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Article Reference Man and environment in the territory of Sagalassos, a classical city in SW Turkey
Since 1990 archaeological research by the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) has been carried out at the ancient site of Sagalassos (Aǧlasun, Burdur province, Southwestern Turkey). At first, research focused on the excavation of the city and the study of the immediate vicinity which provided it with raw materials. The main objective was to obtain a clear picture of the history and development of the city. Since 1993 research has also incorporated a study of the territory of the Roman city, from prehistoric to modern times, in order to understand why the site was selected for settlement, why it developed into a middle-sized town, its economy and subsistence, how it affected and exploited the environment, its decline, and what changes have taken place in the district subsequently. The focus has now shifted towards obtaining a better understanding of the linkages between human and environment systems so that inter-relations between the two can be more readily understood. As a result, a number of environmental topics concerning the territory of the Roman city are presently being studied. This territory extended from Lake Burdur in the West to the Aksu canyon in the East, from the Aǧlasun Daǧlari in the North to Mt. Kestel in the South. Interdisciplinary research revealed that for the early Neolithic and the Roman period there was a slightly warmer climate, a richer vegetation and more fertile soils for agricultural practice.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference The genus Aphanius Nardo 1827 (Pisces: Cyprinodontidae) in Turkey
The Turkish species of the Cyprinodontiform genus Aphanius Nardo 1827 are described. The naming used follows Wildekamp (1993) (1) as the latest available revision. Information is given on morphology, sexual dimorphism, colouration and distribution, as well as remarks on taxonomy, nomenclature, distribution, variability and conservation. Comments are given on the Lazara (1995) (2) revalidation of Lebias as a distinct genus. It is shown that Valenciennes (1846) (3) is the first revisor of Lebias, and not Lazara, and that Aphanius should be maintained as a genus. The taxon Aphanius chantrei (Galliard 1895) is regarded as a junior synonym of Aphanius danfordii (Boulenger 1890), a lectotype for A. danfordii is designated and a more detailed type locality is given.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Reconstructing age distribution, season of capture and growth rate of fish from archaeological sites based on otoliths and vertebrae
The growth increments of otoliths and vertebrae of plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) derived from a 15th century single depositional event at Raversijde (Belgium) are analysed with the aim of reconstructing (a) the age distribution of the population, (b) the season of capture, and (c) the growth rate. Otoliths and vertebrae give slightly different age distributions but it is possible to arrive at similar seasonality estimations in both structures when information from the literature and our own data from monthly captures of plaice from the North Sea are taken into account. These modern data show that the timing of annulus formation in otoliths and vertebrae is more or less similar. Back-calculations on vertebrae and otoliths yield similar growth curves. The age distribution, the edge condition of both vertebrae and otoliths, and the growth rate obtained on the material from Raversijde all show that the plaice from the studied assemblage were captured during spring in the southern part of the North Sea. Vertebrae are commonly preserved in archaeological sites whereas otoliths rarely survive. Although they are more difficult to read than otoliths, vertebrae of plaice can be used for growth increment analyses, and the growth rates obtained from vertebrae from archaeological sites can, therefore, be compared in the future to growth data from modern otoliths studied in sea fisheries research. Archaeozoological material predating industrialized fishing since the 19th century can hence serve as a reference in the study of the compensatory response of commercially important species to heavy exploitation.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference First inland records of the euryhaline goby Knipowitschia caucasica from lakes in Anatolia, Turkey
Knipowitschia caucasica, a euryhaline Ponto–Caspian–Aegean gobiid fish, is recorded for the first time from Lakes Egirdir, Eber and Demirköprü (Anatolia). Its presence in these lakes is probably due to involuntary introduction with common carp from hatcheries in the Edirne–Ipsala region, Thrace, the European part of Turkey.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Evidence for banana cultivation and animal husbandry during the first millennium BC in the forest of southern Cameroon
The faunal and botanical data from the first millennium  site of Nkang, Southern Cameroon, are presented in this paper. The analysed material, retrieved from refuse pits, comprises charcoal, phytoliths, molluscs and animal bones, which allow a reconstruction of the former environment. In addition, the site provides new insights into the emergence of food-producing communities in the African rainforest. Food procurement strategies at the site involved gathering, hunting, fishing, as well as small livestock keeping and banana cultivation. This is the earliest evidence for such practices in Central Africa.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Osteological evidence for the draught exploitation of cattle: First applications of a new methodology
