Radiocarbon Ages of Mammoths in Northern Eurasia: Implications for Population Development and Late Quaternary Environment

Abstract

Many mammoth remains have been radiocarbon-dated. We present here more than 360 14C dates on bones, tusks, molars and soft tissues of mammoths and discuss some issues connected with the evolution of mammoths and their environment: the problem of the last mammoth; mammoth taphonomy; the plant remains and stable isotope records accompanying mammoth fossils; paleoclimate during the time of the mammoths and dating of host sediments. The temporal distribution of the 14C dates of fossils from the northern Eurasian territory is even for the entire period from 40 to 10 ka bp.

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

“…This new date pool is based on samples selected for dating from the extensive fossil collections made by members of the Cerpolex/ Mammuthus Expedition (hereafter, CME) in 1999-2000, mostly in the eastern half of Taimyr. Our chief concern here is to place these new dates within the context of similar date pools collated in other recent publications (see, especially, Sulerzhitsky, 1995;Sulerzhitsky & Romanenko, 1997Vasil'chuk et al, 1997;Orlova et al, 2000).…”

“…However, as an experiment (cf. Sulerzhitsky (1995), Sulerzhitsky & Romanenko (1997), and Vasil'chuk et al (1997 For Beta Analytic AMS dates only (N=50), grand mean=27,390 yr  (..=10,780); for previously published dates only, grand mean=28,420 yr  (..=12,925). Differences in distributions of variates in the two data sets are not significant at the 0·05 level as judged by both parametric and non-parametric tests (unpaired t test, P=0·47; Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic, P=0·42; Mann-Whitney statistic, P=0·36), nor was Hartley's F-test for homogeneity of variances comparing Beta Analytic and previously reported GIN subsets (variance ratio F=1·3818).…”

Extinction of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) in Eurasia: Review of chronological and environmental issues

“…As done previously (Stuart 1991(Stuart , 2005Vasil'chuk et al 1997;Kuzmin & Orlova 2004), only 14 C-dated localities of mammoth and rhinoceros are considered, because only for these localities is there the strict chronological control necessary for our purpose in this review. Uncalibrated 14 C dates are used (in 14 C years ago, hereafter -yr BP; otherwise indicated).…”

The Eurasian mammoth distribution during the second half of the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene: Regional aspects

“…A significant number of Northern European mammoth localities distributed in the zone of Scandinavian icesheet (Favang ¼ Fеvang, Lohtaja, Munke Bjergby, Tur z _ enų , Topsa) (Aaris- Sørensen et al, 1990;Vasil'chuk et al, 1997;Ukkonen et al, 1999;Arppe, 2009;Ponomarev et al, 2012;and others). In an addition to published data for this region we can indicate one new mammoth locality: Lukhnevschina (Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia,Northern Dvina River;63.141 N,42.079 E) 20 450 ± 110 y. BP (GrA-42214: material e tooth, M2 ?…”