Romain Thomas

Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle · Département de Histoire de la Terre

The diversity of palm stem anatomy is now well known, but no study has dealt with the influence of climatic conditions. Here, we conducted research in order to establish whether this diversity follows a phylogenetic pattern and/or whether it is correlated with climatic factors. To answer this question, 98 genera and 137 species that cover the five...

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is correlated with the first occurrences of earliest modern mammals in the Northern Hemisphere. The latest Paleocene Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Age, that has yielded rodents and carnivorans, is the only exception to this rule. However, until now no pre-PETM localities have yielded modern mamm...

This study presents anatomical descriptors to identify stems and petioles of the Near and Middle East palms genera (Chamaerops, Hyphaene, Medemia, Nannorrhops, Phoenix). Since the Bronze Age, these palms are an essential plant resource for the populations of the hot deserts of these regions. Stems of Phoenix and Hyphaene are used as building materi...

Premise of the study: Through a comparative study of the anatomy of palm stems and the development of an interactive web-based tool, the present paper aims to provide a method of identifying palm stems. The stem determination will allow specialists in archaeology and paleontology to better exploit palm fossils for paleoenvironmental interpretation...

The fire that partly destroyed a 4th millennium BCE building at Shahi Tump in the Kech Valley of south-western Pakistan is responsible for the exceptional preservation by carbonisation of a net found on the burnt floor as a heap of entangled cords and knots. Macro- and microscopic observation has allowed a reconstruction of the techniques used to m...

The Dombeyoideae (Malvaceae) are one of the most diversified groups of plants in the Mascarene Islands. Species of Dombeya Cav., Ruizia Cav. and Trochetia DC. are distributed in almost all parts of the archipelago and show a wide diversity in their growth forms. This study provides the first wood anatomical descriptions of 17 out of the 22 Mascaren...

Anatomical characterization of modern palms enables to identify various genera of palms and the different parts of these plants: stem, petiole, lamina and root. Practical application of this anatomical study is employed for the first time at the archaeological site of Madâ'in Sâlih (Saudi Arabia) where charred plants have been found in domestic con...