Конференция

---

1999-MAY16-MAY20
2nd International Mammoth Conference

ABSTRACTS (1)

edted by Jelle W.F. REUMER & John DE VOS

DISCLAIMER

The Abstracts of the 2nd International Mammoth Conference,
published in this Volume of Conference Papers, are not published
for permanent scientific record and are therefore not to be considered
as publications in the sense of Article 8 of the International Code of
Zoological Nomenclature. They merely reflect the opinion of the
author(s) at the moment of submission, and they should not be cited
in scientific works without prior written consent of the author(s).

After abstract titles (P) means poster and (L) means lecture (oral contribution)

---

contents of abstracts

Larry D. AGENBROAD - NEW LOCALITIES, CHRONOLOGY AND COMPARISONS FOR Mammuthus exHis: 1994-1998 (L)

Joaquin ARROYO-CABRALES, Silvia GONZALEZ, Luis MORETT A., Oscar J. POLACO & GrahamSHERWOOD - TOCUILA AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO PALEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE BASIN OF MEXICO (L)

Joaquin ARROYO-CABRALES, Oscar J. POLACO, and FelisaJ. AGUILAR-ARELLANO - TAXONOMY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE MAMMOTH OF MEXICO (GENUS Wammuthus): A REVIEW OF THE COLLECTIONS OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY (P)

Joaquin ARROYO-CABRALES, Oscar j. POLACO, Eileen JOHNSON, & A. Fabiola GUZMAN - DISTRIBUTION OF THE GENUS Mammuthus IN MEXICO (L)

A. AVERIANOV - PLEISTOCENE LAGOMORPHS OF EURASIA (L)

Gennady BARYSHNIKOV - Mommuthus primigenius FROM THE CRIMEA AND CAUCASUS (L)

H. BOCHERENS - ISOTOPIC BIOGEOCHEMISTRY AND THE PALEOECOLOGY OF THE MAMMOTH STEPPE FAUNA (L)

G. BOESKOROV - WOOLLY RHINOCEROSES (Coeiodonta ontiquitatis) DISTRIBUTION IN NORTH-EASTERN ASIA AND THE ADJACENT TERRITORIES (P)

G. BOESKOROV - THE PLEISTOCENE Cewus eiaphus L. IN NORTH-EASTERN ASIA (P)

Bernard BUIGUES & Dick MOL - THE JARKOV MAMMOTH: ON A PERMAFROST CARCASS OF THE WOOLLY MAMMOTH, Mammuthus primigenius FROM THE TAIMYR PENINSULA (L)

The 1994 discovery, excavation, and recovery of a nearly complete (+90%) skeleton of the pygmy mammoth (Mammuthus exHis) on Santa Rosa Island initiated a new phase of research on these unique proboscideans. In January, 1996, an intensive Global Positioning System (GPS) controlled, pedestrian survey of the mammoth remains on San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands was initiated. In addition to recording more than 100 new mammoth bone localities, specimens in danger of loss by erosion were collected, prepared and curated.
These new specimens are housed in the National Park Service repository at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, joining the collections made by Phil Orr in the 1940's and 1950's and those of Boris Woolley, collected in the 1970's. Metric analyses of teeth and selected post cranial elements are compared with a large, local, primary deposit of mainland mammoths (Mammuthus columbi) from the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota. Preliminary comparisons are also made with the Holocene mammoths (Mammuthus pnmigenius) from Wrangel
Island in the Siberian Arctic Ocean. New radiocarbon dates are discussed, including an accelerator-mass spectrometer (AMS) bone date from the 1994 skeleton.

