Palynologische Kring: Jaarvergadering en lezingenmiddag
Date: 20 June 2025 / 20 juni 2025
Location: Minnaertgebouw, Utrecht Science Park
13.15: arrival / inloop
13.30-14.30: Annual meeting / Jaarvergadering
14.30-14.55: Tobias Vervaart MSc (Universiteit Utrecht): Introducing PhD project ‘Looking back to plan ahead: unfolding the natural heritage of Dutch landscapes’.
14.55-15.15: coffee break
15.15-15.40: Yannick Bats MSc (Universiteit Utrecht): Impact of chemical treatments on the molecular and stable carbon isotopic composition of sporomorphs.
15.40-16.10: Prof Dr. Corrie Bakels (Faculteit der Archeologie, Universiteit Leiden): Results from stable isotope analysis applied to charred grain preserved in two storage rooms found in Tell Damiyah, Jordan.
16.10-16.35: Dr. Otto Brinkkemper (Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed): The optimal sample size of cereal grains for stable isotope research.
I was delighted to be invited to give a seminar as part of the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology “Human Palaeo-systems Research Group” series. In case you missed it the seminar is will soon be available to watch online (click here).
To see the full list of seminars in the series click here.
A postdoctoral position in palynology and sedimentary DNA analysis, focused on understanding the environmental history of the Malagasy landscapes and populations over the last millennia, is now available working with Laurent Bremond (University of Montpellier, France). Funding is from the French National Research Agency (ANR) with support from CNRS.
Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International special issue article #4
#openaccess
Boisard, S., Wren, C.D., Timbrell, L. & Burke, A. (2025) Climate frameworks for the Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age in Northwest Africa. Quaternary International 716, 109593. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2024.109593
To find the complete list of articles in the Mapping Ancient Africa special issue of Quaternary International click here.
The annual PhD thesis prize from the Koninklijk Nederlandse Botanische Vereniging (Royal Dutch Botanical Association) is now open. The prize of EURO 5000 will be awarded to the best PhD thesis defended between January and December 2024 at a Dutch university. The subject matter of the thesis is broadly defined within the field of botany, and includs topics such as taxonomy, (palaeo- / macro-) ecology, and cell biology.
The aim of this thesis was to provide insight into past human activities in Amazonia, and the long-term forest recovery that followed, using phytolith analysis. The first part of this thesis focused on improving phytolith analysis as a proxy for vegetation changes in Amazonia. The morphological variation of 24 Amazonian palm phytoliths were assessed (Chapter 2) to improve the taxonomic resolution of palm phytolith identification, and results indicate the potential to differentiate Euterpe, Bactris, Oenocarpus, Attalea, Iriartea deltoidea, and Socratea exorrhiza. Chapter 3 demonstrated that phytolith assemblages (from terrestrial soil cores) varied across a gradient of (modern) human disturbance in Surinamese rainforests. In Chapters 4-6, we developed beta regression and GLM models to predict forest cover and biomass changes within 200 m and 1 km of Amazonian lakes, respectively, using grass phytoliths. Applying these innovations in Chapters 5-6 demonstrated that past human activities were on localized scales in Suriname and temporally heterogenous in Ecuador. Palm enrichment of Attalea, Oenocarpus and Astrocaryum occurred within 0 km, 1 km, and 8 km of an archaeological site in Suriname (Chapter 5). In Ecuador, forest cover and biomass ranged between 48-84% and 77-247 Mg/ha, respectively, and the largest decreases (between 1000-1255 CE) were paired with fires (Chapter 6). Overall, the type, intensity, timing, and frequency of disturbances are important factors influencing long-term forest recovery and ecological legacies in Amazonia.
Ivory, S.J., MacDougal, E., Mason, A., Pereboom, E., Garelick, S., Ficken, K., Wooller, M.J., Nakileza, B. & Russell, J. (2024) Highland forest dynamics across equatorial East Africa during the end of the African humid period. Quaternary International. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2024.10.007
Zuccarelli Freire, V.N., Ziegler, M.J., Caetano-Andrade, V., Iminjili, V., Lellau, R., Rudd, R., Stokes, F., Viegas, D.H., Antonosyan, M. & Jha, D.K. Addressing the Anthropocene from the Global South: Integrating Paleoecology, Archaeology and Traditional Knowledge for COP Engagement. Frontiers in Earth Science 12, 1470577. DOI: 10.3389/feart.2024.1470577
INQUA fellow Alfred Hougnon continues his research into past environmental change in the Dahomey Gap (Benin). In the fourth video documenting his progress a short background to the project, and insights into field work, are given. Field work took place near the Ewe-Adakplame forest in the south east of Benin and involved the recovery of sediments using a Russian corer. The video also shows how interactions and engagement with the local community was developed during the research expedition.
To find out more above Alfreds project read posts on:
Ecology of the past 