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Le chien, un ami de 32000 ans
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Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) from Chamber B of the Goyet Cave in Belgium
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Isotopic evidence for dietary ecology of cave lion (Panthera (leo) spelaea) in North-Western Europe: prey choice, competition and implications for extinction
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The prey choice of extinct cave lions Panthera spelaea was determined using bone collagen isotopic signatures in the Belgian Ardennes and the Swabian Jura between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago as well as in the Late-glacial of the northwestern Alp foreland and of the Paris Basin. More than 370 specimens of large carnivorous and herbivorous mammals from 25 sites coeval with cave lion were analyzed. The isotopic results point to an individualistic prey choice for cave lions, with some individuals more oriented on reindeer and others on young cave bears. The isotopic signatures and therefore dietary choice of cave lions did not overlap with those of cave hyenas, indicating competitive exclusion between the large predators. The most recent western European cave lions seem to have been consuming mainly reindeer until the local extirpation of this prey species, which coincides chronologically with their own extinction. This restricted prey choice may be involved in the extinction of this large predator in Western Europe.
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Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of Ancient Canids Suggest a European Origin of Domestic Dogs
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The geographic and temporal origins of the domestic dog remain controversial, as genetic data suggest a domestication process in East Asia beginning 15,000 years ago, whereas the oldest doglike fossils are found in Europe and Siberia and date to >30,000 years ago. We analyzed the mitochondrial genomes of 18 prehistoric canids from Eurasia and the New World, along with a comprehensive panel of modern dogs and wolves. Themitochondrial genomes of all modern dogs are phylogeneticallymost closely related to either ancient or modern canids of Europe. Molecular dating suggests an onset of domestication there 18,800 to 32,100 years ago. These findings imply that domestic dogs are the culmination of a process that initiated with European hunter-gatherers and the canids with whom they interacted.
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Mandibles from Palaeolithic dogs and Pleistocene wolves at Předmostí, the Czech Republic
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Holarctic genetic structure and range dynamics in the woolly mammoth
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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.
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The fossil mammals of Spy.
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The large faunal sample from Spy, a Belgian cave site famous for its Neandertal remains, is for the first time studied in detail. Some 11,600 bones were examined. A wide spectrum of Pleistocene species is present. Horse, cave hyena, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros and reindeer are the primary taxa. Hyena scavenging activities are indicated by the gnawed mammoth and rhinoceros postcranial bones and cervid antlers. Bears used the cave as a hibernation den evidenced by remains of cubs, and of female and male adult bears. Indications of human manipulation (cut marks, ochre traces, worked bone/tooth) occur especially on remains from foxes, mammoth and deer. The age profile of the mammoth is dominated by calves. This selective mortality suggests that they were hunted by prehistoric people. AMS dates range from c. 44,400 BP to c. 25,700 BP. The Spy bone assemblage therefore accumulated through a series of agents over a long period of the Pleniglacial.
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Mitochondrial DNA diversity and evolution of the Pleistocene cave bear complex
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Cave bears are among the most well known extinct Pleistocene mammals. Their biogeography and taxonomy, along with the factors that led to their extinction, have been subject to long-standing controversy. Here, we reconstruct the phylogeography as well as the temporal and spatial population dynamics of cave bears across their range using mitochondrial DNA control region sequences from 77 published as well as 65 new cave bear samples, Our analyses reveal a dramatic loss of genetic diversity in cave bear populations after 30,000 years before present and provide evidence for a range decline from east to west towards the onset of the last glacial maximum. Our results also suggest that the three major haplogroups within cave bears, which may correspond to distinct species, were previously more widespread, with relict populations in remote and alpine areas still harbouring haplotypes that have disappeared from most of their previous range. Applying a phylogenetic dating approach, we estimated the age of the oldest of our samples, originating from the Yana River region in north-eastern Siberia, to be around 178,000 years, which confirms a previous estimate of a Middle Pleistocene age based on its stratigraphic position. Our results extend our knowledge about the evolutionary history of cave bears, but they also show that to unravel the complexities of cave bear evolution future ancient DNA studies on this Pleistocene species will need to go beyond short mitochondrial DNA fragments, including full mitochondrial genomes as well as nuclear DNA sequences.
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Devonian antiarch placoderms from Belgium revisited
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Anatomical, systematic, and paleobiogeographical data on the Devonian antiarchs from Belgium are reviewed, updated and completed thanks to new data from the field and re-examination of paleontological collections. The material of Bothriolepis lohesti Leriche, 1931 is enhanced and the species better described. An undetermined species of Bothriolepis is recorded from the Famennian of Modave (Liège Province), one species of Asterolepis redescribed from the Givetian of Hingeon and another one described from the Givetian of Mazy (Namur Province). Grossilepis rikiki sp. nov. is recorded from the Famennian tetrapod-bearing locality of Strud (Namur Province) and from the Famennian of Moresnet (Liège Province). It is the first occurrence of Grossilepis after the Frasnian and on the central southern coast of the Euramerican continent. Its occurrence in the Famennian of Belgium may be the result of a late arrival from the Moscow Platform and the Baltic Depression, where the genus is known from Frasnian deposits. Remigolepis durnalensis sp. nov. is described from the Famennian of Spontin near Durnal (Namur Province). Except for the doubtful occurrence of Remigolepis sp. in Scotland, this is the first record of this genus in Western Europe. Its occurrence in Belgium reinforces the strong faunal affinities between Belgium and East Greenland and the hypothesis of a hydrographical link between the two areas during the Late Devonian.
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From first stock keepers to specialised pastoralists in the West African savannah
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