It has been more than 100 years since the presence of mammoth remains in the Basin of Mexico was first documented. In fact, for the past 30 years, the written reports have increased into the tens. However, most of those have just been the subjects of salvage excavations, without further research on their importance. More recently two important finds have been throughoutly studied (Metepec and Chimaulhuacan), and here we report on another that has received much attention over the past three years, from the general public and academics
from a range of institutions and disciplines.
Tocuila is located about 40 km east from Mexico City downtown at the edge of what used to be the east coast of the Texcoco Lake. Here construction of a cafeteria brought to light one of the most important Quaternary sites in Mexico. Subsequent systematic excavations of a 30 m area have shown the presence of remains of at least five individuals of mammoth, Mammuthus oolumbi, along with few remains of other animals, such as camel, Camelops hestemus, bison, Bison sp., horse, Equus sp„ rabbit, Sytviiagus cunicuianus, most of which pertain to fauna that have usually been associated with grassland conditions. Higher in the strata, remains of different animals, mainly aquatic birds, like the flamingo Phoenicopterus cf. ruber, and turtles point to a rise in the lake level to cover this area.
Analysis of the sediments surrounding the bones indicates that they contain large quantitites of pumice and other volcanic materials. An AMS date on one of the mammoth skulls gave a 1 1,100+80 yBP, which is in agreement with the C14 dates of the surrounding sediments (averaging 1 1,188 yBP). We will discuss the impact of the volcanic activrty in the formation and preservation of the sites around the Basin of Mexico, together with the associated environmental changes recorded in the sequences and their impact on the megafauna.

Lucas, S. G. & GonzaIez-Leon, C.M., 1996 - The Arizpe mammoth, Pleistocene ofSonora, Mexico: taxonomic re-evaluation - Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geologicas, Institute de Geotogia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 13(1): 90-93

Maglio, V. J. 1973 - Origin and Evolution of the Elephantidae - Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 63(3)

Webb, S.D. & Dudley, J.P., 1995 - Proboscidea from the Leisey Shell Pits, Hillsborough County, Florida - Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History, 37 (part ll):645-660

Between 1996 and 1998, an electronic-database on the mammals from the late Quaternary from Mexico was undertaken (Arroyo-Cabrales etal. 1998), using a similar framework as the FAUNMAP project from the United States (FAUNMAP Working Group 1994). Based on the Mexican study, four species of the genus Mammuthus (Proboscidea, Elephantidae) occurred in Mexico: M. columbi, M. hayi, M. impemtor, and M. primigenius. One of the outcomes of this project was the recognition that in the scientific literature, very few international reports discuss
the Mexican mammoth specimens. Those that include the Mexican mammoth remains focused on the well-known sites, such as Tepexpan, Tiapacoya, Santa Isabel lztapan, and Valsequillo (e.g., Agenbroad 1984; Lister & Bahn 1995).

At present, among 872 publications regarding Quaternary mammals from both paleontological and archaeological sites in Mexico, mammoth remains are mentioned in 236 studies. These publications range from primary sources (in which the actual specimens were studied) to general references about the presence of such animals in Mexico. The earliest records are from the I 6th century. To date, mammoth remains are known from 271 sites located in 24 states, including the Federal District. Mammoth remains have not been recorded from the Yucatan Peninsula
(Campeche, Quintana F(oo, Tabasco, Yucatan) on the Atlantic coast, which apparently mammoth did not reach at anytime. On the Pacific side, remains have not been found from the states ofBaja California, Colima, Guerrero, and Nayarrt, where the absence is due to the lack of palentological surveys in those areas. The State of Mexico and Distrito Federal, both in the central portion of the country, are the political entities with the larger number of findings (28.4 and I I A%, respectively), with the southernmost record being located in Villa Flores, Chiapas. Overall the mammoth records in Mexico account for a Nearctic distribution of the taxon. However, athorough taxonomic review of the genus is required to understand the biogeographic pattern of the genus in Mexico.

Agenbroad, L.D„ 1984 - New World mammoth distribution - in: Martin, P.S. & Klein, R.G. (eds.) - Quaternary extinctions: a prehistoric revolution - pp. 90-108 - The University of Arizona Press, Tucson

Arroyo-Cabrales, J., Polaco, O.J. & Johnson, E., 1998 - Late Quaternary environments and mammal faunas from Mexico - in: AMQUA 1998 - Program and abstracts of the 15th Biennial Meeting, American Quaternary Association, Puerto Vallarta Mexico, 5-7 September 1998: 2-4

FAUNMAP Working Group, 1994 - FAUNMAP: a database documenting late Quaternary distributions of mammal species in the United States - Illimois State Museum Scientific Papers, 25(1 -2): 1 -690

