palaeogene
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The rise of Carnivora (Mammalia: Laurasiatheria) is an important evolutionary event that changed the structure of terrestrial ecosystems, starting at the dawn of the Eocene, 56 Mya. This radiation has been mainly analysed in North America, leaving the evolution of carnivoran diversity in other regions of the globe poorly known. To tackle this issue, we review the evolution of terrestrial carnivorous mammal diversity (Mesonychidae, Oxyaenidae, Hyaenodonta and Carnivoramorpha) in Europe. We reveal four episodes of intense faunal turnovers that helped establish the dominance of carnivoramorphans over their main competitors. We also identify two periods of general endemism. The remaining time intervals are characterized by dispersals of new taxa from North America, Asia and Africa. The European Palaeogene carnivorous mammal fauna appears to have been almost constantly in a transient state, strongly influenced by dispersals. Many of the bioevents we highlight for European carnivorous mammals are probably best seen as ecosystem-wide responses to environmental changes. In contrast to the North American record, European hyaenodonts remain more diverse than the carnivoramorphans for the entire Eocene. The replacement of hyaenodonts by carnivoramorphans as the most diverse and dominant predators only occurred after the ‘Grande Coupure’ at 33 Mya, about 16 Myr later than in North America.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
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Brawn before brains in placental mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction
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Mammals are the most encephalized vertebrates, with the largest brains relative to body size. Placental mammals have particularly enlarged brains, with expanded neocortices for sensory integration, the origins of which are unclear. We used computed tomography scans of newly discovered Paleocene fossils to show that contrary to the convention that mammal brains have steadily enlarged over time, early placentals initially decreased their relative brain sizes because body mass increased at a faster rate. Later in the Eocene, multiple crown lineages independently acquired highly encephalized brains through marked growth in sensory regions. We argue that the placental radiation initially emphasized increases in body size as extinction survivors filled vacant niches. Brains eventually became larger as ecosystems saturated and competition intensified.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
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New data on Barbatodon oardaensis Codrea, Solomon, Venczel & Smith, 2014, the smallest Late Cretaceous multituberculate mammal from Europe
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Surprisingly, after the Early Cretaceous taxonomic diversity recorded in Europe, which probably is largely an artifact of inadequate taxonomy and inflation of taxa, multituberculate mammals became extremely scarce in the Late Cretaceous in this continent, being reported exclusively from the uppermost Cretaceous continental deposits of the so-called “Haţeg Island” in Transylvania, Romania. Such mammals have been documented from the Haţeg and Rusca Montană sedimentary basins, as well as from the southwestern area of the Transylvanian Basin. All these records belong to the endemic family Kogaionidae. The present paper reports additional data related to the smallest Cretaceous kogaionid, Barbatodon oardaensis Codrea, Solomon, Venczel & Smith, 2014 based on a series of new isolated teeth recovered mainly from the type locality, Oarda de Jos (Oarda A). Furthermore, the fossil locali-ties Oarda B and Vălioara are other new occurrences for the species. Based on this new material, the intraspecific variability of B. oardaensis is confirmed and its presence is attested in the three basins. Details related to the diversity of the “Haţeg Island” kogaionids are also provided.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
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A new gecko from the earliest Eocene of Dormaal, Belgium: a thermophilic element of the ‘greenhouse world’
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We here describe a new gekkotan lizard from the earliest Eocene (MP 7) of the Dormaal locality in Belgium, from the time of the warmest global climates of the past 66 million years (Myr). This new taxon, with an age of 56 Myr, together with indeterminate gekkotan material reported from Silveirinha (Portugal, MP 7) represent the oldest Cenozoic gekkotans known from Europe. Today gekkotan lizards are distributed worldwide in mainly warm temperate to tropical areas and the new gecko from Dormaal represents a thermophilic faunal element. Given the Palaeocene–Eocene thermal maximum at that time, the distribution of this group in such northern latitudes (above 50° North – the latitude of southern England) is not surprising. Although this new gekkotan is represented only by a frontal (further, dentaries and a mandibular fragment are described here as Gekkota indet. 1 and 2—at least two gekkotan species occurred in Dormaal), it provides a new record for squamate diversity from the earliest Eocene ‘greenhouse world’. Together with the Baltic amber gekkotan Yantarogekko balticus, they document the northern distribution of gekkotans in Europe during the Eocene. The increase in temperature during the early Eocene led to a rise in sea level, and many areas of Eurasia were submerged. Thus, the importance of this period is magnified by understanding future global climate change.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
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Revision of the oldest varanid, Saniwa orsmaelensis Dollo, 1923, from the earliest Eocene of northwest Europe
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Saniwa is an extinct genus of varanid squamate from the Eocene of North America and Europe. Up to now, only one poorly known species, Saniwa orsmaelensis Dollo, 1923, has been reported from Europe. Diagnostic material was limited to vertebrae with only preliminary description and no figure provided, except of one dorsal vertebra that was designated as the lectotype. New specimens from the earliest Eocene of Dormaal, Belgium and Le Quesnoy, France, including recently recovered skull ma-terial, are described and illustrated here. These fossils representing the oldest varanid squamate allow further comparisons with the type species, Saniwa ensidens Leidy, 1870, from the early and middle Eocene of North America and to propose a new diagnosis for S. orsmaelensis. Its arrival in Europe is probably linked to rapid environmental changes around the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The occurrence of S. orsmaelensis is restricted to the early Eocene of northwest Europe and paleogeographic considerations regarding the distribution of the genus Saniwa Leidy, 1870 suggest an Asian origin, but an African origin cannot be completely excluded.
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New evidence of the emergence of the East Asian monsoon in the early Palaeogene
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Previous palaeoenvironmental reconstructions have implied that East Asia was dominated by a zonal climate pattern during the Eocene, with an almost latitudinal arid/semiarid band at ~ 30° N. However, this long-standing model has recently been challenged by growing body of multidisciplinary evidence. Some studies indicated that central China was characterized by climatic fluctuations between humid and drier conditions during the Early Eocene, akin to the present East Asian monsoon (EAM) regime. Using palynological assemblages in the Tantou Basin, central China, we quantitatively reconstructed climate changes from the Late Palaeocene to Early Eocene to better understand climate change in central China. Palynological assemblages revealed that the coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest in this area received no less than 800 mm of annual precipitation and experienced a climate change from warm and wet to relatively cool and dry. According to palaeoclimate curves, a sudden climate change occurred in the Early Eocene, with the mean annual temperature and precipitation decreasing by 5.1 °C and 214.8 mm, respectively, and the climate became very similar to the present climate, which is controlled by the monsoon. Therefore, this significant climate change during the Early Eocene may signal the emergence of the EAM in East Asia.
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