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Article Reference Historical biogeography, systematics, and integrative taxonomy of the non‑Ethiopian speckled pelage brush‑furred rats (Lophuromys flavopunctatus group)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Historical DNA metabarcoding of the prey and microbiome of trematomid fishes using museum samples.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Article Reference Historical management of equine resources in France from the Iron Age to the Modern Period
Alongside horses, donkeys and their first-generation hybrids represent members of the Equidae family known for their social, economic and symbolic importance in protohistoric and historical France. However, their relative importance and their respective roles in different regions and time periods are difficult to assess based on textual, iconographic and archaeological evidence. This is both due to incomplete, partial and scattered historical sources and difficulties to accurately assign fragmentary archaeological remains at the proper taxonomic level. DNA- based methods, however, allow for a robust identification of the taxonomic status of ancient equine osseous material from minimal sequence data. Here, we leveraged shallow ancient DNA sequencing and the dedicated Zonkey computational pipeline to obtain the first baseline distribution for horses, mules and donkeys in France from the Iron Age to the Modern period. Our collection includes a total of 873 ancient specimens spanning 128 ubiquitous and the most dominant species identified, our dataset reveals the importance of mule breeding during Roman times, especially between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE (Common Era), where they represented between 20.0% and 34.2% of equine assemblages. In contrast, donkeys were almost absent from northern France as-semblages during the whole Roman period, but replaced mules in rural and urban commercial and economic centers from the early Middle Ages. Our work also identified donkeys of exceptional size during Late Antiquity, which calls for a deep reassessment of the true morphological space of past equine species. This study confirmed the general preference toward horses throughout all time periods investigated but revealed dynamic manage-ment strategies leveraging the whole breadth of equine resources in various social, geographic and temporal contexts.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Inproceedings Reference Historical records of storm frequency on the Shetland Islands (UK) – Preliminary insights from lake sediment cores and coastal wave modelling
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Historique et classification des espèces actuelles de Muricidae (Neogastropoda, Muricoidea)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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
Article Reference Holarctic genetic structure and range dynamics in the woolly mammoth
Ancient DNA analyses have provided enhanced resolution of population histories in many Pleistocene taxa. However, most studies are spatially restricted, making inference of species-level biogeographic histories difficult. Here, we analyse mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation in the woolly mammoth from across its Holarctic range to reconstruct its history over the last 200 thousand years (kyr).We identify a previously undocumented major mtDNA lineage in Europe, which was replaced by another major mtDNA lineage 32–34 kyr before present (BP). Coalescent simulations provide support for demographic expansions at approximately 121 kyr BP, suggesting that the previous interglacial was an important driver for demography and intraspecific genetic divergence. Furthermore, our results suggest an expansion into Eurasia fromAmerica around 66 kyr BP, coinciding with the first exposure of the Bering Land Bridge during the Late Pleistocene. Bayesian inference indicates Late Pleistocene demographic stability until 20–15 kyr BP, when a severe population size decline occurred.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Inbook Reference Holocene climate variability of Mesopotamia and its impact on the history of civilisation.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Inproceedings Reference Holocene dust record in a NW European peat bog: A multiproxy approach.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Holocene palaeoecology and human environmental interactions at the coastal Black Sea Lake Durankulak, northeastern Bulgaria
The environmental changes (vegetation history, human impact and land use, influence of the Black Sea) in the area of Lake Durankulak, northeastern Bulgaria, were reconstructed and synthesized for the last ca. 8000 years. The palaeoecological information derived from various proxies (pollen, plant macrofossils, molluscs, sediments) was compared on a regional scale with the evidence from the nearby coastal lakes ShablaeEzeretz and Bolata. The Early Holocene xerothermic steppe vegetation, dominated by Chenopodiaceae, Artemisia and Poaceae species, and accompanied by stands of trees in moister habitats, was transformed after 6000 cal. BP into a forest-steppe, comprising oak woods with Carpinus betulus, Ulmus, Tilia, Acer. This vegetation pattern has been periodically modified, depleted and replaced by arable land or xerothermic herbaceous communities enriched with anthropophytes and ruderals, particularly after the intensification of human activities since 3300 cal. BP. The archaeobotanical evidence from the region has provided valuable information about the occupation phases and subsistence strategy of the local people since the Late Neolithic (5300 cal. BC/7250 cal. BP). Periods with cultivation of cereals (Triticum, Hordeum) and/or stock-breeding activity were interrupted by abandonment of the settlements and the arable land due to unfavourable environmental changes. The periodical connection/isolation of Lake Durankulak with the Black Sea and the periods of marine influence were recorded by changes in the composition of the fossil molluscan fauna and the lithology of the sediments, and chronologically confirmed by radiocarbon dates. The development of the coastal lakes throughout the largest part of the Holocene has been also considerably influenced by the fluctuations of the Black Sea level.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications