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

Abstract

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.