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Article Reference EFG joins ZEP’s Taskforce on Technology: first meeting report.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Environmental Roots of the Late Bronze Age Crisis.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference A bioarchaeological investigation of three late Chalcolithic pits at Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan)
Socio-economic organisation, subsistence strategies and environmental exploitation still remain largely open questions for the Late Chalcolithic period (ca. 4500–3500 BC) in southern Caucasus even though they are of prime importance for understanding the development of post-Neolithic societies in these semi-arid and mountainous areas. Interdisciplinary bioarchaeological research can, however, provide valuable new insights into these issues. In the Late Chalcolithic occupation layers at Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan), the fills of pits, composed mainly of domestic refuse, proved to contain the richest and most diverse assemblages of biological remains at the site. These remains, retrieved by the use of flotation and sieving techniques, therefore constitute ideal assemblages for understanding subsistence strategies and the exploitation of natural resources. It is shown here that the agricultural economy at Late Chalcolithic Ovçular Tepesi was based mainly on the cultivation of cereals and pulses and the herding of sheep and goat. The river and its surroundings provided wood fuel and fish. The results of the bioarchaeological study further suggest that the Late Chalcolithic village was occupied permanently as shown by the development of commensal populations of small mammals.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Evidence of sun-dried fish at Mleiha (S.-E. Arabia) in antiquity
A concentration of fish remains found in a single room of a fortified building at Mleiha (United Arab Emirates) is presented here. Part of it was probably the filling of a bag or an organic container that fell from a bench onto the floor of the room. The various species recovered from these contexts, dating to the second to mid-third centuries AD, are briefly described. Particular attention is paid to the skeletal elements by which the fish are represented and to the corresponding lengths of the animals, as these allow the proposition that the fish had been dried on the seashore before being carried to the site inland. The data from building H will be compared to those from previously studied contexts at Mleiha (Gautier & Van Neer 1999; Mashkour & Van Neer 1999). In addition the ichthyofauna from ed-Dur (Van Neer & Gautier 1993), a coastal site that is partially contemporaneous with the contexts from building H, will be considered.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Eocene initiation of Nile drainage due to East African uplift.
The Late Eocene and Early Oligocene sedimentary succession in the Fayum, Egypt records the progressive development of northerly flowing Nile-type African drainage. New biostratigraphic dating of these units allows the calibration of the paleomagnetic record, the combination of dating methods enabling a detailed chronology of events to be studied. Between about 38 and 35 Ma there was a dramatic change in sedimentary regime and vast quantities of clasticmaterial were transported into the area, smothering the underlying carbonate platform and initiating a stepwise progradation of clastic units. The sudden change in sediment availability coincideswith the beginning of uplift and volcanic activity in the Turkana region of East Africa, cutting off preexisting easterly drainage from the middle of the continent. The Fayum succession therefore records the initiation of northerly drainage of central and eastern Africa, and the origins of themodern Nile watershed. The development of the current route of the Nile, with the incision of the current Nile Valley, was slightly later and related tomid Oligocene uplift of the Red Sea margins and Messinian base level fall.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference New mammals from the marine Selandian of Maret, Belgium, and their implications for the age of the Paleocene continental deposits of Walbeck, Germany
The early to middle Selandian fossiliferous Orp Sand Member of the Heers Formation in Belgium has regularly been excavated at its type-locality Maret for its rich and diversified selachian fauna. Among the abundant vertebrate remains, extremely rare mammal specimens have been found. Three isolated teeth have been published previously, all with uncertain affinities. The purpose of this study is to present new specimens from the same deposits, including a small well-preserved dentary of an adapisoriculid attributable to “Afrodon” germanicus, a fragmentary upper molar, referred to Berrulestes sp., and a premolar of a large arctocyonid. Among the previous specimens we identified Arctocyonides cf. weigelti. The adapisoriculid dentary offers new clues that allow transferring “Afrodon” germanicus to the genus Bustylus. The five mammal taxa from Maret indicate an age intermediate between reference-levels MP1-5 of Hainin, Belgium and MP6 of Cernay, France and present the greatest correlation with the rich Walbeck fauna in Germany. The deposits from Walbeck were usually thought to be slightly older than the late Thanetian deposits of Cernay. We infer here that the age of Walbeck is likely to be Selandian. The strong differences observed between Hainin on the one hand, and Walbeck and Cernay on the other hand, document a dispersal event from North America to Europe around the Danian-Selandian boundary.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Unraveling the PETM in shallow marine Tethyan environments: the Tunisian stratigraphic record.
Despite the increasing understanding of the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) in open marine environments, shallow marine settings remain relatively unexplored. We investigated an upper Paleocene to lower Eocene shallow-water sequence near Kalaat Senan in Tunisia (Sidi Nasseur and Wadi Mezaz sections)in order to generate a stratigraphic framework of the PETM in shallow marine fine-grained siliciclastic setting on the Southern Tethys. These sections expose the top part of the El Haria Formation (Fm.), the Chouabine Fm. and the lower part of the limestone bearing El Garia Fm., covering the upper Paleocene - lower Eocene (NP9a to NP11). The PETM interval is situated near the top of the El Haria Fm. and the regional stratigraphy is compared to the well-known Egyptian setting. The isotope record of total organic carbon (δ13Corg)reveals the characteristic negative carbon isotope excursion(CIE), comparable to the δ13Corg record of the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point of the Eocene at Dababiya (Egypt). Although the Tunesian PETM interval is quite expanded, no anomalous beds are observed and only the "CIE" core is partly represented as the top part of the PETM is truncated. In addition to a well-expressed CIE, the position of the Paleocene-Eocene boundary is supported by the appearance of nannoplankton (Discoaster araneus)and foraminiferal (e.g. Acarinina multicamerata)marker taxa. Furthermore, ostracode and benthic foraminiferal turnovers coincide with the onset of the PETM and are characterized by the disappearance of many common Paleocene taxa (e.g. Frondicularia aff. phosphatica) in this area. The lowest occurrences of Alocopocythere attitogonensis and Buntonia ? tunisiensis (ostracodes), Reophax sp. 1 (benthic foraminifera) and Fasciculithus tonii (calcareous nannplankton) may be applicable for regional correlation. These results indicate that characteristic PETM taxa evolved and/or dispersed immediately after the main δ13Corg shift.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference New Paleocene Sepiid Coleoids (Cephalopoda) from Egypt: Evolutionary Significance and Origin of the Sepiid ‘Rostrum’.
New coleoid cephalopods, assignable to the order Sepiida, are recorded from the Selandian/Thanetian boundary interval (Middle to Upper Paleocene transition, c. 59.2 Ma) along the southeastern margin (Toshka Lakes) of the Western Desert in Egypt. The two genera recognised, Aegyptosaepia n. gen. and ?Anomalosaepia Weaver and Ciampaglio, are placed in the families Belosaepiidae and ?Anomalosaepiidae, respectively. They constitute the oldest record to date of sepiids with a ‘rostrum-like’ prong. In addition, a third, generically and specifically indeterminate coleoid is represented by a single rostrum-like find. The taxonomic assignment of the material is based on apical parts (as preserved), i.e., guard, apical prong (or ‘rostrum-like’ structure), phragmocone and (remains of) protoconch, plus shell mineralogy. We here confirm the shell of early sepiids to have been bimineralic, i.e., composed of both calcite and aragonite. Aegyptosaepia lugeri n. gen., n. sp. reveals some similarities to later species of Belosaepia, in particular the possession of a distinct prong. General features of the phragmocone and protoconch of the new form are similar to both Belocurta (Middle Danian [Lower Paleocene]) and Belosaepia (Eocene). However, breviconic coiling and the presence of a longer ventral conotheca indicate closer ties with late Maastrichtian–Middle Danian Ceratisepia. In this respect, Aegyptosaepia n. gen. constitutes a link between Ceratisepia and the Eocene Belosaepia. The occurrence of the new genus near the Selandian/Thanetian boundary suggests an earlier origin of belosaepiids, during the early to Middle Paleocene. These earliest known belosaepiids may have originated in the Tethyan Realm. From northeast Africa, they subsequently spread to western India, the Arabian Plate and, probably via the Mediterranean region, to Europe and North America.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Prologue
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference History of excavations, discoveries and collections.
Spy cave, also known as the Betche aux Rotches cave, is one of the most famous Palaeolithic sites in Belgium. Excavated on numerous occasions beginning in 1879, the remains of two adult Neandertals were discovered in 1886. For the first time in the history of palaeoanthropology, human fossils were found in a stratigraphic context associated with rich archaeological material including the remains of extinct megafauna. The history of work at Spy presented here is based on a review of publications concerning the various excavations, the Lohest and Vercheval-De Puydt family archives, as well as inventories and archives possessed by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Royal Museums of Art and History. This archival review clarifies several aspects concerning the discovery of the two Neandertal specimens, particularly in light of new studies concerning the Spy material which is now dispersed amongst several public and private collections.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications