Thijs van Kolfschoten
Biography
Thijs van Kolfschoten (1952) is emeritus professor in mammalian palaeo- and archaeozoology and Quaternary biostratigraphy. He studied Geology and Biology and obtained his Ph.D. in Palaeontology at the Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Utrecht (The Netherlands). After a research position at the Institute of Palaeontology, University of Bonn (Germany), he moved 1992 to the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, where he retired in August 2018.
Since October 2018, he has been, in addition, a Guest Professor at Shandong University in China. His main fields of interest are Quaternary mammals, biostratigraphy, palaeoecology, and taphonomy. His palaeontological research focuses on continental deposits from the Early Pleistocene until the early
Holocene, studying the Quaternary faunal history and hominin subsistence and behavior in Europe and Asia. The results of these and previous research projects have been published in more than 300 scientific papers. Professor Kolfschoten was President of INQUA (International Union for Quaternary Science) (2019-2023) and is currently a member of the INQUA Executive as Past President. In addition, he was the Editor-in-Chief of Quaternary International (Ql), the Journal of the International Union for Quaternary Research (2018 - 2021) and founding editor of the recently (2023) launched INQUA/Elsevier journal Quaternary Environments and Humans (QEH).
Abstract
INQUA's history and future
The early 20th century was marked by major discoveries and unprecedented scientific advances, and scientists from different disciplines fostered international co-operation, leading to the founding of several scientific unions.
The International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) was nominally founded in 1928 at the Congress organised to celebrate the founding (1888) of the Danish Geological Institute. The Polish delegation proposed establishing the Association for Investigations of the Quaternary of Europe, and since many discussions and excursions at the Copenhagen Congress concerned Quaternary matters, it was decided that the Congress should be regarded as the first in a series of major international meetings of the new Quaternary Association. At the seventh Congress in 1965 (Denver and Boulder, Colorado, USA), INQUA's name was changed to International Union for Quaternary Research.
The mission of the newly established union, INQUA, has been and still is to foster international and interdisciplinary collaboration in every aspect of Quaternary Science and to enhance communication and co-operation through networking. One of its principal purposes was to organise periodic congresses, the 22nd of which is the 2027 INQUA Congress in Lucknow (India).
Quaternary research focuses on understanding the observed changes in climate and palaeoenvironmental evolution over the past 2,5 million years, a topic of growing relevance to modern societies facing ongoing climatic change. Field observations in the early 20th century demonstrated that four major glacial-interglacial cycles could be recognised, but later investigations of deep-sea sediment cores and China's long loess sequences, together with the development of accurate dating techniques, revealed a considerably more complex scenario that warranted co-operative, multidisciplinary research. Although Quaternary research has evolved dramatically since the foundation of INQUA, shifting from more field-oriented to laboratory-based work, INQUA's role has remained the same: to serve the global Quaternary research community and provide society with accurate information. This research has primarily focused on events in the Northern Hemisphere; however, to ensure its long-term viability, INQUA should increase participation by researchers from Africa, South America, and the Middle East, as well as Quaternary oceanographers, in INQUA programmes.
