Dominique Bonjean
Université de Liège, Archaeology, Department Member
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Ornaments and fragments of fluorite have been found at sixteen Neolithic sites in Belgium and Northern France, mainly Middle Neolithic sites associated with the Michelsberg culture and the Spiere and Chassean groups. These sites are... more
Ornaments and fragments of fluorite have been found at sixteen Neolithic sites in Belgium and Northern France, mainly Middle Neolithic sites associated with the Michelsberg culture and the Spiere and Chassean groups. These sites are located in a large geographical area representing different types of sites and various geological backgrounds. One of the aims of this study is to identify where this mineral could have been quarried in the Neolithic and compare the possible source(s) with those used during the Palaeolithic. A survey of some Neolithic fluorite occurrences in Belgium and Northern France was conducted and the origins of this mineral investigated by means of geochemical Rare Earth Elements and Sr-isotopic analysis. We also explore the limitations of isotopic 87 Sr/86Sr and REE ratios for analysis of fluorite. Results show that Neolithic fluorite originates from different local and regional sources, mainly the Dinantian limestones/dolostones of the Ardennes Allochthon, in contrast to the use of silicified Givetian limestones of the Calestian Band near Givet (France) during the Magdalenian. The Neolithic fluorite that is studied in this paper is found exclusively at settlement sites whereas elsewhere, fluorite comes exclusively from funerary contexts.
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The Okuzini cave in South Western Turkey yielded a Late Palaeolithic sequence. Four archaeological stages have been distinguished on the basis of technical evolution, animal remains and dates. Stage 1 (16 000-14 000 BC) is characterized... more
The Okuzini cave in South Western Turkey yielded a Late Palaeolithic sequence. Four archaeological stages have been distinguished on the basis of technical evolution, animal remains and dates. Stage 1 (16 000-14 000 BC) is characterized by stemmed backed points and elongated triangles. The same material is found in stage 2 (14 000-13 000 BC) with numerous microliths in addition. Stage 3 (13 000-10 500 BC) is characterized particularly by geometric microliths and a quite important bone industry. Stage 4 (9 000-6 500 BC) corresponds to the Neolithic; the burial belongs probably to this stage.
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Research Interests: Evolutionary Biology, Geology, Paleontology, Ecology, Cave, and 4 moreGE, QE, Chronostratigraphy, and QL
Une étude isotopique d'os de mammifères du Pléistocène supérieur interglaciaire de la couche 4 de la grotte Scladina (Sclayn, Belgique) a démontré la... more
Une étude isotopique d'os de mammifères du Pléistocène supérieur interglaciaire de la couche 4 de la grotte Scladina (Sclayn, Belgique) a démontré la bonne qualité de conservation du collagène. Le protocole d'extraction a dû être modifié par rapport à la technique usuelle mais le collagène obtenu est conforme aux critères d'indigénéité isotopique. Les abondances isotopiques du carbone montrent que les herbivores analysés vivaient dans un environnement forestier, tandis que les carnivores analysés ...
Research Interests: Geography, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Geochemistry, Stable isotope ecology, and 15 moreArchaeological Science, Ethnology, Pleistocene Vertebrate, Neanderthals (Palaeolithic Archaeology), Middle Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Cave, Quaternary palaeontology, Fauna, Plant foods in hominin dietary ecology, Acheulean, Dietary Supplements, Chemical Analysis, Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), and Herbivore
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Research Interests: Evolutionary Biology, Geology, Paleontology, Ecology, Cave, and 4 moreGE, QE, Chronostratigraphy, and QL
Archaeological assemblage 1A at Scladina Cave, Belgium has yielded artefacts from a Middle Palaeolithic occupation dating to between 40,000 and 37,000 BP. Fifty-two fragments of a black, friable rock with a black streak were found in... more
Archaeological assemblage 1A at Scladina Cave, Belgium has yielded artefacts from a Middle Palaeolithic occupation dating to between 40,000 and 37,000 BP. Fifty-two fragments of a black, friable rock with a black streak were found in association with approximately 200 burned bone fragments and several thousand lithic artefacts. This black material (silica-rich graphite-bearing siltstone) is interpreted as a pigment brought to the site by Neandertals. This is a very unique dis- covery, as European archaeological research has so far only recorded black pigments composed of manganese oxides from the Middle Palaeolithic. The pigment was analysed by petrography, X-Ray diffraction (XRD), X-Ray fluorescence (XRF), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and Raman microspectrometry. Raman microspectrometry is a non-destructive method able to distinguish the attributes of black sili- ceous materials that originate from different tectono-sedimentary contexts. By measuring the d...
Research Interests: Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Geology, Archaeometry, Archaeological Chemistry, and 13 morePaleolithic Europe, Neanderthals (Palaeolithic Archaeology), European Prehistory (Archaeology), Cave, LA-ICP-MS, Neandertals, Middle Paleolithic, Neanderthals, Neanderthal, European Prehistory, Archéologie, Arts and Humanities, and Symbolic behaviour (Neanderthals)
This article reports on the first three systematic excavation seasons at the Neolithic ossuary of Grotte de La Faucille, Belgium. The site was dated on human bone to 4266 ± 40 14C BP (3011-2702 cal BC; 2 sigma), corresponding to the... more
This article reports on the first three systematic excavation seasons at the Neolithic ossuary of Grotte de La Faucille, Belgium. The site was dated on human bone to 4266 ± 40 14C BP (3011-2702 cal BC; 2 sigma), corresponding to the transition from the late to the final Neolithic. The area excavated to date is clearly reworked and the individuals are distributed across the site. Further excavation will focus on the inferior levels at the entrance and inside the cave. This report presents the preliminary analysis of the anthropological and archaeological evidence recorded to date. Five archaeological artefacts were discovered made on bone, tooth and flint. The site has produced skeletal and dental remains of at least 12 humans (MNI 6 juveniles and 6 adults) as well as a number of bone and lithic artefacts. The skeletal remains are fragmentary and some elements, such as the cranium, are highly underrepresented given the number of individuals. The potential to find the remainder of at ...
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21 papers from Section 15 (African Prehistory), Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liege, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001. French and English."
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Following a brief presentation of some geologic and geomorphologic specificities of Belgium in connection with Neandertals (e.g. caves, flint), we briefly focus on the changing environment in Neandertal times. Some historiographic aspects... more
Following a brief presentation of some geologic and geomorphologic specificities of Belgium in connection with Neandertals (e.g. caves, flint), we briefly focus on the changing environment in Neandertal times. Some historiographic aspects are then developed, recalling that in the nineteenth century, several Belgian sites played a key role in the emerging sciences of prehistory and palaeoanthropology. The first ever found hominin anatomically distinct from modern man was unearthed in 1829–1830 in Engis Cave, near Liege, while the world famous discovery of Spy in 1886 helped to definitively demonstrate the existence of Neandertal man. General information about Neandertals introduces the presentation of the caves of Spy and Scladina. The recent complete reassessment of the archaeological, anthropological, and faunal collections at Spy exemplifies the interest of re-examining ancient collections. As for Scladina, it illustrates the potential of new excavations where modern investigation techniques are applied directly in the field. In these two sites, modern interdisciplinary researches led to prominent results on topics such as ancient DNA, dental development, age at death, palaeodiet, or archaeology, complemented in the case of Scladina by site formation processes and detailed palaeoenvironmental and chronostratigraphic reconstructions. Finally, a few aspects related to territorial exploitation by Neandertals are exposed, focusing on lithic resource management.
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The ancient preserved molecules offer the opportunity to gain a better knowledge on the biological past. In recent years, bones proteomics has become an attractive method to study the animal biological origin, extinct species and species... more
The ancient preserved molecules offer the opportunity to gain a better knowledge on the biological past. In recent years, bones proteomics has become an attractive method to study the animal biological origin, extinct species and species evolution as an alternative to DNA analysis which is limited by DNA amplification present in ancient samples and its contamination. However, the development of a proteomic workflow remains a challenge. The analysis of fossils must consume a low quantity of material to avoid damaging the samples. Another difficulty is the absence of genomic data for most of the extinct species. In this study, a proteomic methodology was applied to mammalian bones of 130,000 years old from the earlier Upper Pleistocene site of Scladina Cave (Belgium). Starting from 5 milligram samples, our results show a large majority of detected peptides matching collagen I alpha 1 and alpha 2 proteins with a sequence coverage up to 60%. Using sequence homology with modern sequences...
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Research Interests: Archaeology, Paleoanthropology, Geology, Geochemistry, Archaeological Science, and 14 morePalaeolithic Archaeology, Paleolithic Europe, European Prehistory (Archaeology), Middle Palaeolithic, Provenance studies of archaeological material, LA-ICP-MS, Palaeolithic, Neandertals, Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, Neanderthals, Palaeolithic Art, Homo neanderthalensis, and Creativity In Hominids
La grotte Scladina, a Andenne pres de Namur vient de livrer une hemi-mandibule, un fragment de maxillaire et deux dents d'un enfant de dix a onze ans qui a vecu aux environs de l'episode climatique tempere de Saint-Germain II... more
La grotte Scladina, a Andenne pres de Namur vient de livrer une hemi-mandibule, un fragment de maxillaire et deux dents d'un enfant de dix a onze ans qui a vecu aux environs de l'episode climatique tempere de Saint-Germain II generalement admis aux alentours de 70.000 BP en pleine periode de l'Homme de Neandertal
Research Interests: Art and Archeologia
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Research Interests: Geography, Archaeology, Geology, Paleontology, Ecology, and 15 moreCarnivora, Carnivore Ecology, Large Carnivores, Felidae, Mammal Extinctions, Cave, Lion Bones, Carnivores, Megafauna extintion, Nitrogen Isotope Collagen, Carbon Isotope Collagen, African Lions, Late Glacial, Large Carnivore interactions, and Competitive Exclusion
Little is known about the population history of Neandertals over the hundreds of thousands of years of their existence. We retrieved nuclear genomic sequences from two Neandertals, one from Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave in Germany and the other... more
Little is known about the population history of Neandertals over the hundreds of thousands of years of their existence. We retrieved nuclear genomic sequences from two Neandertals, one from Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave in Germany and the other from Scladina Cave in Belgium, who lived around 120,000 years ago. Despite the deeply divergent mitochondrial lineage present in the former individual, both Neandertals are genetically closer to later Neandertals from Europe than to a roughly contemporaneous individual from Siberia. That the Hohlenstein-Stadel and Scladina individuals lived around the time of their most recent common ancestor with later Neandertals suggests that all later Neandertals trace at least part of their ancestry back to these early European Neandertals.
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© 2018 Elsevier Ltd The supposed herbivorous cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) occupied Europe throughout the Quaternary. Being subject to large spatial variation has led to the intensive study on its geographical polymorphism, generating... more
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd The supposed herbivorous cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) occupied Europe throughout the Quaternary. Being subject to large spatial variation has led to the intensive study on its geographical polymorphism, generating debates on sub-speciation. However, temporal morphological information on the species is somewhat lacking. Here, we apply geometric morphometrics (GMM) technique to investigate temporal morphological variation in molar size and shape of Ursus spelaeus from different chronostratigraphic sediment units in a geographically confined site (Scladina Cave, Belgium), covering approximately 100,000 years. Our findings show significant morphological variation between groups analysed in both size and shape. M2 shows a chronological size increase with PCA plots visually expressing differences in all groups, relating to a buccolingual expansion and an increase of the talon masticatory platform through time. Reduction in the M1 is also shown, possibly to maintain biomechanical performance of dentition for effective mastication, more so in groups relating to the latter stages of the Quaternary. Findings suggest a rapid response to climatic factors constraining consumable food sources, with GMM offering a promising analytical approach in understanding the palaeobiology, palaeoecology and morphological variation in extinct and extant fossil mammals.
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... About 17 km 2 in extent, the relief of the Sierra de Atapuerca fits the evolution of a Neogene model, with a relatively gentle topography and a warm climate, dissected in part as a result of the imposition of the Quaternary fluvial... more
... About 17 km 2 in extent, the relief of the Sierra de Atapuerca fits the evolution of a Neogene model, with a relatively gentle topography and a warm climate, dissected in part as a result of the imposition of the Quaternary fluvial network (Benito-Calvo & Pérez-González, 2007). ...
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Résumé/Abstract Dans un cailloutis eemien (environ 130 000 ans), une occupation paléolithique est fouillée systématiquement par une équipe internationale, sous la direction de l'Université de Liège. Très profondément enfouie sous les... more
Résumé/Abstract Dans un cailloutis eemien (environ 130 000 ans), une occupation paléolithique est fouillée systématiquement par une équipe internationale, sous la direction de l'Université de Liège. Très profondément enfouie sous les sédiments en place et de ...
