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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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Library
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RBINS collections by external author(s)
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Micromorph brachiopods from the late Asbian (Mississippian, Viséan) from northwest Ireland (Gleniff, County Sligo)
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Library
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Micronewsomites et Decoranewsomites, deux nouveaux genres d'ostracodes dévoniens
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Library
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Microorganization of ovaries and oogenesis of Haplotaxis sp. (Clitellata: Haplotaxidae)
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Library
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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Micropalaeontological dating of the Prémontré mammal fauna (MP10, Prémontré Sands, EECO, early late Ypresian, Paris Basin).
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At their type locality the Prémontré Sands contain fairly well-diversified organic-walled microfossil assemblages attributable to the lower part of dinoflagellate cyst Zone D9 and indicating a transition from an estuarine to a lagoonal depositional regime, up-section as well as laterally. Identical assemblages have been recorded in the inner to mid-neritic Merelbeke Clay Member in Belgium, allowing the Prémontré Sands to be positioned within lower NP13 and early Chron C22r. The deposition of the MP10 Prémontré mammal fauna is estimated to postdate the onset of both NP13 and Chron C22r, which are nearly coincident, by about 200 to 300 kyr. The biostratigraphic dating refers this deposit to the early late Ypresian and to the final phase of the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO) at about 50.4 to 50.3 million years ago. The Prémontré Sands, as well as their distal equivalent the Merelbeke Clay Member, were deposited following a major sea-level rise, the highest of the late Ypresian in the southern North Sea Basin s.l. (including the Paris Basin). They are separated from the overlying “Glauconie grossière” (zone NP14; middle part of zone D9) by a hiatus of approximately 2.5 myr.
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Library
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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Microrestes gen. nov., a new genus in the Oriental stick insect tribe Datamini Rehn & Rehn, 1939 with a new species and a new combination (Phasmida: Heteropterygidae: Dataminae)
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Library
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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Microsatellite data reveals weak population substructuring in Copadichromis sp. `virginalis kajose', a demersal cichlid from Lake Malawi, Africa
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Small but significant differences were found in allele frequencies among five populations (overall F ST estimate (θ)=0.004, P=0.006; overall R ST estimate (RHO)=0.019, P<0.00001) of the demersal cichlid Copadichromis sp. `virginalis kajose', collected from five locations in Lake Malawi. Pairwise F ST estimates revealed significant differences between the most southerly population (Cape Maclear), and the three most northerly populations (Mbamba Bay, Metangula and Chilola). Pairwise R ST estimates also revealed significant differences between some populations, but no geographical pattern was discernible. There was no evidence of isolation by distance using either the shortest straight-line distance between samples, or the distance around the shoreline following a 50 m depth contour. F ST, estimates were considerably lower than found in previous studies on the mbuna (rock-dwelling species), but higher than those found in a study of three pelagic cichlid species from Lake Malawi. Substructuring in C. sp. `virginalis kajose' appears to be on a similar scale to the Atlantic cod. © 2001 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.
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Library
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Microspatial distribution of molluscs and response of species to litter moisture, water levels and eutrophication in moist, alkaline ecosystems
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Associated publications
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Belgian Journal of Zoology
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Bibliographic References
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Microtektite-like impact glass associated with the Frasnian-Famennian boundary mass extinction
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Library
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Mid and late Holocene dust deposition in Western Europe: The Misten peat bog (Hautes Fagnes – Belgium).
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Located in
Library
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RBINS Staff Publications