Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Personal tools

You are here: Home

Search results

RSS Subscribe to an always-updated RSS feed.

3131 items matching your search terms.
Filter the results.
Item type



































New items since



Sort by relevance · date (newest first) · alphabetically
Article Reference Oxygen concentration profiles in soft sediments of Lake Baikal (Russia) near the Selenga Delta
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Oxygen concentration profiles in sediment of two ancient lakes: Lake Baikal (Siberia, Russia) and Lake Malawi (East Africa)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Pachycetines from the Hampshire Basin, England and the distribution of pachycetines in Europe, with a note on Pachycetus humilis Van Beneden, 1883
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Article Reference Pahon Cave, Gabon: New insights into the Later Stone Age in the African rainforest
Although the Later Stone Age as a distinctive techno-cultural phase has disappeared, forager groups in the African rainforest persist today. However, their origins remain poorly understood. The absence of stone tool production raises questions about the pace and processes of its decline and its relationship to the emergence or adoption of metallic tools. Archaeological sequences from the Middle and Late Holocene are particularly valuable for documenting the coexistence of diverse subsistence strategies and technologies within the Central African rainforest. In this context, the Pahon Cave sequence, in Gabon, spanning a period from 7,571 cal. BP to 2,523 cal. BP, provides an opportunity to study the evolution of stone tool production in the rainforest of the Ogooué Basin. This chronological range coincides with significant broader techno-cultural and environmental changes in Central Africa. This article provides a detailed description of the lithic industry for each layer, along with the identification of faunal remains, giving insight into the exploitation of rainforest resources and hunting practices. At Pahon Cave, our findings suggest that stone tool technology remained stable over time, at least until around 2,523 cal. BP. Furthermore, the technological characteristics of the lithic industry indicate no clear cultural affiliations. These features contribute highlighting a techno-cultural diversity during the Middle and Late Holocene Later Stone Age in Atlantic Central Africa.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Article Reference Palaeodiet of Mesolithic and Neolithic populations of Meuse Basin (Belgium): Evidence from stable isotopes
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Palaeoecology of the Giant Catfish (Arius gigas, Ariidae) in Holocene Saharan and tropical West African waters
The Giant Catfish Arius gigas is an endemic species of West African freshwaters that is almost extinct today, and its way of life is poorly known to ichthyologists. However, this species is known from the Holocene archaeofaunal record, in particular from the Niger basin. The skeletal anatomy of the Giant Catfish described in this paper should facilitate its future identification within palaeo-ichthyological assemblages. In addition, the species’ occurrence is studied from a palaeogeographical and palaeoecological point of view. A. gigas certainly has ecological requirements similar to the related large carnivorous fish inhabiting well oxygenated waters, and would not tolerate shallow, muddy and stagnant ecotopes of marginal waterways. By over fishing such a large species, humans contribute to the lowering of its reproduction potential, and to its recent drastic decline.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Palaeogenetics for ostracods (Crustacea, Ostracoda). In HORNE, D.J., HOLMES, J., VIEHBERG, F. & RODRIGUEZ-LAZARO, J. (Eds.), Ostracoda as proxies for Quaternary climate change
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference C header Palaeogenomic analysis of black rat (Rattus rattus) reveals multiple European introductions associated with human economic history
The distribution of the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been heavily influenced by its association with humans. The dispersal history of this non-native commensal rodent across Europe, however, remains poorly understood, and different introductions may have occurred during the Roman and medieval periods. Here, in order to reconstruct the population history of European black rats, we first generate a de novo genome assembly of the black rat. We then sequence 67 ancient and three modern black rat mitogenomes, and 36 ancient and three modern nuclear genomes from archaeological sites spanning the 1st-17th centuries CE in Europe and North Africa. Analyses of our newly reported sequences, together with published mitochondrial DNA sequences, confirm that black rats were introduced into the Mediterranean and Europe from Southwest Asia. Genomic analyses of the ancient rats reveal a population turnover in temperate Europe between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, coincident with an archaeologically attested decline in the black rat population. The near disappearance and re-emergence of black rats in Europe may have been the result of the breakdown of the Roman Empire, the First Plague Pandemic, and/or post-Roman climatic cooling.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Article Reference Palaeogeographical and palaeoecological constraints on palaeozoic vertebrates (chondrichthyans and placoderms) in the Ardenne Massif - Shark radiations in the Famennian on both sides of the Palaeotethys
Three chondrichthyan radiations are registered in the Famennian of the ArdenneMassif (Belgium). These radiations are already observed in Morocco and in the Carnic Alps, their acme being related with the early expansa transgression. Comparisons of univariate statistical descriptors like Margalef richness and Shannon–Wiener diversity index show variations between both margins of the Paleotethys, variations interpreted in terms of trophic relationships. The Ardenne area, a northern shallow carbonate platform is characterized during the Famennian by endemic shark taxa with durophagous dentition. The southern open deep-sea area, the Variscan Sea, contains large placoderms probably disclosing a negative feedback on “cladodont” chondrichthyans. This supports the hypothesis that the Armorica platelet behaved like a barrier between the central southern Laurussia and northern Gondwana.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Palaeolithic and prehistoric dogs and Pleistocene wolves from Yakutia: identification of isolated skulls.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017