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Paleoecological and climatic implications of stable isotope results from late Pleistocene bone collagen, Ziegeleigrube Coenen, Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Christoph Wißing ,
Simon Matzerath ,
Elaine Turner  and
Hervé Bocherens
Christoph Wißing*
Affiliation:
University of Tübingen, Dept. of Geosciences, Biogeology, Hölderlinstrasse 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
Simon Matzerath
Affiliation:
LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn, Bachstr. 5-9, 53115 Bonn, Germany University of Tübingen, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters, Germany
Elaine Turner
Affiliation:
MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution, Schloss Monrepos, 56567 Neuwied, Germany
Hervé Bocherens
Affiliation:
University of Tübingen, Dept. of Geosciences, Biogeology, Hölderlinstrasse 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (HEP), Hölderlinstrasse 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
*
*Corresponding author.E-mail addresses:[email protected] (C.Wiβing), [email protected] (S. Matzerath), [email protected] (E. Turner), [email protected] (H. Bocherens).
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Abstract

Climatic and ecological conditions during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 are complex and the impact of cold spells on the ecosystems in Central Europe still needs to be investigated thoroughly. Ziegeleigrube Coenen (ZC) is a late Pleistocene MIS 3 locality in the Lower Rhine Embayment of Germany, radiocarbon-dated to > 34 14C ka BP. The site yielded a broad spectrum of mammal species. We investigated the carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N) and sulfur (δ34S) isotope signatures of bone collagen, since these are valuable tools in characterizing ecological niches, environmental conditions and aspects of climate and mobility. By comparison with pre- and post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) sites in Central Europe we show that ZC belongs in a cold event of MIS 3 and was climatically more similar to post-LGM sites than to pre-LGM sites. However, the trophic structure resembled that of typical pre-LGM sites in Belgium. This cold event in MIS 3 changed the bottom of the foodweb, but do not seem to have had a direct impact on the occurrence of the mammalian species and their ecological distribution. Apparently the (mega-) faunal community could adapt also to harsher environmental conditions during MIS 3.

Keywords

Ziegeleigrube Coenen (Germany)MIS 3Bone collagenCarbon (δ13C)Nitrogen (δ15N)Sulfur (δ34S)Stable isotope analysisPaleoclimatePaleoecology
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 84 , Issue 1 , July 2015 , pp. 96 - 105
Copyright
University of Washington

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