Multiproxy study of the last meal of a mid-Holocene Oyogos Yar horse, Sakha Republic, Russia

• Published in: The Holocene
• Main Authors: Gravendeel, Barbara, Protopopov, Albert, Bull, Ian, Duijm, Elza, Gill, Fiona, Nieman, Aline, Rudaya, Natalia, Tikhonov, Alexei N, Trofimova, Svetlana, van Reenen, Guido BA, Vos, Rutger, Zhilich, Snezhana, van Geel, Bas
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2014
• Subjects: Paleontology; Earth-Surface Processes; Ecology; Archeology; Global and Planetary Change; Sakha; Yar; Sakha Republic; Tundra
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683614540953; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683614540953; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0959683614540953

The last meal of a horse that lived in the northern part of the Sakha Republic (Russia) c. 5400 years ago was studied using pollen, spores, botanical macroremains, lipid composition, and ancient DNA in order to reconstruct its components. Pollen of Poaceae was superabundant, but this may be because of over-representation as a consequence of grazed inflorescenses of grasses. We evaluate the paleo-environmental indicator value of the different methods applied. Botanical macrofossils and chemical data show what the animal had eaten. Pollen grains and the aDNA record also give information about taxa that occurred elsewhere in the landscape. The combined data point to an open landscape of a coastal tundra dominated by graminoids (Poaceae, Cyperaceae) with a limited amount of Birch and Alder.