Prof. Elliot Van Maldegem

LEAP

I defended my PhD in 2024 at Ghent University’s Department of Archaeology. My research (2019–2024) focused on reconstructing population dynamics in the Scheldt basin of western Belgium and northern France from the Mesolithic to the High Medieval period, using summed radiocarbon probabilities, site counts and pollen-derived human impact scores.

Since 2024, I have been a junior FWO postdoc at UGent on the project Playing with fire, investigating whether Late Glacial and Early Holocene hunter-gatherers in northern Belgium and S-Netherlands actively shaped their environments through fire. We combine charcoal analyses from peat deposits with palaeodemographic modelling, high-resolution chronologies, vegetation reconstructions and climate proxies to distinguish natural from human-driven fire events.

In parallel, I work on the LEAP project at VUB, studying the impact of rapid climate change events (RCC)(9.3, 4.2 and 3.2 ka) on environment, human activity and mobility from the Final Neolithic to the Early Iron Age. I will model climate data from speleothems, environmental records from peat bogs, mobility data from human remains and demographic patterns from radiocarbon dates to assess how RCC events shaped populations and landscapes.

Background

PhD in Archaeology (2024), Ghent University, Belgium
MA in Archaeology (2018), Ghent University, Belgium
BA in Archaeology (2017), Ghent University, Belgium

Key Research Interests

Palaeodemography
Radiocarbon date modelling
Human-environment interactions
Palaeoclimate
Charcoal analyses

Main Publications

Van Maldegem, E., Lauryssen, F., Smolders, E., & Crombé, P. (2024). Beyond the sum : evaluating the potential and limitations of analysing Neolithic population dynamics based on fluctuations in radiocarbon dates and sites (Scheldt basin, Northern France and Belgium). DOCUMENTA PRAEHISTORICA, 51, 2–26.
Lauryssen, F., Van Maldegem, E., Broothaerts, N., van Zon, M., Vanmontfort, B., Crombé, P., & Smolders, E. (2024). Phosphorus analysis of floodplain sediments to reconstruct human impact and pristine conditions in a lowland river. CATENA, 240.
Lauryssen, F., Struyve, J., Crombé, P., Van Maldegem, E., & Smolders, E. (2023). Phosphorus reference conditions in lowland streams : survey in old forests and anaerobic sediment release. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, 864.
Vandendriessche, H., Van Maldegem, E., & Crombé, P. (2023). Catching a glimpse of mesolithic settlement patterns and site re-occupation through lithic refitting, raw material characterizations and absolute dating. JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORY, 30(1), 239–267.
De Groote, I., van Hattum, Ij., Halbrucker, É., Crombé, P., Van Maldegem, E., Pirson, S., … Vandendriessche, H. (2022). Report on the latest excavation campaigns at Grotte de La Faucille, Sclayn (BE) : new radiocarbon dates for a better understanding of burial practice during the Final Neolithic. NOTAE PRAEHISTORICAE, 42, 161–177.
Pincé, P., Vandenberghe, D., Karimi Moayed, N., De Dapper, M., Debeer, A.-E., Van Maldegem, E., … Crombé, P. (2022). High-resolution OSL chronology of a well-preserved inland dune in the Lys valley (Sint-Martens-Latem, NW Belgium). QUATERNARY GEOCHRONOLOGY, 72.
Lauryssen, F., Crombé, P., Maris, T., Van Maldegem, E., Van de Broek, M., Temmerman, S., & Smolders, E. (2022). Estimation of the natural background of phosphate in a lowland river using tidal marsh sediment cores. BIOGEOSCIENCES, 19(3), 763–776.
Van Maldegem, E., Vandendriessche, H., Verhegge, J., Sergant, J., Meylemans, E., Perdaen, Y., … Crombé, P. (2021). Population collapse or human resilience in response to the 9.3 and 8.2 ka cooling events : a multi-proxy analysis of Mesolithic occupation in the Scheldt basin (Belgium). JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 64.
Van Maldegem, E., & Crombé, P. (2019). The ethnography of prehistoric forest fires. NOTAE PRAEHISTORICAE, 39, 5–14.

elliot.van.maldegem@vub.be