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Papers by Hans van der Plicht

Russian Journal of Theriology, 2018

This article discusses recent finds of Holocene polar bear and walrus from the northern regions o... more This article discusses recent finds of Holocene polar bear and walrus from the northern regions of Russia. The ulna of a polar bear was found on Vaygach Island and radiocarbon dated to 1,971±25 BP (OxA-23631). This calibrates to 430-540 AD, taking into account the marine reservoir effect. The size of the bone is similar to that of a recent Ursus maritimus. The locality of the fossil bone is within the modern species range, which developed about two millennia ago. In 2014 a walrus tusk was found on the coast of New Siberia Island and is radiocarbon dated to 5,065±35 BP (GrA-62452). This calibrates to 3,510-3,370 BC, taking into account the marine reservoir effect. Its size and morphology are identical to that of an adult male of the subspecies Odobenus rosmarus laptevi. This subspecies populates the eastern parts of the Kara Sea, the entire Laptev Sea and the western parts of the East Siberian Sea. This new discovery could mean that populations of O. rosmarus laptevi inhabited the waters near the New Siberian Islands during the Middle Holocene, and that the present-day coastline of the Siberian Arctic Islands was already formed at that time.

Radiocarbon, 2007

It is now almost 10 yr since radiocarbon dating of cremated bone was first developed using the sm... more It is now almost 10 yr since radiocarbon dating of cremated bone was first developed using the small carbonate component contained within the hydroxyapatite-based inorganic fraction. Currently, a significant number of14C laboratories date cremated bone as part of their routine dating service. As a general investigation of cremated bone dating since this initial development, a small, cremated bone intercomparison study took place in 2005, involving 6 laboratories. Six cremated bone samples (including 2 sets of duplicates), with ages spanning approximately 1500–2800 BP, were sent to the laboratories. The results, which showed relatively good agreement amongst the laboratories and between the duplicate samples, are discussed in detail.

Scientific reports, Jul 6, 2016

Almost 150 years after the first identification of Neandertal skeletal material, the cognitive an... more Almost 150 years after the first identification of Neandertal skeletal material, the cognitive and symbolic abilities of these populations remain a subject of intense debate. We present 99 new Neandertal remains from the Troisième caverne of Goyet (Belgium) dated to 40,500-45,500 calBP. The remains were identified through a multidisciplinary study that combines morphometrics, taphonomy, stable isotopes, radiocarbon dating and genetic analyses. The Goyet Neandertal bones show distinctive anthropogenic modifications, which provides clear evidence for butchery activities as well as four bones having been used for retouching stone tools. In addition to being the first site to have yielded multiple Neandertal bones used as retouchers, Goyet not only provides the first unambiguous evidence of Neandertal cannibalism in Northern Europe, but also highlights considerable diversity in mortuary behaviour among the region's late Neandertal population in the period immediately preceding their...

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016

Significance We compiled a set of more than 250 radiocarbon dates related to the rock art, human ... more Significance We compiled a set of more than 250 radiocarbon dates related to the rock art, human activities, and bone remains in the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave (Ardèche, France) and derive a modeled absolute chronology of the human and cave bear occupations of this site, presented here in calendar years. It provides an insightful framework for the successive events that occurred in the cave during the Paleolithic period.

Current Biology, 2016

Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing... more Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.

The dynamics of the musk ox and primitive bison ranges during the ten different intervals of the ... more The dynamics of the musk ox and primitive bison ranges during the ten different intervals of the Late Pleistocene —Holocene is analyzed, as well as their changes under the climatic influence. The cold-adapted musk ox had the maximum range during LGM and LGT (the coldest intervals of the last glaciation). The more temperate bison had the maximum range during the Denekamp (=Briansk) Interstadial. Bison’ area became significantly smaller during the LGM under the influence of cold climate. The velocity of decreasing of musk ox range was higher than decreasing of bison range during the Holocene, what could be explained by progressive warming, uncomfortable for the musk ox. The new 14 С data obtained during this work in Groningen and other radiocarbon laboratories help to reconstruct the distribution of musk ox and primitive bison in Northern Eurasia during last 50 000 years.

