The fossil fallow deer Dama geiselana (Cervidae, Mammalia, upgrade to species level) in the context of migration and local extinctions of fallow deer in the Late and Middle Pleistocene in Europe

Pfeiffer-Deml, Thekla

doi:10.1007/s12542-018-0417-5

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…It is interesting to note that the antler from Sozopol is similar to an antler from the Bronze Age site of Kastanas in northern Greece, especially in the form of the base of the main beam. According to Pfeiffer‐Deml (2018), this characteristic (for the antler from Kastanas) is a possible indication of a hybridization between D. dama and D. mesopotamica in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Such morphology, however, may be associated with the appearance of features characteristic for the entire genus, and which are typical for some of its forms (species or subspecies), but may occur to one degree or another in other populations, without necessarily being an indication of hybridization.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to scholarly opinion, the recent form of the fallow deer appears in Europe in the late Pleistocene (Di Stefano & Petronio, 1997, p. 1101). The Eeemian form from Saxony, Germany, D. dama geiselana has been recently reclassified to a species level by Pfeiffer‐Deml (2018). According to this author, Dama geiselana possibly influenced East Mediterranean populations at the end of the Late Pleistocene.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to this author, Dama geiselana possibly influenced East Mediterranean populations at the end of the Late Pleistocene. During the last glacial period the fallow deer retreated in the North‐Eastern Mediterranean, especially in Southern Italy, the Balkans and Southern Anatolia (Masseti & Vernesi, 2014; Pfeiffer‐Deml, 2018 and references therein). Several sources attest to the presence of fallow deer in the Late Pleistocene of the former Yugoslavia, including the Würm beginning of Crapina cave, Croatia (Malez, 1978) and for the final Late Pleistocene fauna of Lukenjska Jama cave, Slovenia (Pohar, 1983).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The natural history of the fallow deer, Dama dama (Linnaeus, 1758) in Bulgaria in prehistory and new evidence for the existence of an autochthonous Holocene population in the Balkans

Karastoyanova

Gorczyk

Spassov

2020

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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The fallow deer (Dama dama Linnaeus, 1758) has a long history of interaction with prehistoric humans. Beginning in the Neolithic, humans introduced fallow deer to several areas of the eastern Mediterranean and mainland Europe, with later additional importing happening in the Bronze and Iron Ages. However, in some parts of southeastern Europe, autochthonous populations of extant fallow deer may have survived through the end of the Pleistocene and into the early Holocene, making them available for exploitation by Neolithic and Chalcolithic communities. Climatic and vegetational regimes favourable to fallow deer covered nearly all of Bulgaria during this period; yet, the heavy use of the species by human communities was restricted to a very small area around southeastern Bulgaria. Eventually, climate deterioration, habitat change and overhunting led to the decline of fallow deer in later prehistory in Bulgaria. This paper offers a discussion of the environmental and cultural background of human-fallow deer interactions from the sixth to fourth millennium BCE in Bulgaria. Using bivariate scatterplots and log ratio techniques, we demonstrate that Neolithic and Chalcolithic communities exploited a large extant fallow-deer population, appearing to target both males and females equally. Our results are the first step in a larger archaeological investigation of human-fallow deer relations that unfolded over several millennia, touching upon issues of settlement, migration and perhaps even taming or domestication.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The natural history of the fallow deer, Dama dama (Linnaeus, 1758) in Bulgaria in prehistory and new evidence for the existence of an autochthonous Holocene population in the Balkans

Karastoyanova

Gorczyk

Spassov

2020

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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“…In Dama in the third year of life, a small antler blade evolves, which increases in size in the following years. The differences of the antler morphology between Dama dama and Dama geiselana are significant and discussed in detail by Pfeiffer [11,13]. The optimum of antler development is reached in the eleventh to twelfth year of life.…”

Section: Age Determination On Antlersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The variation range of the bone dimensions and proportions and the antler development in all ontogenetic stages could be determined. The fallow deer could be distinguished from the recent Dama dama, and was initially described as a fossil subspecies Dama dama geiselana Pfeiffer, 1998 [10], but upgraded later to species level Dama geiselana [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Does the Mass Accumulation of 100 Late Pleistocene Fallow Deer Skeletons (Dama geiselana) and Red Deer Skeletons (Cervus elaphus) from Neumark-Nord Reveal about the Cause of Death?

Pfeiffer-Deml¹

2020

Heritage

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In the open-cast lignite mine of Neumark-Nord (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, Eemian interglacial period) the richest fossil fallow deer material which has been found so far was collected. About 80 articulated skeletons and partial skeletons of Dama geiselana Pfeiffer, 1998 (Cervidae, Mammalia) and 20 partial skeletons of Cervus elaphus in perfect state of preservation were recovered, together with skeletons of Elephas antiquus, Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis and hemitoechus, Bos primigenius, and Panthera leo spelea. The extraordinary composition of the thanatocoenosis of the deer provided decisive information on the cause of death, which is presented here. The deer show the typical preservation of drowned carcasses; 75% of the deer skeletons belong to strong males, while juveniles and females are rare, and very old individuals are missing in the deer assemblage. Several disasters in different years have led to the mass occurrence of deer. The individual age determination of the juveniles, the stage of antler development, and the level of epiphyseal adhesion are explained here. They show that the majority most probably died in autumn. This information provided the crucial approach to investigate nitrifying toxic cyanobacterial blooms as a cause of death. The biochemical results obtained by absorption spectroscopy and RP-HPLC with UV-detection, published in 2002, showed that pigments, and probably toxins, characteristic of cyanobacteria are preserved in the sediment.

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Late Early to late Middle Pleistocene medium-sized deer from the Italian Peninsula: implications for taxonomy and biochronology

Mecozzi

Sardella

Breda

2023

Palaeobio Palaeoenv

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The taxonomy of Quaternary medium-sized deer from Europe rests mainly on antler morphology, while adequate dental and postcranial diagnostic features are lacking. When complete antlers are not available, the taxonomic identifications are often attempted on chronological ground. A considerable number of mostly unpublished craniodental and postcranial remains of fallow deer from selected Italian sites from the late Early Pleistocene to the late Middle Pleistocene is here presented and discussed. The aim of this work is to test the validity of the diagnostic characters proposed in literature and to explore the variability of the fallow deer taxa. In addition, the analysis of the two reference samples from Riano and Ponte Molle allows to refine the features of Dama clactoniana. Finally, biometric comparison has been performed in order to investigate possible oscillations across time and/or differences among taxa.

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The fossil fallow deer Dama geiselana (Cervidae, Mammalia, upgrade to species level) in the context of migration and local extinctions of fallow deer in the Late and Middle Pleistocene in Europe

Cited by 4 publications

References 26 publications

The natural history of the fallow deer, Dama dama (Linnaeus, 1758) in Bulgaria in prehistory and new evidence for the existence of an autochthonous Holocene population in the Balkans

The natural history of the fallow deer, Dama dama (Linnaeus, 1758) in Bulgaria in prehistory and new evidence for the existence of an autochthonous Holocene population in the Balkans

What Does the Mass Accumulation of 100 Late Pleistocene Fallow Deer Skeletons (Dama geiselana) and Red Deer Skeletons (Cervus elaphus) from Neumark-Nord Reveal about the Cause of Death?

Late Early to late Middle Pleistocene medium-sized deer from the Italian Peninsula: implications for taxonomy and biochronology

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