Philippe Crombé

While the introduction of the Neolithic way of life in central Belgium around 5300 BCE is well-documented, the provenance and mobility patterns of Middle to Final Neolithic groups in southern Belgium (Wallonia) remain unclear. This work presents the first multi-element isotopic (strontium, ⁸⁷ Sr/ ⁸⁶ Sr; oxygen, δ ¹⁸ O; carbon, δ ¹³ C) data from prehistoric human dental enamel from the region. The study includes a total of 29 individuals, coming from karstic caves in the Meuse basin, the mining complex of Spiennes, and the megalithic tomb of Wéris II. The study also explores the variability of bioavailable strontium ratios in the geologically heterogeneous Meuse basin using modern plants. The analysis of multi-element isotopic data reveals high δ ¹⁸ O values and diverse ⁸⁷ Sr/ ⁸⁶ Sr ratios. The findings suggest that these individuals likely originated from or spent their childhood in present-day Belgium. Furthermore, the study highlights limited mobility during the Final Neolithic period, characterized by a combination of local residency and potential short-distance mobility or post-mortem movements. Overall, this study provides the first δ ¹⁸ O values from ancient human remains in the region and reshapes our understanding of human mobility during the Neolithic in present-day Belgium.

Lithic tools are the most abundant cultural artefacts found at prehistoric archaeological sites. Through their study, we can understand essential activities such as hunting, processing of animal carcasses and plant materials, and working of resources such as ochre and bone, as well as broader technological and cultural practices. For the first time, proteomics was applied alongside use-wear and optical microscopy residue analyses, enabling the identification of bovine, plant, and human proteins on faceted tools from the Mesolithic-Neolithic site of Bazel-Sluis, Belgium. This retrieval of identifiable protein from an area with poor organic preservation demonstrates wide-reaching potential for archaeological research, opening a new avenue of investigation into prehistoric lifeways and adding to the growing corpus of evidence accessible through palaeoproteomics. A workflow for future analyses is suggested, based on our integrated sampling strategy requiring no additional tool manipulations.

The European Final Palaeolithic witnessed marked changes in almost all societal domains. Despite a rich body of evidence, our knowledge of human palaeodemographic processes and regional population dynamics still needs to be improved. In this study, we present regionally differentiated population estimates for the Greenland Interstadial 1d-a (GI-1d-a; 14-12.7 ka cal BP) and the Greenland Stadial 1 (GS-1; 12.7-11.6 ka cal BP) for Southern, Western, Northern and Central Europe. The data were obtained by applying the Cologne Protocol, a geostatistical approach for estimating prehistoric population size and density, to a newly compiled dataset of Final Palaeolithic sites. On a large spatio-temporal scale and compared to preceding Upper Palaeolithic phases, areas north of the Alps become the dominant demographic growth area for the first time since the dispersal of anatomically modern humans into Europe. At smaller scales, we observe divergent regional trends, with a conspicuous lack of archaeological evidence appearing in previously occupied areas of central France and Germany. Our study also shows that during the Final Palaeolithic, the climatic cooling of GS-1 coincides with a pronounced population decline in most parts of the study area. An apparent increase in population density occurs only in north-eastern Central Europe and north-eastern Italy. Our estimates suggest that the total population was reduced by half. Similar results, with a relationship between decreasing temperatures and decreasing populations, have already been observed for the late phase of the Gravettian, when populations were reduced to only one third of those estimated for the early phase. Yet, in contrast to the collapse of local populations during the late Gravettian, the increase in population densities in Central Europe during GS-1 indicates population movements eastwards, possibly in response to deteriorating climatic conditions, particularly in western regions during the Younger Dryas.