Lister, A. & Bahn, P., 1995 - Mammoths - Boxtree Limited, London

In the Pleistocene of Eurasia 3 species of Prolagidae, 17 species of Ochotonidae and 16 species of Leporidae are known. The species diversity oflagomorphs gradually increased during the Pleistocene and in the late Pleistocene was the same as recently. Some relict taxa vanished during the early Pleistocene (Pliopentalagus, Alilepus), which was connected with the global cooling of the latest early Pleistocene (the Gunz criosuperclimatern [V] according to Zubakov 1986). The next wave of extinction was connected with the Mindel (=0ka) glaciation (IV cnosuperclimatem). It led to the extinction of some relict genera (Ochotono/des, Hypolagus and Sencobgus). Apparently all European localities with Hypolagus remains (Podurnci, Betfia5, Varbezhnitsa, and others) should be dated to the Cromer interglacial (Gunz-Mindel); these rabbits  re not known from Mindel-RJss deposits. The extinction ofOchotonoides and Sericolagus could be connected with the Riss glaciation (II criosuperclimatem). At least two lagomorph species became extinct during the Holocene {Pmlagus sardus and Ochotono transcaucastw). In total, the Pleistocene was not a critical period in the evolution ofLagomorpha. The extinctions were caused by global cooling and were mostly restricted to relict taxa. During the Pleistocene the most intensive speciation took place in the genera Ochotona, Oryctolagus and Lepus in the Old World, and Sylvilagus in the New World. The Recent time is the penod offlounshing and biological progress ofphylogenetically young groups oflagomorphs (Ochotona, Leponnae), which started in the late Pliocene and continued during all the Pleistocene.

A major focus of research on Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach, 1799) is the elucidation ofrts geographical and temporal variability and intraspecific taxonomy. The resolution of these problems lies in the morphometrical analysis of regional samples, such as those from the Crimea and the Caucasus in Eastern Europe. In the Caucasus region, fossil bones and teeth of/VI. primigenius have been found primarily in areas north of the Greater Caucasus Mountains (Vereshchagin 1959). A large assemblage of mammoth remains was recovered from the Mousterian sites ll'skaya I and ll'skaya 2, located at the edge of the northwestern foothills (Hoffecker etal. 1991). At ll'skaya 2, materials were discovered in alluvium of the third terrace of the II' River, which is dated to the Last Interglacial (Mikulino or Eern), as well as in the overlying colluvial loams. The lower units (layers 6-7) are saturated with oil and the mammoth remains are well preserved here. By contrast, bones in the upper part of the deposits (layers 4-5) are heavily weathered. Several mammoth bones also were encountered in Dakhovskaya Cave, which is situated at an altitude of over 900 m, but mammoth remains are unknown in other sites in the mountain zone. Mammoth remains have not been found in Paleolithic sites of the Transcaucasia, although isolated teeth have been recovered from riverterraces nearDusheti and Gori in Georgia (Burchak-Abramovich 1946, Gabunia 1952). The Greater Caucasus Mountains were the southern limit of the distribution ofM primigenius, and only rarely did animals overcome this barrier and enter central Transcaucasia. In the Crimea, bone and teeth fragments ofM primigenius have been found in many Mousterian sites, including Klik-Koba, Shaitan-Koba, Chokurcha I, Prolom 2, Krasnaya Balka, Zaskalnaya 5, Kobazi, Starosel'e, and others (Gromova & Grornov 1937, Grornov 1948, Vereshchagin & Baryshnikov 1980, Baryshnikov 1995). Mammoth remains are not abundant in these sites, and only at Chokurcha I do they form an assemblage. In Adzhi-Koba, situated at 900 m above sea level, no remains were recorded.

On the basis of lamellar frequency per 10 cm (8) and thickness of enamel ( 1.7-1.8 mm), the upper M3 and lower m3 from layers 6-7 at ll'skaya 2 are more derived than the teeth ofM trogontherii chosaricus (Dubrovo 1966), and may be assigned to M. primigenius. The lower m3 from layer 4 at ll'skaya 2 (lamellar frequency = 7; thickness of enamel = 2.4 mm) and the molars from Chokurcha I in Crimea (Vereshchagin 1959) possess similar morphometrical parameters. Therefore, mammoth remains from the Mousterian sites in the Caucasus and the Crimea may be attributed to early M. primigenius. M. primigenius dentition in Eastern Europe is divided into two stratigraphically successive forms: early mammoth and late mammoth (Grornov 1948), and the temporal boundary between them coincides with the end of the Mousterian (Alexeeva 1980). These stages have not been formalized, because the proposed name for the early mammoth subspecies M. primigenius pavlowae (Grornov 1961) is a nomen nudum (see Averianov 1992).

M. primigenius is absent in Upper Paleolithic sites ofthe Caucasus and Crimea. At that time it probably had become locally extinct, and the southern boundary of its distributional range shifted to the north. Other large mammals ofthe Mousterian fauna disappeared along wrth the mammoth, including Crocuta spelaea, Coelodonta ontiquitatis, fLquus ferns taubachensis, and Megaloceros giganteus.

The ecological structure of the mammoth steppe fauna remains quite unclear. Stable isotope biogeochemistry of fossil collagen can help determining the discrimination in food resources among different herbivorous species, due to differences in carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures in plants. Especially differences in nitrogen sources for different plants, such as grass, bushes and heathers, lead to distinct isotopic signatures. Mammoths present more carbon-13-depleted and nitrogen-15-enriched collagen when compared to other herbivorous species, in all studied sites in Europe, Siberia and Alaska. One interpretation is that these isotopic differences reflect different dietary choices by herbivores, reindeer browsing on lichens, horse, woolly rhinoceros and bison grasing fresh grass, and mammoth consumming dry grass, with higher nitrogen-15 content than other plant ressources. The low carbon-13 amounts of mammoth collagen might be due to fat utilisation in this species. This distinction between different herbivorous species leads to the potential to identify prey species of predators, including humans.

The woolly rhinoceroses were widely distributed in the Pleistocene in the Eastern part of Northern Palaearctic. There are many data on their finds in Eastern Siberia.' in Pribaikalie and Transbaikal region (Chersky 1891, Ermolova 1978 and others), in Yakutia (Agadjanian 1972 Lazarev & Tomskaya 1987, Russanov 1968 and others). The finds of C.antiquitatis in North-Eastern Siberia: the Kolyma river basin, Chukotka and the adjacent territories are less known.

We studied the woolly rhinoceroses remains in Yakut Institute of Geological Sciences (Yakutsk) collected by different geological services in Yakutia, Chukotka and Magadan districts. Most ofthese finds were never published. We also studied the fossil mammals material in some museums of the next cities: Irkutsk, Verkhoyansk, Aldan and the villages of Chersky and Betenkes. Working on these collections we have obtained some new data on Contiquitatis finds. Moreover, we took part in some expeditions of the Mammoth Museum in 1994-1997 and
found new material on this species.

Probably Cantiquitatis or its ancestral form penetrated to Southern Yakutia in the Early Pleistocene. The find near Olyekminsk city belong to this period (Vangengeim 1961, 1977). In the Middle Pleistocene woolly rhinoceroses have been already widely distributed on the territory of Yakutia and the adjacent regions. The finds of their remains in the Nizhnyaya Tunguska river valley (Vangengeim 1977), the
Aldan river (Mamontova Gora - Agadjanian 1972, Russanov 1968), lower stream of the Yana and the Kolyma rivers (Lazarev & Tomskaya 1987), the Malyi Anyui river (Western Chukotka, Utkinsky Kamen - Sher 1971 ) belong to this period. Nevertheless, most finds of C.antiquitatis remains in this region belong to the Late Pleistocene. These finds testify that these mammals inhabited valleys of practically all the longest rivers and many watersheds.

