The Colonization of Eastern Siberia: an Evaluation of the Paleolithic Age Radiocarbon Dates

Kuzmin, Yaroslav V.; Tankersley, Kenneth B.

doi:10.1006/jasc.1996.0054

Cited by 36 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…3). There is no evidence for the presence of modern humans in the area until the very end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene (43)(44)(45), and as mentioned above, the human arrival in the Taimyr is associated with no statistically significant change in genetic diversity (Table 1). However, this time does coincide with the Bølling/Allerød period, during which the climate became more humid and a general degradation of permafrost started, accompanied by a dramatic change in vegetation from tundra-steppe to wet tundra and forest tundra (7).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient DNA analyses exclude humans as the driving force behind late Pleistocene musk ox ( Ovibos moschatus ) population dynamics

Campos

Willerslev

Sher

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

205

159

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The causes of the late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions are poorly understood. Different lines of evidence point to climate change, the arrival of humans, or a combination of these events as the trigger. Although many species went extinct, others, such as caribou and bison, survived to the present. The musk ox has an intermediate story: relatively abundant during the Pleistocene, it is now restricted to Greenland and the Arctic Archipelago. In this study, we use ancient DNA sequences, temporally unbiased summary statistics, and Bayesian analytical techniques to infer musk ox population dynamics throughout the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Our results reveal that musk ox genetic diversity was much higher during the Pleistocene than at present, and has undergone several expansions and contractions over the past 60,000 years. Northeast Siberia was of key importance, as it was the geographic origin of all samples studied and held a large diverse population until local extinction at ≈45,000 radiocarbon years before present ( 14 C YBP). Subsequently, musk ox genetic diversity reincreased at ca. 30,000 14 C YBP, recontracted at ca. 18,000 14 C YBP, and finally recovered in the middle Holocene. The arrival of humans into relevant areas of the musk ox range did not affect their mitochondrial diversity, and both musk ox and humans expanded into Greenland concomitantly. Thus, their population dynamics are better explained by a nonanthropogenic cause (for example, environmental change), a hypothesis supported by historic observations on the sensitivity of the species to both climatic warming and fluctuations.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient DNA analyses exclude humans as the driving force behind late Pleistocene musk ox ( Ovibos moschatus ) population dynamics

Campos

Willerslev

Sher

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

205

159

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Among other factors, low mean temperature and apparent scarcity of large meat-eaters in Taimyr during the past several tens of thousands of years should have favoured slow decomposition and even slower derangement of megafaunal skeletal associations. For the vast majority of specimens, human transport is unlikely because there is no evidence that people had reached Taimyr or adjacent regions of northernmost Siberia until the very end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene (Kuzmin & Tankersley, 1996;Orlova et al, 2000;Pitul'ko, 2001). Great concentrations of specimens, like those at Berelekh (Vereschagin & Baryshnikov, 1984), are never encountered in Taimyr.…”

Section: Taphonomic Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

MacPhee

Tikhonov

Mol

et al. 2002

Journal of Archaeological Science

106

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This paper presents 75 new radiocarbon dates based on late Quaternary mammal remains recovered from eastern Taimyr Peninsula and adjacent parts of the northern Siberian lowlands, Russian Federation, including specimens of woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), steppe bison (Bison priscus), muskox (Ovibos moschatus), moose (Alces alces), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), horse (Equus caballus) and wolf (Canis lupus). New evidence permits reanalysis of megafaunal extinction dynamics in the Asian high Arctic periphery. Increasingly, radiometric records of individual species show evidence of a gap at or near the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary (PHB). In the past, the PHB gap was regarded as significant only when actually terminal, i.e., when it marked the apparent ''last'' occurrence of a species (e.g., current ''last'' occurrence date for woolly mammoth in mainland Eurasia is 9600 yr ). However, for high Arctic populations of horses and muskoxen the gap marks an interruption rather than extinction, because their radiocarbon records resume, nearly simultaneously, much later in the Holocene. Taphonomic effects, C 14 flux, and biased sampling are unlikely explanations for these hiatuses. A possible explanation is that the gap is the signature of an event, of unknown nature, that prompted the nearly simultaneous crash of many megafaunal populations in the high Arctic and possibly elsewhere in Eurasia.

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“…[11,12,15,21]). It is also often used to trace the pattern of diffusion of cultural innovations in cases where the demographic process is unclear, such as the Neolithic transition in Europe (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Spatial dynamics of human dispersals

Hazelwood¹,

Steele²

2004

Journal of Archaeological Science

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The Colonization of Eastern Siberia: an Evaluation of the Paleolithic Age Radiocarbon Dates

Cited by 36 publications

References 13 publications

Ancient DNA analyses exclude humans as the driving force behind late Pleistocene musk ox ( Ovibos moschatus ) population dynamics

Ancient DNA analyses exclude humans as the driving force behind late Pleistocene musk ox ( Ovibos moschatus ) population dynamics

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

Spatial dynamics of human dispersals

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