Remains of Late Pleistocene reindeer from Chmielewo, northeast Poland

Abstract

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.) remains in Europe are well represented in Late Pleistocene sites in France, Germany, Ukraine, Poland and other countries. In a chalk mine at Chmielewo (near S´niardwy Lake, NE Poland) four antlers were recovered. Radiocarbon assays date the fossils to the end of the Pleistocene. All antlers belong to male reindeer. One of the discovered specimens is an uncast antler of the tundra reindeer form, while the others are of the woodland reindeer form. The uncast antler has distinctly visible parietofrontal fixation of the beam to the skull that confirms its parallel position in relation to the ground.

The Dawn of the Mesolithic on the Plains of Poland

“…And finally we have numerous pointers to some populations of Central European reindeer surviving the end of the Pleistocene and thriving in the woodland habitats of the early and middle Preboreal. This is evidenced not only by radiocarbondated reindeer remains from Stellmoor and Kartstein (Table 5)-as the reliability of these is questioned-but also, possibly, by antlers from Chmielewo in northeastern Poland, which are dated to 9870-9380 cal BC with 94.5% probability, that is, to the Late Younger Dryas or early Preboreal (Giżejewski et al 2004). The presence of reindeer in western Europe at the onset of the Holocene is additionally confirmed by dates of bones from a specimen found at Rottenburg-Siebenlinden, namely 8570-8020 cal BC (9110 ± 80 BP, ETH-8265) and 8560-8310 cal BC (9225 ± 35 BP, GrA-39961), plus dates from southwestern England and Denmark (Drucker et al 2011).…”