It was considered that the woolly rhinoceroses remains are more numerous in Central Yakutia with plain landscape, than in Northern Yakutia with large mountaineous territories. Never-theless, a high percentage of Cantiquitatis bones was noted in some northern parts of this region (Yukagirskoye plateau and the Bolshoy Khomus Yuryakh river basin): more than 25 % of all the fossil mammals bones (Sher 1976). The highest frequency was noted on the plateaux and in the mountain river valleys, while on the lowlands and in the long river valleys the
rhinoceros remains were sufficiently rare (usually about 1%). In 1995 and 1997 we worked on Duvanny Yar - the Late Pleistocene outcrop (lower stream of the Kolyma river). The C.antiquit.atis remains composed 1,3% and 1,65% of fossil mammal bones for these years respectively. The frequency otCantiquitatis bones was higher (5,3% and 9,1 %) on the outcrops of the Malyi Anyui river (Western Chukotka) situated on the higher places. Numerous remains of the woolly rhinoceroses were also found in mountaneous regions in the basins of the Yana and the
Indigirka rivers. It is considered that C.antiquitat]s preferred an arid climate. The largest number of their remains are found in the
Transbaikal region, where the zone of dry steppes with parts of semi-deserts was presented in the Pleistocene (Garutt et at. 1970). Probably they found convenient conditions for existing on some highlands of North-Eastern Asia. The poor finds of bones of this species are known in the mountaineous Western and Central Chukotka where the mountain-valley glaciation was presented in the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Obviously this glaciation stopped the penetration ofCantiquitatis deep into this region. The rhinoceros remains are mainly found in North-
Western Chukotka on the East Siberian Sea shore region including A/on Island. The woolly rhinoceroses remains are known in the north of the Russian Far East on Kamchatka Peninsula and Koryak highlands. The easternmost finds of this species are known from Wrangel Island and Central Chukotka (the Ekityki river basin). But there is still a puzzle why C.antiquitatis could not pass the Bering Land Bridge. They did not reach Alaska; at least no Alaskan woolly rhinoceros bones have yet been found. V.Grornov (according to: Garutt et al. 1970) considered that they were extinct in the North of Siberia until the Eariy Wurm, Some other authors supposed that the woolly rhinoceroses penetrated into the northern and north-eastern directions very slowly and occupied the Extreme North-East of Asia only in the end of the Late Pleistocene and so they did not reach the Bering Land Bridge. Nevertheless, the radiocarbon dating shows that these suppositions were wrong: Cantiquitatis existed in the extreme Northeast of Asia at least from the Karginian interglacial to the end of the Sartanian glaciation. Flerov (1967) considered that the major food source of woolly rhinoceroses were twigs of bushes. In his opinion the absence of bushes in the territory of the Bering Land Bridge stopped the penetration ofCantiquitotis. But the analyses of feed remains in the teeth of some rhinoceroses (Garutt et al. 1970, Guthrie 1990) and gastrointestinal contents of the Churapcha rhinoceros (Lazarev 1980) showed that these mammals were mainly grass-eaters, There were also some other suppositions concerning the fact that woolly rhinoceroses could not pass the Bering Land Bridge. But now some ndirect data testify that the Bering Land Bridge could be impassable for nnany mammals during the maximum glaciation of the Sartanian-Wisconsinan,

Agadjanian, A.K„ 1972 - Pleistocene mammals of the Mamontova Gora - in: Markov, K.K. & Naurnov, N.P. (eds.) - Teriofauna pleistocena - pp. 70-143. Moscow State Univ. Publishing House, Moscow (in Russian)

Chersky, I.D., 1891 - The description ofpost-Tertiary mammals collected by New Siberian Expedition in 1885- 1886 - Proc. Russ. Ac. Sci., 65, St. Petersburg, 706 pp.

Ermolova, N.M., 1978 - Thenofauna of the Angara river basin in the Late Anthropogene - Publishing House 'Nauka', Novosibirsk, 220 pp.

Flerov, C.C., 1967 - On the origin of the mammalian fauna of Canada - The Bering Land Bridge, Stanford University Press, California: 271-280

Garutt, V.E., Metieltzeva, E.P. & Tikhomirov, B.A., 1970 - New data on woolly rhinoceros feed in Siberia - The Arctic Ocean and its coast in the Cenozoic, Leningrad: 1 13-125

Guthrie, R.D., 1990 - Frozen fauna of the Mammoth Steppe: the story of Blue Babe - The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London, 323 pp.

