PXD056419

PXD056419 is an original dataset announced via ProteomeXchange.

Title	Considered Absent: A first inventory of prehistoric human remains from the Scheldt basin, Belgium
Description	Throughout prehistory, human groups inhabited the Scheldt basin in northern Belgium, though few prehistoric human remains have been found there compared to the Meuse basin, where many caves contain human remains from various prehistoric phases. The limited preservation in the Scheldt basin is due to the region's high soil acidity, decalcification, and dryness, which degrade bones. The oldest known human bone is a clavicle dated to around 5790 years ago. Until recently, little effort had been made to identify human remains in the Scheldt basin. However, a recent survey identified four additional sites with prehistoric human remains. The paper aims to document these findings and explore their radiocarbon dates to better understand the region’s occupation history. The scarcity of remains before the Neolithic is attributed to taphonomic factors, and the lack of Late Neolithic remains might indicate a population decline, though flint mines and Meuse basin burials suggest otherwise. Another possibility is a shift in burial practices, with collective burials in megaliths or caves becoming common in western Europe during this time, unsuitable for the wet floodplains of the Scheldt basin. Most of the human bones discovered in the Scheldt basin were found in secondary contexts, likely displaced by fluvial activity. The bones were retrieved from former river channels and gullies, complicating interpretations of whether they originated from primary graves or were part of secondary burial practices. The absence of defleshing marks suggests the bones were not part of secondary burial rites, pointing instead to the erosion of primary graves from earlier settlements. The presence of settlement debris, including pottery and stone tools, supports this theory
HostingRepository	PRIDE
AnnounceDate	2026-04-07
AnnouncementXML	Submission_2026-04-07_06:26:30.230.xml
DigitalObjectIdentifier
ReviewLevel	Peer-reviewed dataset
DatasetOrigin	Original dataset
RepositorySupport	Unsupported dataset by repository
PrimarySubmitter	BRAY FABRICE
SpeciesList	scientific name: Homo sapiens (Human); NCBI TaxID: NEWT:9606;
ModificationList	monohydroxylated residue; deamidated residue
Instrument	Q Exactive Plus

Revision	Datetime	Status	ChangeLog Entry
0	2024-10-01 02:22:49	ID requested
⏵ 1	2026-04-07 06:26:30	announced

10.4000/15VC4;

submitter keyword: Human, paleoproteomics, Scheldt basin

fabrice bray
contact affiliation	Laboratoire MSAP UAR 3290 CNRS Bâtiment C4 Avenue Paul Langevin Cité Scientifique 59655 Villeneuve D'ascq 03 20 33 71 12
contact email	fabrice.bray@univ-lille.fr
lab head
BRAY FABRICE
contact affiliation	MSAP USR 3290
contact email	fabrice.bray@univ-lille.fr
dataset submitter

Dataset FTP location NOTE: Most web browsers have now discontinued native support for FTP access within the browser window. But you can usually install another FTP app (we recommend FileZilla) and configure your browser to launch the external application when you click on this FTP link. Or otherwise, launch an app that supports FTP (like FileZilla) and use this address: ftp://ftp.pride.ebi.ac.uk/pride/data/archive/2026/04/PXD056419

PRIDE project URI

• PRIDE
  1. PXD056419
     1. Label: PRIDE project
     2. Name: Considered Absent: A first inventory of prehistoric human remains from the Scheldt basin, Belgium