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Microfossils in calculus demonstrate consumption of plants and cooked foods in Neanderthal diets (Shanidar III, Iraq; Spy I and II, Belgium).
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The nature and causes of the disappearance of Neanderthals and their apparent replacement by modern humans are subjects of considerable debate. Many researchers have proposed biologically or technologically mediated dietary differences between the two groups as one of the fundamental causes of Neanderthal disappearance. Some scenarios have focused on the apparent lack of plant foods in Neanderthal diets. Here we report direct evidence for Neanderthalconsumption of a variety of plant foods, in the form of phytoliths and starch grains recovered from dental calculus of Neanderthal skeletons from Shanidar Cave, Iraq, and Spy Cave, Belgium. Some of the plants are typical of recent modern human diets, including date palms (Phoenix spp.), legumes, and grass seeds (Triticeae), whereas others are known to be edible but are not heavily used today. Many of the grass seed starches showed damage that is a distinctive marker of cooking. Our results indicate that in both warm eastern Mediterranean and cold northwestern European climates, and across their latitudinal range, Neanderthalsmade use of the diverse plant foods available in their local environment and transformed them into more easily digestible foodstuffs in part through cooking them, suggesting an overall sophistication in Neanderthal dietary regimes.
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RBINS collections by external author(s)
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New Trends in Soil Biology
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Comparaison des communautés d'Oribates de litières de chênaies.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Sustainability impact assessment of deep subsurface use in Flanders
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
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Description of a new species belonging to the Aegosomatini tribe (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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A multidisciplinary analysis of cesspits from late medieval and post-medieval Brussels, Belgium: diet and health in the fourteenth-seventeenth century
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The fill of two late and post-medieval cesspits in Brussels was analyzed using a multidisciplinary approach, including the study of macrobotanical and faunal remains, pollen, and parasite eggs. These show that in the diet plant foods were dominated by cereals while the animal remains document the consumption of mainly fish and birds. The presence of foods that were luxuries at that time would indicate that these were affluent households, although with an admixture of meals related to those of lower socioeconomic status. Seven species of helminth and protozoal parasites were identified, with dominance of those species spread by poor sanitation.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Using next-generation sequencing to improve DNA barcoding: lessons from a small-scale study of wild bee species (Hymenoptera, Halictidae)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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New material of the small raoellid artiodactyl Metkatius kashmiriensis Kumar and Sahni, 1985 (Mammalia) from the middle Eocene of the Kalakot area, Rajouri District, Jammu and Kashmir, India
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New material of the small raoellid artiodactyl Metkatius kashmiriensis is reported from the middle Eocene of the Upper Subathu Formation in the Kalakot area, Jammu and Kashmir, northwest Himalaya, India. The fossil material consists of numerous mandibular and maxillary fragments and isolated teeth, mainly belonging to juvenile specimens. It documents the poorly known dental morphology of M. kashmiriensis and provides an overview of its intraspecific variation, allowing to redefine its diagnosis. M. kashmiriensis is characterized by a particularly small size compared with other raoellid species, and by bunodont molars with moderately marked transverse lophs. The M/1–2 are much longer than wide and display characters similar to those of Rajouria gunnelli, such as the presence of a small paraconid and a mesial mesiostylid. The P/4 bears distally a small hypoconid, which appears to be unique in Raoellidae. The description of the new material also allows to document the poorly known morphology of the deciduous teeth of raoellids. The DP2/ is reported for the first time, and the DP/4 of M. kashmiriensis shows a morphology different from that of Indohyus, with the absence of mesial basin anterior to the paraconid and the primoconid. Contrary to what has recently been proposed, these results confirm that M. kashmiriensis is a valid species and not a synonym of Indohyus indirae, and highlight the great morphological diversity present within the Raoellidae during the middle Eocene in the Indian subcontinent.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024 OA
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Contribution à l'étude de la faune des Prioninae du Laos (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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A first glimpse into the biogeographic affinities of the shallow benthic communities from the sub-Antarctic Crozet archipelago
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Sub-Antarctic islands are expected to show a high degree of endemicity due to their remoteness. However, biogeographic affinities in the sub-Antarctic remain poorly understood, especially in the marine realm. Sub-Antarctic islands being at the crossroads between Antarctic and cold temperate regions, biodiversity characterization and biogeographic analyses are a priority for monitoring and rapidly assessing variations associated with environmental changes. One underexplored sub-Antarctic area is Crozet, a protected archipelago located halfway between Antarctica and South Africa. In this study, we investigated the shallow-water Crozet macrofaunal diversity, distribution patterns and biogeographic affinities based on the examination of fieldwork specimens via a thorough morphological identification and a genetic characterisation. The resulting dataset provides an important baseline for further studies and conservation strategies, compiling the first genetic and taxonomic database for the Crozet archipelago. In total, 100 morphotypes were found, belonging to nine different phyla, among whicharthropods(32), molluscs (18)and echinoderms (17) were the richest. Forty-seven morphotypes were identified to the species level, among which 20 were reported in Crozet for the first time. This confirms that Crozet is a poorly known region, even compared to other sub-Antarctic areas. A large proportion of species (62%) had circum Southern Ocean or circum sub Antarctic distributions. These species were mostly shared with Kerguelen (72%), the Magellan Province (64%), and Prince Edward Islands (64%), confirming the patterns found in macroalgae and specific macrofaunal groups. However, this large-distribution statement needs to be counterbalanced by the detection (genetic data) of more restricted distributions than expected in four study cases (the tanaid Apseudes spectabilis, the nudibranch Doris kerguelenensis, the polychaete Neanthes kerguelensis and the chiton Hemiarthrum setulosum). Considering that most morphotypes had no genetic data available from other regions, the proportion of morphotypes with restricted distribution is likely to increase alongside future investigations. In addition, we also found a few cases of unrecognized diversity that might lead to the descriptions of new species, some likely to be endemic to Crozet (e.g., within the polychaete genus Harmothoe and the bryozoan genus Antarctothoa). Altogether, this stresses the need to maintain conservation efforts in Crozet and pursue integrative investigations in order to highlight and protect its unusual diversity
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
