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Collagen stable isotopes provide insights into the end of the mammoth steppe in the central East European plains during the Epigravettian

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2018

Dorothée G. Drucker ,
Rhiannon E. Stevens ,
Mietje Germonpré ,
Mikhail V. Sablin ,
Stéphane Péan  and
Hervé Bocherens
Dorothée G. Drucker*
Affiliation:
Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (HEP), University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
Rhiannon E. Stevens
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, WC1E 6BT London, United Kingdom
Mietje Germonpré
Affiliation:
OD Earth and History of Life, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 1000 Brussel, Belgium
Mikhail V. Sablin
Affiliation:
Zoological Institute RAS, Universitetskaya nab. 1, 199034 Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Stéphane Péan
Affiliation:
UMR7194, Histoire naturelle de l’Homme préhistorique, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 75013 France
Hervé Bocherens
Affiliation:
Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (HEP), University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
*
*Corresponding author at: Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (HEP), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Drucker).
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Abstract

Higher δ15N values in bone collagen of mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) compared with coeval large herbivores is a classic trait of the mammoth steppe. An exception applies to the Epigravettian site of Mezhyrich (ca. 18–17.4 ka cal BP) in the central East European plains, where mammoth bones have δ15N values equivalent to or in a lower range than those of horse specimens (Equus sp.). We expanded our preliminary dataset to a larger sampling size of mammoth, other large herbivores, and carnivores from contemporaneous and nearby sites of Buzhanka 2, Eliseevichi, and Yudinovo. The unusual low mammoth δ15N values were confirmed at Buzhanka 2 and for some specimens from Eliseevichi, while most individuals from Yudinovo displayed the expected high δ15N values, meaning similar to those of the large canids. The possibility of a contrast in migration pattern is not supported since the δ34S values, a marker of mobility, do not correlate with the δ15N values of mammoth bone collagen. No clear chronological tendency could be revealed, at least not at the scale of radiocarbon dating. The low range in δ15N values is likely to reflect a change in the specific niche of the mammoth in the southern part of its distribution.

Keywords

Bone collagenCarbon-13Central EuropeEpigravettianMammothNitrogen-15Sulfur-34
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 90 , Special Issue 3: Gravettian Hunters , November 2018 , pp. 457 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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