Publications by authors named "J van der Made"
Who the first inhabitants of Western Europe were, what their physical characteristics were, and when and where they lived are some of the pending questions in the study of the settlement of Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene epoch. The available palaeoanthropological information from Western Europe is limited and confined to the Iberian Peninsula. Here we present most of the midface of a hominin found at the TE7 level of the Sima del Elefante site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain), dated to between 1.
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- The earliest evidence of hominins in northern Africa dates back to around 2.44 million years ago, yet the environmental context during this time is still not well understood compared to other regions of Africa.
- The Guefaït-4 fossil site in eastern Morocco offers new insights, revealing the presence of C plants and indicating a diverse landscape that included grasslands, forests, wetlands, and periods of dryness.
- This variety in habitats likely supported both mammals and early hominins, emphasizing the need to consider local microhabitats in studies of species movement and environmental adaptation.
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- The study highlights the challenge of removing lignin from wastewater, which affects microbial carbon cycling and biofuel production.
- Previous research indicated that the white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium works well with Fenton chemistry to degrade lignin, and this study explored the optimal conditions for this degradation.
- The findings revealed that low levels of Fenton reagents significantly enhance lignin degradation and involve the activation of specific genes in the fungus, showing the crucial role of auxiliary pathways and improved iron recycling in the process.
The archaeological data on the earliest hominin behavioral subsistence activities in North Africa are derived primarily from the Early Pleistocene site of Ain Boucherit (northeastern Algeria). Ain Boucherit consists of two archaeological layers, Ain Boucherit Upper (AB-Up) and Ain Boucherit Lower (AB-Lw), estimated to ~ 1.9 Ma and ~ 2.
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