Journal
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 14, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s12520-021-01481-3
Keywords
Herpetofauna; Paleobiogeography; Paleoenvironment; Paleoclimatology; Last interglacial-glacial cycle; Northwestern Europe
Funding
- Gov. of Catalonia, AGAUR [2017SGR859]
- Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [CGL2016-80000-P]
- Agencia de Gestio d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR)
- Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya [2019FI_B00487]
- Ramon y Cajal contract [RYC-2016-19386]
- Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Maria de Maeztu program for Units of Excellence [CEX2019-000945-M]
- Synthesys [BE-TAF-4385]
- Hugues-Alexandre Blain [BE-TAF-5469, BE-TAF-1329, 2019FI_B00487]
- Agencia de Gestio d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca [2017SGR859]
- Almudena Martinez Monzon
- Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad
- Gobierno de Espana [CGL2016-80000-P]
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades [RYC-2016-19386]
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This study describes the herpetofaunal assemblages in 18 caves in Belgium and provides a comprehensive understanding of the animal community during the last interglacial-glacial cycle using the Quaternary collections. The study also reconstructs the paleoenvironment and paleoclimate of selected sites using a quantified ecology method.
The Meuse and its tributary valleys contain numerous Late Pleistocene cave sites that have yielded one of the largest collections of Neanderthal and Mousterian lithic industries in Europe. Today, it is an important north-south migratory corridor for flora and fauna, generating rich biotopes. The Quaternary collections of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (Brussels, Belgium) are here used to complement our knowledge of the successive herpetofaunal assemblages in Belgium during the last interglacial-glacial cycle (marine isotope stages 5 to 1). Herpetofauna from 18 caves are described for the first time. In total, 17 taxa (10 amphibians and seven reptiles) are identified, three of which correspond to their first fossil record for Belgium (Alytes obstetricans, Pelobates fuscus, and Hyla arborea). The thermophilic snake Zamenis longissimus is documented for the first time in the Holocene (Atlantic/Subboreal period) of Belgium. After marine isotope stage (MIS) 5, the Belgian herpetofauna was still reasonably diverse during MIS 3, but it seems to be represented only by the common frog Rana temporaria and a viper during MIS 2. Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstructions are proposed for a selection of the chronologically best-constrained sites, using the quantified ecology method. More specifically, the late Magdalenian of the Trou de Chaleux is reconstructed as particularly cold and dry. The seasonal contrast reaches its maximum during this period. The quantitative parameters calculated in this study provide a new paleoecological context for understanding the conditions with which the successive human species had to cope in Northwestern Europe during the last interglacial-glacial cycle.
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