Palaeozoological characteristics of the late Neopleistocene-Holocene deposits of Bykovsky Peninsula, northern Yakutia

• Published in: Зоологический журнал
• Main Authors: Kuznetsova, TV, Tumskoy, VE, Schirrmeister, L, Wetterich, S
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Pleiades Publishing Ltd 2019
• Subjects: permafrost; Tundra; Yakutia
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57712/; https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57712/1/Kuznetsova_et_al_Zoolog_Journal_2019.pdf; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.d2c450d6-4741-41a4-b77f-af13bf548496

The present study characterizes palaeozoological findings from the late Pleistocene and Holocene permafrost deposits of the Bykovsky Peninsula. The study proposes a method to differentiate fossil bone samples by the location of their finding and by the accuracy of their relation to a certain depositional horizon. A total of 90 radiocarbon dates of bone material from large mammals has been analyzed. The distribution of bone material along the sedimentary permafrost profile is not uniform. During the last 60.000 years, two periods of environmental conditions favourable for representatives of mammoth fauna are distinguished. “Cold” tundra-steppe environments with either dry and warm or cold summer conditions provided the most favourable settings for the existence of mammoths and hoofed mammals over the territory of the modern Bykovsky Peninsula.