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Situé au coeur de l'Europe du Nord-Ouest, le territoire belge se carac-térise par l'apposition de régions naturelles aux caractéristiques contras-tées sur un espace restreint. Il est favorable à l'étude de la relation de l'homme... more
Situé au coeur de l'Europe du Nord-Ouest, le territoire belge se carac-térise par l'apposition de régions naturelles aux caractéristiques contras-tées sur un espace restreint. Il est favorable à l'étude de la relation de l'homme préhistorique à son environnement par le biais des importantes disparités géographiques qu'il présente en termes de ressources minérales disponibles (présence/absence de silex, morphométrie des nodules dispo-nibles), de relief (plaines/vallées encaissées et plateaux), et de types de sites représentés (plein air/grottes). Les résultats produits par les fouilles récentes et par le réexamen d'an-ciennes collections permettent d'aborder les causes de la variabilité impor-tante des industries lithiques telle que constatée depuis plus d'un siècle. L'étude d'industries lithiques réparties en différents points du pays permet de proposer un modèle de gestion du territoire par les populations néan-dertaliennes. Celui-ci consiste en un système original et performant d'adaptation aux divers contextes. Il se traduit par des différences régionales concernant les stratégies d'acquisition des matières premières et les systèmes techniques mis en oeuvre. Dans cette optique, les tendances « charentiennes » enregistrées par certaines industries lithiques sont à considérer comme des réponses particulières à des milieux contraignants. Il en résulte que le rapport à l'environnement constitue un « niveau primaire » de diversité, auquel d'autres facteurs se surimposent pour générer un « niveau secondaire » de variabilité : chronologie et variations paléo-environnementales, fonction des sites, durées et modalités d'occupation, traditions techniques et culturelles. C'est en tout cas ce que montre la confrontation des séries prises en compte : des sites d'époques différentes mais localisés dans une même région présentent plus de similitudes entre eux que des sites pénécontemporains tributaires de sous-sol distincts. Mots-clefs : Belgique, relation homme préhistorique – environnement, modalités d'occupation, traditions techniques et culturelles. Abstract: Located in the heart of northwestern Europe, Belgium is characterised by contrasting natural regions juxtaposed within a restricted space. The geographic differences in terms of: first, available mineral resources
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Sedimentary Unit 1A at Scladina Cave, Belgium has yielded archaeological material from a Middle Palaeolithic occupation dating to between 40,210 þ 400/À350 BP and 37,300 þ 370/À320 BP. Fifty-one fragments of a black, friable rock with a... more
Sedimentary Unit 1A at Scladina Cave, Belgium has yielded archaeological material from a Middle Palaeolithic occupation dating to between 40,210 þ 400/À350 BP and 37,300 þ 370/À320 BP. Fifty-one fragments of a black, friable rock with a black streak were found in association with 194 burned bone fragments and several thousand lithic artefacts. This black material is interpreted as a pigment brought to the site by Neandertals. The pigment was analysed by petrography, XRD, Raman microspectroscopy, and other geochemical methods. It was identified as a highly siliceous graphitic siltstone. This is a very unique discovery, as European archaeological research has so far only recorded black pigments comprised of manganese oxides from the Middle Palaeolithic. Raman microspectroscopy is a non-destructive method able to distinguish the attributes of black siliceous materials that originate from different tectono-sedimentary contexts. By measuring the degree of alteration of the carbonaceous material, this method allowed for the determination of its geographical and geological origins: a Cambrian formation of very limited extent located near Ottignies, about 40 kilometres northwest of Scladina Cave. The absence of a drainage network connecting the two locations eliminates the possibility of natural transport, and supports its anthropogenic origin.
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The chronological and palaeoenvironmental context for the industries identified in Europe during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (MUPT) is not accurately known. This situation is mainly due to insufficient knowledge of the... more
The chronological and palaeoenvironmental context for the industries identified in Europe during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (MUPT) is not accurately known. This situation is mainly due to insufficient knowledge of the context of the archaeological data, much of which comes from old excavations. Any major progress in the understanding of the MUPT can only be achieved with the study of long sedimentary sequences providing a semi-continuous record and situating archaeological remains in a reliable palaeoenvironmental and chronological framework. Strict attention must also be paid to stratigraphic control and site formation processes.Interdisciplinary studies undertaken over the last ten years in Belgium contribute to research on the MUPT. Belgium plays an important role due to its specific geological context that includes many caves, a well-developed loess cover which acts as a reference sequence for the Upper Pleistocene and the presence of tephras. This enables detailed reconstruction of climatic change and more accurate chronological control in cave sequences; initial results from new fieldwork on long sequences are presented here (Walou and Scladina Caves as well as the open-air site of Maisières-Canal). Combined with results of recent analyses on old material (mainly from the Spy and Trou de l’Abîme collections), they enable establishment of a reliable and more accurate chronostratigraphic framework for the archaeological assemblages and provide new data on the humans responsible for them. Thus, around 45,000 BP, a Mousterian industry was made by Neandertals in Trou de l’Abîme. Around 40,000–38,000 BP, Belgium was still occupied by Neandertals associated with a typical Middle Palaeolithic as shown in Walou. The Spy Neandertals have recently been directly dated by 14C to 36,000 BP, but the techniques of the early excavations prevent clear identification of the associated industry; still, the 14C results are more coherent with the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ) chronology than the Mousterian, both of which are identified at Spy. The earliest convincing age for the Belgian Aurignacian is about 32,000–33,000 BP (Maisières-Canal and Spy).