Does the Teylers white-tailed eagle belong to the Tiglian avifauna of the Netherlands?

The clay pits of Tegelen, located near Venlo, Limburg Province, the Netherlands, are known for their terrestrial mammalian fauna of Tiglian age. In 1953, poorly documented but presumably Tiglian-aged bird remains in the Teylers Museum Tegelen collection were identified and described as a white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) by ornithologist G.C.A. Junge. The non-characteristic fossilisation of the material however, prompted usto apply 14C-dating and XRF-analysis (X-ray fluorescence), to verify whether the white-tailed eagle indeed was part of the Tiglian Tegelen avifauna. The 14C-dating firmly placesthe fossil in the Holocene, and the XRF fingerprint of the white-tailed eagle materialdiffers significantly from the Tegelen locality material. Therefore, we can remove, basedon the fossil record, the white-tailed eagle from the faunal list of the Tiglian of Tegelen.

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Publication Details

Journal
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences – Geologie en Mijnbouw
Published
2026-11-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.70712/njg.v105.14649
Primary Topic
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
Type
article
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article

Does the Teylers white-tailed eagle belong to the Tiglian avifauna of the Netherlands?

Dick Mol, Anne S. Schulp, Rick De Graaf, Bertil Van Os
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences – Geologie en Mijnbouw
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
article

Does the Teylers white-tailed eagle belong to the Tiglian avifauna of the Netherlands?

Dick Mol, Anne S. Schulp, Rick De Graaf, Bertil Van Os
article en

Abstract

The clay pits of Tegelen, located near Venlo, Limburg Province, the Netherlands, are known for their terrestrial mammalian fauna of Tiglian age. In 1953, poorly documented but presumably Tiglian-aged bird remains in the Teylers Museum Tegelen collection were identified and described as a white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) by ornithologist G.C.A. Junge. The non-characteristic fossilisation of the material however, prompted usto apply 14C-dating and XRF-analysis (X-ray fluorescence), to verify whether the white-tailed eagle indeed was part of the Tiglian Tegelen avifauna. The 14C-dating firmly placesthe fossil in the Holocene, and the XRF fingerprint of the white-tailed eagle materialdiffers significantly from the Tegelen locality material. Therefore, we can remove, basedon the fossil record, the white-tailed eagle from the faunal list of the Tiglian of Tegelen.

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences – Geologie en Mijnbouw
Naturalis Biodiversity Center (NL), Utrecht University (NL), Teylers Museum (NL), Cultural Heritage Agency of Netherlands (NL), Mammoet (Netherlands) (NL)
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
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