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Dung of Mammuthus in the Arid Southwest, North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jim I. Mead ,
Larry D. Agenbroad ,
Owen K. Davis  and
Paul S. Martin
Jim I. Mead
Affiliation:
Center for the Study of Early Man, Institute for Quaternary Studies, 495 College Ave., University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04473 USA
Larry D. Agenbroad
Affiliation:
Quaternary Studies Program, Department of Geology, Box 6030, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011 USA
Owen K. Davis
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Paleoenvironmental Studies, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
Paul S. Martin
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Paleoenvironmental Studies, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
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Abstract

The discovery of a unique organic deposit in a dry cave on the Colorado Plateau, southern Utah, permits the first comparison of the physical characteristics and the diet of the dung of the extinct mammoths from the arid Southwest, North America, with that of mammoths from Siberia and northern China, the only other known locations of such remains. The deposit buried beneath sand and rockfall is composed primarily of mammoth dung, estimated at over 300 m3. Radiocarbon dates on dung boluses indicate that the mammoths frequented the cave between approximately 14,700 and 11,000 yr B.P. (the range of ages at 2σ). The desiccated boluses, measuring approximately 230 × 170 × 85 mm, are nearly identical in size to dung from extant elephants. The largest contents in the dung are stalks measuring 60 × 4.5 mm. Grasses and sedges dominated the diet, although woody species were commonly eaten.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 1986 , pp. 121 - 127
Copyright
University of Washington

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