Lazarev, P.A„ 1980 - New find of woolly rhinoceros in Yakutia - Proceedings of the Zoological Institute, Leningrad, 63:281-285

Lazarev, P.A. & Tomskaya, A.I., 1987 - Mammals and biostratigraphy of the Late Cenozoic of Northern Yakutia, Yakutsk, 169 pp.

Russanov, B.S„ 1968 - Biostratigraphy of the Late Cenozoic sediments of Southern Yakutia - Publishing House 'Nauka', Moscow, 459 pp.

Sher, A.V., 1971 - Pleistocene mammals and stratigraphy of the Far Northeast USSR and North America - Publishing House 'Nauka', Moscow, 310 pp.

Sher, A,V., 1976 -The role of Beringian Land in the development of Holarctic mammalian fauna in the Late Cenozoic - Beringia in the Cenozoic, Vladivostok- 227-241

Vangengeim, E.A„ 1961 - Paleontologic foundation of the Anthropogene sediments stratigraphy of the North of Eastern Siberia - Moscow, 181 pp.

Vangengeim, E.A„ 1977 - Paleontologic foundation ofthe Anthropogene stratigraphy of the Northern Asia - Publishing House 'Nauka', Moscow, 1 69 pp.

The red deer, or wapiti, is now absent in North-Eastern Asia. The closest area of maral-like Ceidphus distribution is situated in Southern and Central Yakutia where they inhabit the southern and middle parts between the Lena and the Aldan rivers (Revin 1989, Boeskorov in print). However, the fossil finds testify that these deer were more widely distributed here in the Pleistocene: their area included the Arctic zone of Eastern Siberia too. The remains ofC.elaphus belonging to the Pleistocene were found with representatives ofthe 'mammoth fauna' (mammoths,
woolly rhinoceroses, bisons, musk-oxen, horses, etc.) in the basins ofthe Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma rivers and on Novosibirskie Islands (Sher 1971, Vangengeim 1977, Lazarev & Tomskaya 1987).

We studied new material on the Pleistocene Celaphus from Yakutia (basins ofthe Lena, Aldan, Adycha and Kolyma rivers) and Chukotka (the Bolshoy Anyui river). For comparison we studied also antlers and skulls ofthe modem Cetophus from Tien Shan and the A^ai mountains, Transbaikalia, Southern Yakutia, Primorie district (the south ofthe Russian Far East) and North America. The largest number ofthe fossil C.etaphus from Northeastern Asia belongs to the Late Pleistocene. They had very large sizes exceeding the ones of modem maral {Celaphus
sibiricus) and izubr (Ce.xanthop/gus). The parameters ofthe fossil Celaphus antlers could be compared only to those ofthe largest modern subspecies wapiti (Ce.canadensis) and Tien Shan maral (Ce.songaricus). The relative gigantism ofthe Pleistocene Ceiaphus was noted in Europe, the Caucasus (Vereshagin 1959), Western Siberia (Alexeeva 1980) and Alaska and the Yukon territory (Guthrie 1966).

Now the red deer, or wapiti, is considered by many mammalogists as atypical forest inhabitant. In Siberia and Far East Ceiophus occupies mainly the southern and middle taiga zones with southern coniferous and mixed forests. In European parts ofthe area the red deer inhabits mixed and broad-leaved forests (Heptner et at. 1961). The largest number of Celaphus finds in North-Eastern Asia certainly belongs to the Late Pleistocene. In the periods of glaciations there prevailed conditions good for inhabitants ofthe open steppe landscapes (mammoths, woolly
rhinoceroces, horses, etc.) - so called 'tundra-steppe' or Arctic steppe'. The distribution of forests on large areas took place here only during the periods ofinterglacials. Nevertheless, these forests in the Arctic and sub-Arctic zones ofthe Late Pleistocene represented open wood like modern taiga-tundra (Vangengeim 1977, Sher et al. 1979). However, Celaphus is ecologically a plastic species and it can be found in the huge area from mountain taiga to subtropic forests and from riparian forests in some lowlands to alpine meadows. These deer avoid dense
forest massives. They were forced out to forests and mountains due to human activity. For example, the maral deer was exterminated in the plain part of Western Siberia until the end ofthe 19th century, but it has remained in the mountains of Southern Siberia (Heptner & Tsalkin 1947). The red deer and wapiti were originally the open wood and forest-steppe inhabitants and their occupation of forests was secondary (Heptner & Tsalkin 1947, Flerov 1952, Guthrie 1966). This supposition likely explains the presence of Celaphus in periglacial faunas ofthe
Pleistocene on the Extreme North of Siberia. The modem area of Celaphus in Eastern Siberia was probably formed by the Middle Holocene -all the deer remains belonging to the Neolithic were practically found in the limits ofthe modem area ofthe species.

