Editorial

Dr. Thijs van Kolfschoten

This issue of Quaternary International marks the retirement of Dirk van Husen as Regional Editor for Europe. Dirk has been actively involved as Regional Editor since volume 10 appeared in 1991. Over the ensuing 14 years and 116 volumes, Dirk's contributions to Quaternary International have included the encouragement, reviewing, refereeing, editing, and production of volumes focused on many aspects of European Quaternary research. Particularly noteworthy are his contributed volumes dealing with Engineering aspects, Quaternary stratigraphy of western and central Europe, geochronology, and North Sea research.

Despite the demands of his teaching and research at the Technical University of Vienna, Dirk managed to devote a considerable amount of time to Quaternary International. He also provided valuable advice to all his editorial colleagues. Dirk's contributions and perspective will be greatly missed. All of us associated with Quaternary International thank Dirk van Husen for his years of service and devotion to the journal, and wish him our best wishes for continued happiness and satisfaction in retirement.

We are most pleased to introduce to you Dr. Thijs van Kolfschoten who has accepted our invitation to succeed Dirk van Husen .

For those who do not know Dr. van Kolfschoten personally, the following background information should be of interest.

Thijs van Kolfschoten studied Geology and Biology and obtained his PhD 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 to Leiden University (The Netherlands) where he is assistant Professor in Palaeo- and Archaeozoology and (Bio)stratigraphy at the Faculty of Archaeology.

His main fields of interest are Quaternary mammals, biostratigraphy and palaeoecology.

His palaeontological research focuses on continental deposits with an age that ranges from the Early Pleistocene until the early Holocene. The Early and early Middle Pleistocene studies (Tegelen, Zuurland) are related to the debate on the earliest human occupation of Europe as well as the ecological history of the earlier part of the Quaternary. A major research project is the study of the mammalian vertebrate fossils from a sequence exposed at Schöningen (Germany); a sequence that is important in the debate on the late Middle Pleistocene climatic and faunal history. Changes in Late Pleistocene and early Holocene ecosystems in Europe north of the Alps, are investigated in close collaboration with Russian colleagues.

Thijs has authored more than 120 scientific papers.

He was President of the INQUA-Subcommission on European Stratigraphy (SEQS) 1995 –2003 and is Vice-president of the Commission on Stratigraphy and Chronology since 2003 and secretary of the ICS/IUGS Subcommision of Quaternary Stratigraphy since 2001. He is President of INQUA-The Netherlands since 2003.

We welcome Dr. van Kolfschoten to the editorial team and wish him much success in his new position.

Femke Wallien

Elsevier

Norm Catto

Editor-in-Chief

Quaternary International