Mammalian Extinctions in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Eurasia and North America

Abstract

The 'mass extinctions' at the end of the Pleistocene were unique, both in the Pleistocene and earlier in the geological record, in that the species lost were nearly all large terrestrial mammals. Although a global phenomenon, late Pleistocene extinctions were most severe in North America, South America and Australia, and moderate in northern Eurasia (Europe plus Soviet Asia). In Africa, where nearly all of the late Pleistocene 'megafauna' survives to the present day, losses were slight. Ruling out epidemic disease or cosmic catastrophe, the contending hypotheses to explain late Pleistocene extinctions are: (a) failure to adapt to climatic/environmental change; and (b) extermination by human hunters ('prehistoric overkill'). This review focuses on extinctions in northern Eurasia (mainly Europe) in comparison with North America. In addition to reviewing the faunal evidence, the highly relevant environmental and archaeological backgrounds are summarized. The latest survival dates of extinct species are estimated from stratigraphic occurrences of fossil remains, radiocarbon dates, or association with archaeological industries. The Middle and Upper Pleistocene (ca. 700,000-10,000 BP) in northern Eurasia and North America was a time of constantly changing climate, ranging from phases of extensive glaciation in cold stages, to temperate periods (interglacials). In the Lateglacial (ca. 15,000-10,000 BP), during which most extinctions occurred, there was a major reorganization of vegetation, mainly involving the replacement of open vegetation by forests. These changes were more profound than earlier in the Last Cold Stage, but similar in nature to vegetational changes that took place at previous cold stage/interglacial transitions. The archaeological record shows that humans have been present in Europe since the early Middle Pleistocene. The arrival in Europe ca. 35,000 BP of 'anatomically modern humans', with their technologically more advanced upper palaeolithic industries, was a 'quantum leap' in human history. Extinctions occurred throughout the European Pleistocene, but until the late Pleistocene most losses were replaced by the evolution or immigration of new species, and most of those lost without replacement were small mammals. In marked contrast, extinctions without replacement in the late Pleistocene were almost entirely confined to the largest mammals (greater than 1000 kg) and some medium-large species (100-1000 kg).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Radiocarbon Chronologies and Extinction Dynamics of the Late Quaternary Mammalian Megafauna of the Taimyr Peninsula, Russian Federation

“…Rather, it appears that, by chance, remains of chronometrically more recent bison have not been selected for dating. This seems to be borne out by the limited dating records for northern Yakutia, which establish that Bison persisted in highlatitude Siberia until nearly the end of the Pleistocene (Stuart, 1991). Similar arguments apply to the other taxa considered: although regional records are individually very spotty, in combination they indicate that individual species were present along the high Arctic periphery for tens of thousands of years prior to the end of the Pleistocene.…”

“…This also appears to be true for southern Siberia (e.g., 8960 60 yr  (GIN-96) for bison from the archaeological site of Ust' Belaya, Angara basin (Ermolova, 1978;Tikonov, 1999)). Slightly older dates have been recorded for bison specimens from the Lower Kolyma, Indigirka, upper Yenisei, and Selenga drainages (see Stuart, 1991;Tikonov, 1999). The youngest European fossils assigned to B. priscus, from southern France, are associated with dates of 11-12,000 yr  (Stuart, 1991(Stuart, , 1999.…”

“…Bison priscus is the usual default taxon used to attribute isolated or incomplete bovin fossils from late Quaternary contexts in north-central Siberia. This species is usually regarded as being distinct from Bison bison (the American bison) and Bison bonasus (the living European wisent), although all three are very closely related (Guthrie, 1990;Stuart, 1991). Certainly, distinguishing among late Quaternary Bison priscus, B. schoetensacki, B. latifrons, and B. bison exclusively on the basis of horn core morphology seems a suspect enterprise.…”

“…Guthrie, 1990;Stuart, 1991), eastern Taimyr has yielded late Quaternary muskox remains in great abundance. However, little effort has been devoted to developing a good regional chronometric picture for Ovibos.…”

“…The plausibility of B. priscus having died out later than usually thought is marginally increased by Stuart's (1991Stuart's ( , 1999 observation that several ''survivor'' taxa made it through the end-Pleistocene only to suffer local extirpation or range contraction shortly thereafter (e.g., disappearance of Equus caballus from Britain and Dama dama from northern and central Europe). Yet another example is offered by the giant Irish deer, Megaloceros giganteus, recently shown to have persisted on the Isle of Man and in Scotland until c. 9200 yr  (Gonzalez et al, 2000).…”