The Pleistocene reindeer of the North Sea—initial palaeontological data and archaeological remarks

The interdisciplinary North Sea Project aims at investigating the biotic history of the Pleistocene in the Southern Bight of the North Sea. Humans were part of these biotopes too as Palaeolithic flint artefacts prove. Based on a large fossil record and radiocarbon dating, it becomes clear that reindeer was part of the Late Pleistocene Mammoth-fauna. Upper Palaeolithic hunters often are described as reindeer-hunters. Despite a large fossil reindeer record and collection of Palaeolithic flint artefacts, no evidence was found for co-existence of humans and reindeer or for reindeer-hunting.

The Eurogeul—first report of the palaeontological, palynological and archaeological investigations of this part of the North Sea

The Eurogeul is the shipping-lane gully in front of Rotterdam harbour. Due to the combination of suction-dredging and fishing activities, diverse faunae are found on its bottom. This paper briefly describes the fauna, consisting of 13 terrestrial mammals and six marine mammal species. Radiocarbon dating gave two time-periods from which the bones originate: ca. 37,500–48,500 BP, and ca. 7–8000 BP. Pollen sampling gave similar results (respectively, an interstadial before the Last Glacial Maximum, and the Early Holocene Boreal period). Human artefacts dating from the Boreal period add to our understanding of the Quaternary history of the southern North Sea area.