Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Ancient West African foragers in the context of African population history
- Our knowledge of ancient human population structure in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly prior to the advent of food production, remains limited. Here we report genome-wide DNA data from four children—two of whom were buried approximately 8,000 years ago and two 3,000 years ago—from Shum Laka (Cameroon), one of the earliest known archaeological sites within the probable homeland of the Bantu language group1–11. One individual carried the deeply divergent Y chromosome haplogroup A00, which today is found almost exclusively in the same region12,13. However, the genome-wide ancestry profiles of all four individuals are most similar to those of present-day hunter-gatherers from western Central Africa, which implies that populations in western Cameroon today—as well as speakers of Bantu languages from across the continent—are not descended substantially from the population represented by these four people. We infer an Africa-wide phylogeny that features widespread admixture and three prominent radiations, including one that gave rise to at least four major lineages deep in the history of modern humans.
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Het Woestijnegoed en het kasteel van Woestijne
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Annual planning 2018, CEBioS programme
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New mtDNA and Isotopic Evidence on Late Pleistocene Cave Bears in the Balkans: the Case-study of Magura Cave, NW Bulgaria
- Recent genetic studies have shed light on the phylogeography of cave bears; however, their paleoecology and their diet are still debated, and data from south-eastern Europe are still scarce. Magura Cave, in northwest Bulgaria, has delivered rich faunal assemblages from the Late Pleistocene. The chronology of the excavated area spans from ca. 35 kya to more than 50 kya; the oldest stratigraphic layers being associated with final Middle Palaeolithic tools. The fauna comprises herbivores and carnivores, and potentially different taxa of cave bears, the dental remains of which also showed different tooth morphotypes, suggesting the co-existence of different dietary adaptations. We investigated the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages of the cave bears from Magura Cave as well as the stable carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of the faunal assemblage. Our data revealed that, regardless of the tooth morphotypes, only maternal lineages of Ursus ingressus were present in Magura Cave. Interestingly, one specimen with Ursus arctos mtDNA was also found, showing a clear carnivore diet. In contrast, the U. ingressus specimens had a predominantly herbivorous diet. The tooth morphotypes were associated with significantly different δ13C values, suggesting different dietary adaptations.
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Devonian and Carboniferous dendroid graptolites from Belgium and their significance for the taxonomy of the Dendroidea
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Type Maastrichtian Gastropod faunas showing rapid ecosystem recovery following the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary catastrophe
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Twee nautilusfossielen gevonden in de Donkerstraat in Leuven!
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Mapping offshore resources of the Belgian Continental Shelf using 3D voxel modelling
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Long-term dataset on water clarity in the BPNS (1971-2016)
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Short-term variability of high-frequency seafloor multibeam echosounder backscatter: results from field experiments on the Belgian Continental Shelf
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Monitoring the direct impact of sand extraction on the bathy-morphology and the seabed sediments in the Belgian part of the North Sea. Lessons of ten years of measurements
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Climate change impact on storm surges and significant wave heights on the Belgian Continental Shelf
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Climate change impact on storm surges and significant wave heights on the Belgian Continental Shelf
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Transnational Belgian-Dutch geological knowledge base on marine aggregates. From 3D voxel modelling to 4D cross-border environmental assessments
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Transnational Belgian-Dutch geological knowledge base on marine aggregates. From 3D voxel modelling to 4D cross-border environmental assessments
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Standardisation of sediment data across transnational boundaries
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Integrated seabed mapping for management and industry: from 2D maps to 3D voxels to 4D evolution over time
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Transnational resource mapping in the North Sea: tools and challenges
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Transnational Belgian-Dutch geological knowledge base on marine aggregates. From 3D voxel modelling to 4D cross-border environmental assessments
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Code of sand. From seabad mapping to geological knowledge base