The European Final Palaeolithic witnessed marked changes in almost all societal domains. Despite a rich body of evidence, our knowledge of palaeodemographic processes and regional population dynamics still needs to be improved. In this study, we present regionally differentiated estimates of absolute numbers and population densities for the Greenland Interstadial 1d-a (GI-1d-a; 14-12.7 ka BP) and the Greenland Stadial 1 (GS-1; 12.7-11.6 ka BP) for Southern, Western, Northern and Central Europe. The data were obtained by applying the Cologne Protocol, a geostatistical approach for estimating prehistoric population size and density, to a newly compiled dataset of Final Palaeolithic sites. On a large spatio-temporal scale, we observe a shift of the main areas of human occupation from the Franco-Cantabrian region, which was intensely occupied during most phases of the preceding Upper Palaeolithic, to regions north of the Alps. At smaller scales, we observe divergent regional trends in the Final Palaeolithic meta-population: during GI 1d-a, a decreasing population in southwestern Europe and an increasing population in north-eastern Central Europe. For the first time since the dispersal of anatomically modern humans into Europe, we see that Central Europe becomes the dominant demographic growth area. Subsequently, the climatic cooling of GS-1 coincides with a pronounced population decline in most parts of the study area. An apparent increase in population density occurs only in north-eastern Central Europe and north-eastern Italy. Our estimates suggest that the total population was reduced by half. Similar results, with a relationship between decreasing temperatures and decreasing populations, have already been observed for the late phase of the Gravettian, when populations were reduced to only one third of those estimated for the early phase. Yet, in contrast to the collapse of local populations during the late Gravettian, the increase in population densities in Central Europe during GS-1 indicates population movements eastwards, possibly in response to deteriorating climatic conditions, particularly in western regions during the Younger Dryas.

Currently in NW Europe little is known about the human response to the extensive cold reversal at the end of the Pleistocene, the Younger Dryas (ca. 12,850 till ca. 11,650 cal BP), mainly due to the poor chronological resolution of the archaeological sites belonging to the Ahrensburgian Culture. Here we present a series of 33 radiocarbon dates performed on the seminal cave site of Remouchamps, situated in the Belgian Meuse basin. Combined with a revision of the available radiocarbon evidence along the southern North Sea basin (Belgium, southern Netherlands, western Germany), it is suggested that the first half of the Younger Dryas, characterized as extremely cold and wet, faced a significant population reduction. Repopulation started around the middle of the Younger Dryas, from ca. 12,200 cal BP onward, probably in response to a slight climatic improvement leading to somewhat warmer summers. This might be considered a prelude to the subsequent population boost of the Early Holocene (Mesolithic).

Archaeological systematics, together with spatial and chronological information, are commonly used to infer cultural evolutionary dynamics in the past. For the study of the Palaeolithic, and particularly the European Final Palaeolithic and earliest Mesolithic, proposed changes in material culture are often interpreted as reflecting historical processes, migration, or cultural adaptation to climate change and resource availability. Yet, cultural taxonomic practice is known to be variable across research history and academic traditions, and few large-scale replicable analyses across such traditions have been undertaken. Drawing on recent developments in computational archaeology, we here present a data-driven assessment of the existing Final Palaeolithic/earliest Mesolithic cultural taxonomy in Europe. Our dataset consists of a large expert-sourced compendium of key sites, lithic toolkit composition, blade and bladelet production technology, as well as lithic armatures. The dataset comprises 16 regions and 86 individually named archaeological taxa (‘cultures’), covering the period between ca. 15,000 and 11,000 years ago (cal BP). Using these data, we use geometric morphometric and multivariate statistical techniques to explore to what extent the dynamics observed in different lithic data domains (toolkits, technologies, armature shapes) correspond to each other and to the culture-historical relations of taxonomic units implied by traditional naming practice. Our analyses support the widespread conception that some dimensions of material culture became more diverse towards the end of the Pleistocene and the very beginning of the Holocene. At the same time, cultural taxonomic unit coherence and efficacy appear variable, leading us to explore potential biases introduced by regional research traditions, inter-analyst variation, and the role of disjunct macroevolutionary processes. In discussing the implications of these findings for narratives of cultural change and diversification across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, we emphasize the increasing need for cooperative research and systematic archaeological analyses that reach across research traditions.