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The effect of bio-irrigation by the polychaete Lanice conchilega on active denitrifiers: Distribution, diversity and composition of nosZ gene
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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The Elusive Archaeology of Kongo Urbanism: the Case of Kindoki, Mbanza Nsundi (Lower Congo, DRC).
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We present results, analyses, and an in-depth historical contextualization of the fieldwork undertaken in 2012 and 2013 at the Kindoki site in the Lower Congo (DRC). This site is linked to Mbanza Nsundi, one of the Kongo Kingdom’s provincial capitals, which turns out to be archaeologically ‘elusive’. Pinpointing its location proved to be particularly challenging. To this end, a historically informed survey methodology was applied that has rarely been implemented on such a scale in Central Africa before. We combined a strategy of systematic test pits with a large-scale 50-m grid approach. A cemetery was identified on Kindoki Hill with distinct but probably contemporaneous quarters of a sixteenth– seventeenth-century settlement on both sides. The cemetery itself contains mainly eighteenth-century burials, in all likelihood of successive high-ranking Nsundi nobles, perhaps even of Nsundi rulers. The foreign, especially Portuguese, ceramics excavated on the hilltop and the hundreds of Venetian and likely Bavarian beads found in the graves are indicative ofMbanza Nsundi’s connection to trade routes linking the Atlantic coast with the Pool region. The most striking discovery is that of a previously unknown type of comb-impressed pottery, from a pit with a calibrated radiocarbon date of AD 1294–1393 (at 2 sigma). This suggests that a settlement had been developing at Kindoki since at least the fourteenth century, which allows us, for the first time, to spatially bridge Kongo history and “prehistory.” For the entire Lower Congo region, only three 14Cdates posterior to AD 1000 were available before the start of our project; 12 have been added for just Kindoki. Nous présentons les résultats, les analyses et la contextualisation historique détaillée du travail de terrain entrepris en 2012 et 2013 sur le site de Kindoki situé au Bas-Congo (RDC). Ce site est associé à Mbanza Nsundi, l’une des capitales provinciales du royaume Kongo, qui s’est révélée ‘élusive’, c-à-d difficile à saisir archéologiquement. Localiser son emplacement s’est avéré être un vrai défi. Pour ce faire, nous avons développé une méthodologie de fouilles, basée sur des données historiques, qui n’avait pas encore vraiment été testée à cette échelle en Afrique Centrale. Nous avons appliqué une stratégie de terrain combinant des tranchées tests systématiques avec des carroyages à grande échelle de 50 m. Sur la colline de Kindoki, un cimetière a été identifié avec de part et d’autre des quartiers distincts, probablement contemporains, témoignant d’une occupation aux 16ème-17ème siècles. Le cimetière luimême contient principalement des inhumations successives datées du 18ème siècle, très probablement celles de nobles Nsundi de haut rang, peut-être même des dirigeants Nsundi. Les céramiques étrangères, principalement portugaises, découvertes au sommet de la colline et les centaines de perles originaires de Venise et probablement de la Bavière trouvées dans les tombes révèlent la connexion entre Mbanza Nsundi et les voies commerciales reliant la côte Atlantique avec la région du Pool. Une découverte très intéressante concerne un type de poterie décorée au peigne imprimé qui était inconnu à ce jour et provient d’une fosse dont la date radiocarbone calibrée est de 1294–1393 AD (à 2 sigma). Ceci suggère qu’une implantation s’est développée à Kindoki depuis au moins le 14ème siècle et nous permet, pour la première fois, de rapprocher spatialement l’histoire et ‘la préhistoire’ kongo. Pour la région du Bas- Congo toute entière, seules trois dates 14C postérieures à 1000 AD étaient disponibles avant que ne débute notre projet. Nous disposon
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RBINS Staff Publications
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The Environment and its Exploitation Along the Lower Scheldt River During the Roman Period (Wichelen, Belgium – Late 1st to 3rd Centuries AD)
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The large number of rural Roman settlements known from the Low Countries is generally characterised by a poor preservation of ecological proxies due to the absence of waterlogged contexts. The riverside site of Wijmeers (Wichelen, Belgium), a small rural settlement located in the Lower Scheldt basin, represents a rare exception to this pattern. Due to the presence of a waterlogged sequence with Roman (late 1st–3rd centuries AD) waste layers, located only a few metres from a main building structure, and the covering of the site with alluvial sediments shortly after its abandonment, the preservation condition of charred and uncharred organic materials was exceptional. The combined study of these proxies (pollen, seeds, charcoal, mollusc shells and animal bones) presents unique insights into the subsistence economy of a Roman rural household in the Lower Scheldt valley in general, and especially its exploitation of the valley and river environments. Besides this cultural–economical perspective, the site provides key information for understanding the chronology of fluvial and alluvial processes in the Lower Scheldt Basin for a large part of the Subatlantic period (Iron Age to Early Middle Ages, ca 800 BC–900 AD).
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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The Eocene/Oligocene Boundary in the North Sea Area: A Sequence Stratigraphic Approach
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RBINS Staff Publications
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The erroneous chondrichthyan egg case assignments from the Devonian: implications for the knowledge on the evolution of the reproductive strategy within chondrichthyans
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030: Opportunities and challenges on the path towards biodiversity recovery
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The European Union (EU) has committed to an ambitious biodiversity recovery plan in its Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Green Deal. These policies aim to halt biodiversity loss and move towards sustainable development, focusing on restoring degraded habitats, extending the network of protected areas (PAs), and improving the effectiveness of management, governance, and funding. The achievement of conservation goals must be founded on understanding past successes and failures. Here, we summarise the strengths and weaknesses of past EU biodiversity conservation policies and practices and explore future opportunities and challenges. We focus on four main aspects: i) coordination among and within the EU Member States, ii) integration of biodiversity conservation into socio-economic sectors, iii) adequacy and sufficiency of funds, and iv) governance and stakeholder participation.Whilst past conservation efforts have benefitted from common rules across the EU and funding mechanisms, they have failed at operationalizing coordination within and across the Member States, integrating biodiversity conservation into other sectoral policies, adequately funding and effectively enforcing management, and facilitating stakeholder participation in decision-making. Future biodiversity conservation would benefit from an extended and better-managed network of PAs, additional novel funding opportunities, including the private sector, and enhanced co-governance. However, it will be critical to find sustainable solutions to potential conflicts between conservation goals and other socio-economic objectives and to resolve inconsistencies across sectoral policies.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030: Opportunities and challenges on the path towards biodiversity recovery
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The European Union (EU) has committed to an ambitious biodiversity recovery plan in its Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Green Deal. These policies aim to halt biodiversity loss and move towards sustainable development, focusing on restoring degraded habitats, extending the network of protected areas (PAs), and improving the effectiveness of management, governance, and funding. The achievement of conservation goals must be founded on understanding past successes and failures. Here, we summarise the strengths and weaknesses of past EU biodiversity conservation policies and practices and explore future opportunities and challenges. We focus on four main aspects: i) coordination among and within the EU Member States, ii) integration of biodiversity conservation into socio-economic sectors, iii) adequacy and sufficiency of funds, and iv) governance and stakeholder participation.Whilst past conservation efforts have benefitted from common rules across the EU and funding mechanisms, they have failed at operationalizing coordination within and across the Member States, integrating biodiversity conservation into other sectoral policies, adequately funding and effectively enforcing management, and facilitating stakeholder participation in decision-making. Future biodiversity conservation would benefit from an extended and better-managed network of PAs, additional novel funding opportunities, including the private sector, and enhanced co-governance. However, it will be critical to find sustainable solutions to potential conflicts between conservation goals and other socio-economic objectives and to resolve inconsistencies across sectoral policies.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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The European Mesonychid Mammals: Phylogeny, Ecology, Biogeography, and Biochronology
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Here we review the fossil record of European mesonychids, which are known only through the genera Dissacus and Pachyaena from Thanetian and Ypresian localities (from MP6 to MP10 reference-levels). We describe two new species, Dissacus rougierae, sp. nov., and Dissacus raslanloubatieri, sp. nov., respectively from Palette (Ypresian, ≈MP7) and from La Borie (Ypresian, ≈MP8 + 9). We also describe new specimens of D. europaeus from Berru (Thanetian, ≈MP6). The evolution of the geographic distribution of the European mesonychids is characterized by three phases: (1) the mesonychid Dissacus appeared in Europe during the Thanetian (≈ 57–58 Mya), probably due to dispersal from North America; D. europaeus survived the PETM event (≈ 56 Mya) and possibly experienced a dwarfism; (2) the large mesonychid Pachyaena migrated into Europe shortly after the Paleocene-Eocene boundary (≈ 55 Mya), but it was restricted to northwestern Europe, while Dissacus is recorded at this time only in southwestern Europe (Palette); and (3) Pachyaena rapidly disappeared from European environments, while Dissacus subsequently dispersed into northwestern Europe (≈ 54–52 Mya). We performed phylogenetic analyses in order to identify the relationships of the new species among mesonychids. It seems that the mesonychids went through two radiative events: the first during the Paleocene, the second mostly during the early Eocene. The first one corresponds to the diversification of Dissacus, while the latter resulted in the appearance of the most specialized mesonychids, such as Pachyaena and Mesonyx.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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The Evolution of Cattle Husbandry Practices in the Roman Period in Gallia Belgica and Western Germania Inferior.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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The evolutionary and phylogeographic history of woolly mammoths: a comprehensive mitogenomic analysis
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
