Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Identification of the African–European Erymnochelys group (Pleurodira, Podocnemididae) in the Belgian fossil record: first finding of Eocenochelus eremberti outside its type locality
- An almost complete plastron, as well as several peripherals and a costal plate of a turtle from the middle Eocene of Saint-Gilles, is presented here. Although this turtle specimen was donated to the Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique (Brussels, Belgium) more than a century ago, it remained undescribed. Its study allows us to recognize the second pleurodiran in the Belgian fossil record, where, until now, the Eocene Neochelys was the only one known. The Belgian material of Neochelys is known in lower Eocene (early Ypresian) levels, but the new pleurodiran specimen comes from the middle Eocene (early Lutetian). It is the first partial articulate shell of a pleurodiran turtle recognized in Belgium, and the only member of this clade recognized in this country at specific level. The new specimen is a representative of the so-called Erymnochelys group, this lineage being known in Africa from the Upper Cretaceous to the present but in Europe only during the Eocene. It represents the first specimen of Eocenochelus eremberti identified outside its type locality, the French region of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines, Île-de-France), where only one specimen was found. The plastron of the Belgian individual corresponds to the most complete for this species. Its analysis allows us not only to broaden the range of paleobiogeographical distribution of Eocenochelus eremberti but also to improve the knowledge about the anatomy and variability of this taxon.
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Continuity and change in animal exploitation at the transition from Antiquity to the early medieval period in the Belgian and Dutch loess region
- Abstract This article studies the evolution of livestock exploitation during the late Roman Empire and the Merovingian period by highlighting significant and progressive changes in husbandry practices that are discernible from archaeozoological data relating to five settlements in the Belgian and Dutch loess region. The intensive exploitation of cattle for agricultural activities, transport, and meat supply of consumer sites during the Roman period was progressively abandoned. Pigs grew in importance during the late Empire and became predominant at all sites from the 5th century onwards. Reduction in demand for powerful draught animals for agricultural work in the loess belt is reflected by strong decrease in cattle size and robusticity in the 6th century. Kill-off patterns, sex-ratios, and pathologies related to the use of cattle for traction also point to changes in the objectives of breeding cattle. There was a shift from intensive exploitation for traction during the late Roman period to mixed breeding for meat and milk production in addition to traction during the Merovingian period. The archaeozoological results suggest a less intensive exploitation of agricultural land and a more significant exploitation of woodland. An increase in cattle is recorded at the end of the Merovingian period, in particular at the sites of the Meuse valley, coinciding with an increase in agricultural production.
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Étude des restes incinérés provenant de la tombe du second âge du Fer issus du site du Crachet à Frameries
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A novel role for natural science collections in European contaminant monitoring
- This poster outlines the role that can be played by natural science collections for monitoring of environmental contaminants in biota.
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Note on some Ptomaphagus Hellwig, 1795 collected in the Jean Massart Botanical Garden (Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium) with a new record for the Belgian fauna (Coleoptera, Leiodidae, Cholevinae, Ptomaphagini)
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Des pots dans les minières. La céramique Michelsberg des minières et de l’enceinte du site de Spiennes (Hainaut, Belgique)
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Grandes lames en roches alpines (et quelques autres) trouvées dans le Benelux : Synthèse des analyses spectroradiométriques
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Archeologische evaluatie en waardering van een site uit de bandkeramiek (Riemst, provincie Limburg) [kenmerk PVDH/LT/10. 11-29899], Rapport 2011-7
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Lettre à Jules. Un grand coup de chapeau...
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Analyse spectroradiométrique de quelques pièces néolithiques du Musée archéologique de Mons (Belgique). 1er état, Rapport interne
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Notice « de Heinzelin de Braucourt Jean (Marchienne-au-Pont, 1920 – Bruxelles, 1998) »
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Notice « Lemonnier Alfred (Mons, 1857 – Bruxelles, 1921) »
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Nouvel éclairage méthodologique sur la gestion des ressources minérales et les déplacements des groupes humains en Préhistoire : le cas du Gravettien en Belgique
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Human skeletons in the flint mine shafts of Spiennes: casualties or burials?
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A jade axehead in the middle of the famous Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes?
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19th century flint production in Brandon (UK) and the RBINS collection.
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2.3. Des squelettes humains dans les puits d'extraction des minières néolithiques de silex de Spiennes : accidents ou sépultures ?
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Roman pottery production in Civitas Tungrorum, Central Belgium, during the first-third centuries CE.
- Aspects of Roman pottery production at the workshops of Kontich, Tienen, Rumst, Grobbendonk and Clavier-Vervoz in the Civitas Tungrorum of central Belgium are explored. A total of 150 wasters from five sites were studied macroscopically, as well as via a combination of thin-section petrography, geochemistry and scanning electron microscopy, in order to gain insights into ceramic technology and aspects of the organization of production. Particular emphasis was given to the individual technological sequences and shared strategies of raw material selection, paste preparation and firing employed at the five adjacent sites. The integration of petrographic and geochemical data permitted the establishment of compositional reference groups for the Roman kiln sites of Civitas Tungrorum, which can be used to track their products within the surrounding landscape.
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Sogana cysana sp. nov., a new tropiduchid planthopper from Chu Yang Sin National Park in Vietnam and key to Vietnamese species of the genus (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Tropiduchidae)
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The pitfalls of diachronic comparisons: fish consumption in the medieval and postmedieval town of Aalst, Belgium
- The inland town of Aalst is located on the banks of the River Dender, which is part of the Scheldt basin that drains the major part of Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. In an attempt to look for diachronic trends in fish consumption, ichthyological remains from 34 stratigraphic units, derived from seven different sites within the town, are compared, spanning the period from the twelfth to the end of the eighteenth century AD. It was hypothesised that for the medieval and postmedieval periods, the relative frequencies of the various taxa would reflect the historically established development of marine fish consumption and the gradual decline of freshwater fish exploitation due to overfishing and pollution of local freshwater habitats. While it was taken into account that factors such as social position and purchasing power will have influenced the spectrum of fish consumed, the results show that there is an unexpected large inter- and even intra-site variation, even within a restricted time period, patterns difficult to explain and hampering most interpretations. Considering diachronic comparison of the fish assemblages, this inevitably raises the question whether new insights will be easier to gain from wider generalisation or from going into greater interpretational detail.
