Neolithic pottery finds at the wetland site of Bazel-Kruibeke (Flanders, Belgium): evidence of long-distance forager-farmer contact during the late 6th and 5th millennium cal BC in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt area

The salvage excavation of the wetland site of Bazel-Kruibeke yielded the first firm evidence of forager-farmer contact in the Scheldt valley already from the late LBK onwards. From then on contact most likely gradually increased leading to a piecemeal introduction of Neolithic commodities and knowledge. Around the middle of the 5th millennium cal BC the technique of pottery production and very likely also stock-breeding were adopted from contemporaneous farmer communities in the loess belonging to the (Epi-)Rossen tradition. At the transition from the 5th to the 4th millennium cal BC exchange with the Michelsberg/Spiere group culture led to an almost complete acculturation of these local communities probably also involving the introduction of agriculture in the Lower Scheldt basin

La transition du Mésolithique ancien au Mésolithique moyen/récent dans le nord-ouest de la Belgique: quelques réflexions concernant l’occupation du territoire

In the present paper the preliminary results of a regional and diachronic study of Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic land-use systems in Sandy Flanders (NW Belgium) are discussed. The available data so far reveals two important changes at the transition from the Early to the Middle/Late Mesolithic (ca. 7500/7200 cal. BC): 1°) a drastic decrease in the number of settlement sites; 2°) major changes in the settlement locations. It is tentatively suggested that these might be linked to changes in the mobility pattern of hunter-gatherers, induced by environmental changes (transition from open coniferous forest to dense deciduous forest) and/or social changes (decreasing territoriality and social competition)

Hertsberge - Papenvijvers 3 Opgravingscampagne 2009-2010

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The effects of state aid on Total Factor Productivit growth

This paper analyzes the relationship between state aid and ?rm performance in terms of productivity growth. To this end, we use all European state aid cases that were granted (either to an individual ?rm or a group of ?rms under the form of a scheme) in manufacturing between 2003 and 2011. Our ?ndings show that state aid measures are able to enhance productivity growth when ?rms are constraint due to a lack of cash availability. Since laggard ?rms are more likely to be ?nancially constraint, they experience more TFP growth than ?close-to-frontier??rms when receiving state aid. This bene?cial e¤ect of state aid is mainly driven by the post-crisis years in the sample. Our results are consistent with optimal development planning by pro?t maximizing ?rms

Bioturbation and the formation of latent stratigraphies on prehistoric sites

This paper discusses the vertical distribution of artefacts of two Mesolithic-Neolithic sites within the sand belt of Belgium and the southern Netherlands. Contrary to prevailing theories claiming that sites from these archaeological stages are generally no more than mixed surface sites, the present study demonstrates the existence of a latent stratigraphy, which can be traced in the vertical distribution of the different categories of archaeological finds (lithic artefacts, pottery sherds, carbonized plant remains, calcined bones). Furthermore it is suggested that the formation of these latent stratigraphies is due to long-term faunalturbation occurring in non-podzolic soils