Giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus) diet from Mid-Weichselian deposits under the present North Sea inferred from molar-embedded botanical remains

The molar of a giant deer, Megaloceros giganteus (Blumenbach, 1799), was discovered in sandy deposits of the North Sea, about 10?km west of the present shoreline of the Netherlands. Compacted masticated plant remains were preserved in the molar's deep folds. A palaeoecological analysis of these...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Quaternary Science
Main Authors: van Geel, B., Sevink, J., Mol, D., Langeveld, B. W., van der Ham, R. W. J. M., van der Kraan, C. J. M., van der Plicht, J., Haile, J. S., Rey-Iglesia, A., Lorenzen, E. D.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
food residue
Greenland Interstadial-11
late Pleistocene
microfossils
soil development
Giganteus
Greenland
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11370/327362ad-5b6c-4b98-b945-7eb164dfbf0f
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/327362ad-5b6c-4b98-b945-7eb164dfbf0f
https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3069
https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/80665488/Geel_et_al_2018_Journal_of_Quaternary_Science.pdf
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Summary:The molar of a giant deer, Megaloceros giganteus (Blumenbach, 1799), was discovered in sandy deposits of the North Sea, about 10?km west of the present shoreline of the Netherlands. Compacted masticated plant remains were preserved in the molar's deep folds. A palaeoecological analysis of these plant remains shows the complete dominance of pollen from Artemisia (sage) and other Asteraceae Tubuliflorae (Compositae), indicating that the animal foraged in a steppe environment, and may have preferred to eat Artemisia, which contain a high level of nutrients such as calcium and phosphorous components, which are important for antler building. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the plant remains are of mid-Weichselian age [38 570 (+300, ?290) 14C a BP, Greenland Interstadial-11]. This is the first study of the food choice of M. giganteus based on palaeoecological evidence. We hypothesize about links between the extirpation of M. giganteus at the onset of the Holocene in North-West Europe and the transition from a landscape with highly dynamic geomorphological processes and consequently prevalence of immature and nutrient-rich soils, to a less dynamic landscape with stable, leached and acidifying soils, and the decline of Artemisia and other calciphilous plants.

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