The Meuse and its tributary valleys contain numerous Late Pleistocene cave sites that have yielded one of the largest collections of Neanderthal and Mousterian lithic industries in Europe. Today, it is an important north–south migratory corridor for flora and fauna, generating rich biotopes. The Quaternary collections of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (Brussels, Belgium) are here used to complement our knowledge of the successive herpetofaunal assemblages in Belgium during the last interglacial-glacial cycle (marine isotope stages 5 to 1). Herpetofauna from 18 caves are described for the first time. In total, 17 taxa (10 amphibians and seven reptiles) are identified, three of which correspond to their first fossil record for Belgium (Alytes obstetricans, Pelobates fuscus, and Hyla arborea). The thermophilic snake Zamenis longissimus is documented for the first time in the Holocene (Atlantic/Subboreal period) of Belgium. After marine isotope stage (MIS) 5, the Belgian herpetofauna was still reasonably diverse during MIS 3, but it seems to be represented only by the common frog Rana temporaria and a viper during MIS 2. Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstructions are proposed for a selection of the chronologically best-constrained sites, using the quantified ecology method. More specifically, the late Magdalenian of the Trou de Chaleux is reconstructed as particularly cold and dry. The seasonal contrast reaches its maximum during this period. The quantitative parameters calculated in this study provide a new paleoecological context for understanding the conditions with which the successive human species had to cope in Northwestern Europe during the last interglacial-glacial cycle.
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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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