We reconstructed the principal features of Bison priscus and Ovibos moschatus distribution during... more We reconstructed the principal features of Bison priscus and Ovibos moschatus distribution during last 50 Kyr BP in Northern Eurasia,,

Quaternary International, 2015

The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was an emblematic and key species of the so-called mam... more The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was an emblematic and key species of the so-called mammoth steppe ecosystem between ca. 110,000 and 12,000 years ago. Its contribution to human subsistence during the Gravettian period as source of raw material was documented in southwestern France and southwestern Germany, with some evidence of active hunting in the latter region. However, decreasing genetic diversity and increasing indications of nutritional stress point to a likely decline of this megaherbivore. The specificity of the ecological niche occupied by the woolly mammoth is clearly reflected by their collagen 13 C and 15 N abundances (d 13 C coll and d 15 N coll), measured on skeletal remains of the typical mammoth steppe. The abundances of carbon-13 in mammoth collagen are comparable to those of other grazers like horse (Equus sp.), while the nitrogen-15 abundances are significantly higher (about 3‰) than in the other herbivores, either horse or reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). During the Aurignacian and Gravettian occupation at Geißenkl€ osterle in the Ach Valley (Germany), the mammoths had the expected stable isotope signature, but the nitrogen-15 of horses showed an unexpected overlap with those of the mammoth. This unusual pattern was already occurring during the Aurignacian, while the oxygen-18 abundances in bone phosphate (d 18 O bp) of horse and reindeer were unchanged between Aurignacian and Gravettian periods, which rules out significant change in environmental and climatic conditions. Thus, we hypothesize that during the Aurignacian and Gravettian, the ecological niche of mammoth was intact but not occupied intensively by mammoths due to a decline in their population. This decline could be tentatively explained by human pressure through hunting. In Dordogne (France), decreasing horse and reindeer d 15 N coll values coeval to decreasing horse d 18 O bp values between the Aurignacian and the Early Gravettian periods reflected a clear change in the environment, while no contrast in d 15 N coll values was observed between the Early

Antiquity, 2006

This update on radiocarbon calibration results from the 19th International Radiocarbon Conference... more This update on radiocarbon calibration results from the 19th International Radiocarbon Conference at Oxford in April 2006, and is essential reading for all archaeologists. The way radiocarbon dates and absolute dates relate to each other differs in three periods: back to 12400 cal BP, radiocarbon dates can be calibrated with tree rings, and the calibration curve in this form should soon extend back to 18000 cal BP. Between 12400 and 26000 cal BP, the calibration curves are based on marine records, and thus are only a best estimate of atmospheric concentrations. Beyond 26000 cal BP, dates have to be based on comparison (rather than calibration) with a variety of records. Radical variations are thus possible in this period, a highly significant caveat for the dating of middle and lower Paleolithic art, artefacts and animal and human remains.

Antiquity, 2010

The site of Tell Sabi Abyad in Syria offers a superb stratified sequence passing from the acerami... more The site of Tell Sabi Abyad in Syria offers a superb stratified sequence passing from the aceramic (pre-pottery) to pottery-using Neolithic around 7000 BC. Surprisingly the first pottery arrives fully developed with mineral tempering, burnishing and stripey decoration in painted slip. The expected, more experimental-looking, plant-tempered coarse wares shaped by baskets arrive about 300 years later. Did the first ceramic impetus come from elsewhere?

Quaternary International, 2011

Woerden, in the central part of The Netherlands, is a locality where the amateur-archaeologist Pi... more Woerden, in the central part of The Netherlands, is a locality where the amateur-archaeologist Pieter Stoel collected several thousands of fossil mammalian remains of Pleistocene age. The stratigraphically-mixed assemblage includes a broad variety of taxa including species that are indicative of interglacial conditions such as Hippopotamus sp. as well as species that inhabited the area during glacial episodes e.g. Mammuthus primigenius and Coelodonta antiquitatis. The fossil remains have an early Middle Pleistocene e Late Pleistocene age. Rangifer tarandus is one of the species that is very well represented in the faunal assemblage from Woerden. Woerden yielded not only thousands of fossil bones but also Palaeolithic artefacts. A direct relationship between the reindeer bones and these artefacts could not be indicated. Most of the bones are complete and not a single reindeer bone or bone fragment shows traces of human interference such as clear impact or cut marks. This is remarkable considering the many European Palaeolithic sites where reindeer hunters left their traces. Detailed investigation of the reindeer remains indicates that the majority of the reindeer remains from Woerden represent one population with juvenile as well as adult individuals. The adult specimens show a female/male ratio of 2:1, which is characteristic for natural living reindeer populations. This ratio as well as the standard deviation of the size measurements suggests that the assemblage is one distinct population and not a mix of fossil assemblages with reindeer of different size and different geological ages. Further remarkable is that the dimensions of the limb bones indicate that the reindeer from Woerden were extremely slender; much more slender than the fossil Middle and Late Pleistocene reindeer assemblages from other localities in northwestern and central Europe.

Antiquity, 2002

New radiocarbon dates from four Moravian and Bohemian sites are presented and linked to previous ... more New radiocarbon dates from four Moravian and Bohemian sites are presented and linked to previous work on the depositional contexts of human fossils at similar sites in the region. Whilst dates from Mladeč confirm its early Upper Palaeolithic age, the chronologies of the other three sites require revision.

Quaternary International, 2012

The Holocene, 2011

In the light of the currently increasing drought frequency and water scarcity on oceanic islands,... more In the light of the currently increasing drought frequency and water scarcity on oceanic islands, it is crucial for the conservation of threatened insular vertebrates to assess how they will be affected. A 4000 yr old fossil assemblage in the Mare Aux Songes (MAS), southwest Mauritius, Mascarene Islands, contains bones of 100 000+ individual vertebrates, dominated by two species of giant tortoises Cylindraspis triserrata and C. inepta, the dodo Raphus cucullatus, and 20 other vertebrate species ( Rijsdijk, Hume, Bunnik, Florens, Baider, Shapiro et al. (2009) Mid-Holocene vertebrate bone Concentration-Lagerstätte on oceanic island Mauritius provides a window into the ecosystem of the dodo ( Raphus cucullatus). Quaternary Science Reviews 28: 14–24). Nine radiocarbon dates of bones statistically overlap and suggest mass mortality occurred between 4235 and 4100 cal. yr BP. The mortality period coincides with a widely recognized megadrought event. Our multidisciplinary investigations com...

Quaternary International, 2013

The PALEOFAUNA database developed by the authors contains information on more than 5500 Eurasian ... more The PALEOFAUNA database developed by the authors contains information on more than 5500 Eurasian localities that yielded Late Pleistocene and Holocene mammalian fossils. The database is used to analyze the changes in the geographical distribution during the second half of the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene of two significant species e the mammoth Mammuthus primigenius and the woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis. Based on the geographical information, combined with (new) radiocarbon data, a correlation has been established between the observed shifts in the ranges of the two species and the climatic changes that occurred during the past 50 000 years. The results indicate that both species changed their distribution repeatedly; the expansion of the ranges increased during stadial intervals and decreased during most interstadials. Both species reached their maximum expansion during the Denekamp (¼Bryansk) Interstadial, a relatively long interval that includes a number of cold phases. Later, the ranges in Europe of both mammoth and rhinoceros were reduced, a process that started before the end of the LGM. Progressive warming from the end of the Pleistocene onwards resulted in dramatic changes in the environment that appeared to be critical for the distribution of those animals. Mammoth and woolly rhinoceros ranges disintegrated into isolated spots, and later they disappeared completely from Eurasia. Relict populations of small mammoths persisted longer on isolated islands such as Wrangel Island. However, not only climate change had an impact on the distribution of the two species. Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic hunters might also have affected the size of the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros populations. Their impact was probably particularly high when the species were close to extinction.

Quaternary International, 2014

We report here a new discovery of a cave bear left metatarsal 3 from Rochedane, an archaeological... more We report here a new discovery of a cave bear left metatarsal 3 from Rochedane, an archaeological site near Montbeliard (French Jura) that yielded only Lateglacial and Holocene material, with no evidence of pre-LGM deposits, a context that made this bone a possible candidate for being a post-LGM cave bear in western Europe. To test this hypothesis, this bone was analyzed for mitochondrial DNA, which confirmed its attribution to cave bear of the Ursus spelaeus lineage, and a direct radiocarbon AMS dating on well preserved collagen (%C, %N and C/N well in the range of fresh collagen) yielded an age of 23,900 þ110 À100 BP (28,730e28,500 cal BP, one sigma range). Its carbon and nitrogen isotopic values were similar to those of slightly older cave bears from the Swabian Jura, around 300 km to the East, suggesting that the ecological preferences of cave bears remained unchanged until the extirpation of this species in western Europe. Interestingly, the genetic type U. spelaeus was replaced by Ursus ingressus around 28,000 14 C BP in the Swabian Jura. In contrast, the older type U. spelaeus apparently persisted in France ca. 3000 years longer. Traces left on the cave bear metapodium have been left by human activity on this bone, as it was the case for older cave bear bones from the Swabian Jura. This case study shows that cave bear remains found in post-LGM sites or layers may be candidates to be late survivors of this extinct species, but without direct radiocarbon AMS dated on well-preserved collagen (demonstrated by actual chemical composition results) and ancient DNA confirmation of the species attribution, such evidence can only be considered dubious.

Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 2005

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 2000

Russian Journal of Theriology, 2018

Radiocarbon, 2007

Scientific reports, Jul 6, 2016

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016

Current Biology, 2016

Quaternary International, 2015

Antiquity, 2006

Antiquity, 2010

Quaternary International, 2011

Antiquity, 2002

Quaternary International, 2012

The Holocene, 2011

Quaternary International, 2013

Quaternary International, 2014

Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 2005

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 2000

The OGS-7 (Ounda Gona South) site at Gona was discovered in February 2000 and first described in ... more The OGS-7 (Ounda Gona South) site at Gona was discovered in February 2000 and first described in the Journal of Human Evolution in 2003. It was, and still is, the oldest in situ archaeological site known, at 2.6-2.55 Ma, with abundant stone artifacts and fossil fauna found in association. Other publications in 2005 and 2010 further elaborated upon aspects of the fauna, stone raw materials, and lithic technology exhibited by the OGS-7 assemblage. As important as the site is, the original archaeological assemblage came from less than three square meters of excavation. In 2010, we significantly expanded the excavation of the site into the hillside and recovered hundreds of additional artifacts and faunal specimens. Here we report on some preliminary observations of this new assemblage. In some respects, the additional material that we have recovered supports previous inferences we have made concerning, for example, raw material selectivity and probable carcass processing. The recovery of numerous small cores, though, in addition to several lithic refitting sets, allows us to describe in more detail the lithic technology exhibited by this assemblage. Further excavations are planned at the site, in addition to future work on lithic replication, use wear, and local paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Comparisons will be made with the other early sites at Gona, in particular the East Gona sites (EG-10, -12, -13, and -24) and OGS-6.

Paper given at the 2017 AIA Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada.

Poster presentation “Human Diet at Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria” at the 8th International Sym... more Poster presentation “Human Diet at Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria” at the 8th International Symposium “14C & Archaeology”, Edinburgh.

Extensive excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, have yielded an exceptional discovery: a sequence of cemeteries dated to ca. 6400 -5800 cal BC. Such evidence is extremely rare for the Late Neolithic in the Near East. Carbon ( δ13C) and nitrogen ( δ15 N) stable isotope analysis of collagen from human bone samples has provided isotopic profiles for 65 individuals. Previously, an isotopic analysis of faunal remains was conducted providing valuable baselines for the interpretation of the human isotope data. The current preliminary analyses of these two datasets provides interesting insights into the diets of the inhabitants of the sites. This data sheds light on issues such as subsistence strategies and social relations in food consumption within in the prehistoric community. An earlier pilot study which combined the radiocarbon data with a detailed analysis of the stratigraphy using Bayesian statistics, providing a robust chronology of the prehistoric cemeteries, has enabled us to also approach the stable isotopic data from a temporal perspective. The results of this investigation clearly confirm the usefulness of isotopic analysis in the case of the burials at Tell Sabi Abyad, and thus lay the basis for further research.

Archeologie Magazine, 2018

Samenvatting In februari werd in het gerenommeerde archeologische tijdschrift Antiquity een artik... more Samenvatting
In februari werd in het gerenommeerde archeologische tijdschrift Antiquity een artikel gepubliceerd over de oudste mens van Nederland en de oudste kunst uit de Noordzee (Amkreutz et al. 2018). Beide vondsten zijn meer dan 13.000 jaar oud. Ze zijn uiterst zeldzame aanwijzingen voor de herbewoning van noordelijk Europa door de moderne mens na de kou van het laatste glaciale maximum van de laatste ijstijd. Deze bijdrage is een samenvatting van het betreffende artikel.

Summary
In February, a paper was published in the well-known archaeological journal Antiquity on the oldest human remains and the oldest art from the North Sea (Amkreutz et al. 2018). Both finds date to more than 13.000 years ago. They are very rare clues of the reoccupation of northern Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum of the last Ice Age. This contribution is a summary of that article.

TMA64, 2020

Tell Sabi Abyad is a key archeological site in Northern Syria, extensively excavated from 1986 to... more Tell Sabi Abyad is a key archeological site in Northern Syria, extensively excavated from 1986 to 2010. The excavations give evidence for a continuous settlement in the Neolithic period, from about 7200 to 5500 BC. Significantly, substantial change in the nature of settlement and the associated material culture was found to occur at about 6200 BC. There were alterations and innovations in, for example, settlement area, architecture, pottery production, ceramic symbolism, use of seals, farming strategies, and burial practices. The many changes predominantly occurred at a time of substantial climate change, associated with cold and drought: the so-called 8k2 climate event. Often, changes in climate are associated with societal crisis, culture collapse and forced migration. However, the research at Tell Sabi Abyad indicates a remarkable resilience of the local Neolithic population: the community did not collapse but successfully adapted to the changing environmental conditions.