MAMMOETVONDSTEN UIT ORVELTE, GEMEENTE WESTERBORK (DR.)

• Main Authors: Molema, J., Bosch, J.H.A., Bottema, S., Brinkhuizen, D.C., Cappers, R., van Kolfschoten, T., Mol, D., Mook-Kamps, B., Woldring, H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Dutch
• Published: Groninger Instituut voor Archeologie 1992
• Subjects: Betula nana; Dwarf birch
• Online Access: http://rjh.ub.rug.nl/Paleo-aktueel/article/view/36799

Digging a shaft for the pipeline network of the Nederlandse Gasunie, the contractor,Nacap bv, discovered a mammoth tusk and bones in an old stream valley, filled with peat and gyttja layers. During a rescue ex­cavation more bones and samples were re­trieved. Several scientists visited the site and made brief studies of different as­pects. The stream valley, dating from the Pleni­glacial period, was cut off from a farger system during the Moershoofd interstadial and rapidy filled with peat and gyttja deposits. This is clearly indicated by the 14C dates of two levels and a bone, which point to around 45.000 BP.The mammal bones were identified as belonging to three mammoth individuals and a woolly rhinoceros. Botanical samples provided evidence for the reconstruction of the vegetation and confirmed the geological history of the valley. A preliminary pollen diagram is being prepared for about three metres of clay­gyttja deposits and a sample from near a mammoth jaw has been examined for ma­crofossils. The environment was treeless, scrub of Betula nana (dwarf birch) growing in a sheltered valley with snow cover. The ma­crofossil record features plant species even nowadays occurring in the area or else­where in the northern Netherlands nowa­days. Marsh vegetation, water plants and algae suggest the presence of seepage water rich in minerals; the sandy upland offered poorer conditions.