Alexeeva, E.V., 1980 - Pleistocene Mammals ofthe South-Western Western Siberia - Publishing House 'Nauka', Moscow, 153 pp.

Boeskorov, G.G„ in print - On the systematic position and history of Cervus elophus L. in Yakutia - in: Rare mammal species of Russia and adjacent territories, Moscow

Flerov, C.C„ 1952 - Musk-deer and deer - Publishig House of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 256 pp.

Guthrie, R.D., 1966 - The extinct wapiti of Alaska and Yukon Territory - Canadian Journal of Zoology 44: 47-57

Heptner, V.G. & Tsalkin, V.I., 1947 - Deer of the USSR - Publishing House of the Moscow Society of Naturalists, Moscow, 174 pp.

Heptner, V.G., Nasimovich, A.A., & Bannikov A.G., 1961 - Mammals of the Soviet Union. V, 1.- Publishing House 'V/sshaya shkola', Moscow, 776 pp.

Lazarev, P.A. & Tomskaya, A.I., 1987 - Mammals and biostratigr-aphy of the Late Cenozoic of Northern Yakutia, Yakutsk, 169 pp.

Revin, Yu.V., 1989 - Mammals of Southern Yakutia - Publishing House 'Nauka', Novosibirsk, 319 pp.

Sher, A,V„ 1971 - Pleistocene mammals and stratigraphy of the Far Northeast USSR and North America -Publishing House 'Nauka', Moscow, 310 pp.

Sher, A.V„ Kaplina, T.N., Giterman, R.E., Lozhkin, A.V. et ai., 1976 - Late Cenozoic of the Kolyma Lowland -Publishing House of Russian Academy of Sciences, 1 16 pp.

Vangengeim, EA, 1977 - Paleontologic foundation of the Anthropogene stratigraphy of the Northern Asia -Publishing House 'Nauka', Moscow, 169 pp.

In 1997, Dotgans hunting, fishing and breeding reindeer on the tundra in the far north of the Taimyr Peninsula discovered acarcass of a woolly mammoth, Mammuthusprimigenius: Coordinates 73њ32' N - 105њ49' E. A tip of a tusk of the mammoth was protruding from the permafrost. The discoverer, Mr. Gennady Jarkov, together with his family, excavated a superb pair of tusks. The tusks, each approximately 230 cm long and weighing 58 and 60 kg respectively, are spirally twisted, which is characteristic for late Pleistocene adult and male woolly mammoth.
Unfortunately, the skull was destroyed during these activities, but the maxilla and the mandibula, both with left and nght third molars in anatomical position, were saved. The stage of wear of the m3/M3 is equivalent to the Laws's Age Group XXV, giving the Jarkov Mammoth an estimated age of 47 ± 2 AEY (African Elephant Years).

Other parts of the Jarkov Mammoth were excavated by a French-Russian team during a field campaign in 1998. Soft material including hairs and skin was collected in addition to bones (parts of the skull). Results ofC14 dating from the Utrecht University (R.J. Van de Graafflaboratonum) are:
UtC8137 19,910±130yBP (bone)
UtC 8138 20,380 ± 140 yBP (hair)
UtC 8139 20,390 ± 1 60 yBP (skin)

The tusks of the Jarkov Mammoth are in the possession of the Jarkov family. The other remains are stored in a cellar in Khatanga, Taimyr. Because of the excellent condition of the tusks, the preservation of the bones and the soft tissue, we assume that a nearly complete carcass is preserved in the permafrost. This approximately 20,380 years old carcass will be excavated by the French-Russian team in the near future.