Although the aetiology of bone pathologies in cattle is poorly documented, various deformations in the skeleton have been attributed to draught exploitation in the archaeozoological literature. This paper summarizes the results of an osteological study that was undertaken on the feet of modern draught oxen. This led to the definition of a series of draught-related anomalies. In an attempt to describe the pathologies in a more consistent and quantitative way, a scoring scale for each individual bone pathology was established. The developed method is applied to cattle remains from four Roman and one late medieval site. The distribution of the observed pathological indices (PIs) on the first phalanges is interpreted in terms of the age structure of the cattle populations, and the possible modes of cattle exploitation and meat consumption in various settlement types.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference An identification key for dermal denticles of Rajidae from the North Sea
As a result of more systematic fine sieving on archaeological sites, dermal denticles and isolated teeth of rays are now more frequently recovered than before. A detailed description of the teeth is available in the literature, but no comparative study of the morphology of the dermal denticles exists that allows the identification of such elements issued from archaeological sites. A key and illustrations are provided for the identification of the dermal denticles of 10 ray species from the North Sea. In addition, the ray denticles have been analysed from seven medieval and postmedieval sites showing their potential for the interpretation of ichthyo-archaeological assemblages.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Mitochondrial DNA sequence from an enigmatic gorilla population (Gorilla gorilla uellensis)
Although today gorillas are found in only two widely separate, discontinuous western and eastern African populations, rumors of the existence of an additional gorilla population in central Africa have inspired recent unsuccessful field expeditions in search of the "mystery ape" termed Gorilla gorilla uellensis. Such a gorilla population would have considerable conservation and scientific interest, and would presumably have descended from a population of gorillas that was thought to exist until the end of the 19th century on the Uele River in the current-day Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the sole evidence for the existence of these gorillas is three skulls and one mandible brought to the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Tervuren, Belgium) in 1898. We determined a mitochondrial DNA sequence from one of these specimens and compared it to sequences from other gorillas. Contrary to expectations, the sequence obtained did not exhibit the phylogenetic distinctiveness typical of a representative of a peripheral isolated population. Rather, the results suggest a scenario in which the museum specimens did not originally derive from the northern Congo, but were brought from the area of current distribution of western gorillas to that location; the subsequent discovery and collection of the specimens there gave rise to the false inference of a local gorilla population.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Roman trade relationships at Sagalassos (Turkey) elucidated by ancient DNA of fish remains
The excavations of Roman and Early Byzantine contexts at the town of Sagalassos (Turkey) yielded fish remains belonging to species that do not occur near the site. The modern geographical distribution of the identified fish indicates trade with various regions of Anatolia, the Mediterranean coast, Egypt and/or the Levant. Trade with Levant and Egypt is evident throughout the period by the presence of Clarias, a catfish living amongst others in the Nile and Levant. Mitochondrial DNA analysis was successfully carried out on modern populations of this species from Turkey, Syria, Israel and Egypt. Several variable regions were discovered on the mitochondrial control region containing polymorphisms that distinguish the haplotypes. Primer sets were designed to amplify small fragments of ancient DNA containing these informative regions. Ancient fish DNA could be successfully extracted, amplified and sequenced. The analyses indicate that the catfish bones belong to Clarias gariepinus and that they originated from the lower Nile. In addition, this study sheds light on the understanding of the modern distribution of C. gariepinus in Anatolia.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Growth changes in plaice, cod, haddock and saithe in the North Sea: a comparison of (post-)medieval and present-day growth rates based on otolith measurements
Fishing effort has strongly increased in the North Sea since the mid-19th century, causing a substantial reduction in the population size of exploited fish stocks. As fisheries research has developed simultaneously with the industrialisation of the fisheries, our knowledge of population dynamics at low levels of exploitations is limited. Otoliths retrieved from archaeological excavations offer a unique opportunity to study growth rates in the past. This study compares historical and present-day growth rates for four commercially important demersal fish species. A total of 2532 modern otoliths (AD 1984–1999) and 1286 historical otoliths (AD 1200–1925) obtained from archaeological excavations in Belgium and Scotland were analysed. Comparison of the growth patterns between eras revealed a major increase in growth rate of haddock, whereas growth changes were not observed in saithe and only in the smaller size classes of plaice and cod. Comparison of our results with literature data indicates that the observed growth rate changes in plaice and cod occurred within the 20th century. Apparently the onset of industrialised fisheries has not greatly affected the growth of plaice, cod and saithe populations in the North Sea. This result contradicts the expectation of density-dependent limitation of growth during the era of pre-industrialised fishing, but is in agreement with the concentration hypothesis of Beverton (Neth. J. Sea Res. 34 (1995) 1) stating that species which concentrate spatially into nursery grounds during their early life-history may ‘saturate’ the carrying capacity of the juvenile habitat even though the adult part of the population is not limited by the adult habitat.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications