Migrations of the Massive: The Predictability and Perils of Woolly Mammoth Hunting in the Upper Palaeolithic of Northern Eurasia

• Main Author: Bonhof, W
• Other Authors: Pryor, Alexander JE, Outram, alan
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Exeter 2024
• Subjects: permafrost
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/135625

The migratory behaviour of woolly mammoths and associated large herbivores in the Siberian Arctic has not been studied extensively, but could reveal much about the subsistence strategies of Upper Palaeolithic people in the region. The presented thesis has examined this topic through three research foci. Firstly, a literature review looked at the migratory behaviour of modern elephants, as well as published 87Sr/86Sr and δ34S data from proboscidean fossils. The mobility of proboscideans was found to be variable and affected predominantly by environmental conditions, with animals in open environments inhabiting the largest home ranges. This led to the suspicion that mammoths in the Arctic would have been very mobile as well. Secondly, intra-tooth 87Sr/86Sr ratios were measured from the molars of five mammoth, three bison, three horse, and four reindeer from the Upper Palaeolithic Yana site complex, Russia (~32 ka BP). This resulted in the world’s largest known dataset of intra-tooth 87Sr/86Sr data for a single archaeological site. Erratic intra-tooth 87Sr/86Sr profiles were found in all mammoths, indicating that these animals moved around irregularly. The same was not the case for the reindeer, horse, and bison, which seemed to have either been more sedentary or exhibited stronger seasonal site fidelity. The humans at Yana must have understood and monitored the movements of mammoths closely, as these would have been vital prey, providing large quantities of food and raw materials. Thirdly, the preservation of authentic 87Sr/86Sr ratios in dentine recovered from permafrost was tested. Dentine of molars from one bison and one mammoth from Yana yielded similar intra-tooth 87Sr/86Sr profiles as the associated enamel, indicating that proboscidean tusks from permafrost regions might yield reliable 87Sr/86Sr profiles. Taken together, this thesis has revealed that the migratory behaviour of woolly mammoths was highly variable and that a case-by-case approach is required to draw conclusions about regional human-mammoth ...