LABO4 | Prehistory(ies)

A flint point carved tens of thousands of years ago, a bone several million years old, one of the world’s oldest fossilized plants. In this new episode of LABO4, scientists from the University of Liège tell the story of life and that of our earliest ancestors. How does science manage to make them “speak”? And how do researchers piece together this past—from the movements of a Paleolithic hunter to the DNA of a 12,000-year-old individual?

From a lab where flint is shaped and hunting weapons are tested just as they were in the Paleolithic era, to Wallonia’s largest public collection of fossils, from the microscope that reveals signs of wear on a tool dating back several millennia to the 3D scanning of an ichthyosaur skeleton, science is patiently piecing together a past we thought was lost forever. Understanding how our ancestors shaped, attached, and used their hunting weapons; reconstructing the way of life of animals that have been extinct for tens of millions of years; tracking the evolution of plants through major climate upheavals, or even deciphering from ancient DNA the diseases that have accompanied humanity for thousands of years—these are all challenges that archaeologists, paleontologists, and geneticists are tackling today. Join us as we delve into the heart of research where the remnants of the past are gradually revealing themselves as true archives of life.

Our guests on the set

• Veerle Rots - Archaeologist
• Pierre Leclercq - Historian
• Patrick Petrossians - Endocrinology

Our speakers in the video clips

• Veerle Rots (Archaeology / TraceoLab) and Pierre-Hugues Stefanuto (Analytical Chemistry / OBiAChem) on prehistoric hunting techniques, flint weapon production, and the study of ancient adhesives
• Valentin Fischer and Melvin Vankelst (Paleontology / EDDyLab) on 3D digitization of fossils of extinct animals, from marine reptiles to large terrestrial carnivores
• Eliott Capel and Raphaël Zambon (Paleobotany / EDDyLab) on the study of fossilized plants and the evolution of the plant world in the face of major environmental changes

Presentation: Julie Louis (Communications Department) and Arnaud Collette (RISE)

All episodes of LABO4

Useful Reading

• Recreating the Bite of Ancient Marine Predators
• ULiège Paleontology Collections
• The Teeth of the Meuse: a monumental sculpture in Liège 
• Yes, dinosaurs also suffered from cancer
• Scientists Make the Oldest Genetic Diagnosis in Human History