甘肃环县楼房子遗址2012年发掘的披毛犀死亡年龄研究

现代人在MIS 3成功扩散到全球各地,研究该阶段人类在不同气候环境下的生计行为有助于理解他们殖民成功的原因。目前在中国西北的黄土高原地区发现了一批出土化石的遗址,但其中大多数保存不佳,缺少科学发掘和绝对测年。甘肃环县楼房子遗址位于黄土高原腹地,在2012年的考古发掘中出土了大量动物遗存。对楼房子遗址2012年发掘获得的披毛犀牙齿进行研究,并结合其他地区已发表的关于古人类和犀牛之间的互动关系分析,探讨晚更新世黄土高原地区狩猎采集人群的生计策略,结果表明,披毛犀是楼房子遗址先民的重要肉食来源,他们一直维持着稳定且合理的开发策略,重点关注成年个体,这种偏好披毛犀的传统一直延续到遗址被废弃。结合周边发现来看,在这一阶段,生活在黄土高原地区的古人类很可能对当地环境发展出了特殊的适应模式,披毛犀在他们的生计策略中占有重要地位。

     

荧光光谱学在象牙与猛犸象牙鉴定上的应用

利用红外光谱仪及荧光分光光度计对象牙和猛犸象牙样品进行测试,通过对测试结果的比对、分析,总结二者的谱图特点,旨在探索更准确的象牙与猛犸象牙的检测方法.猛犸象牙内部由于受石化作用小,其红外光谱与象牙的没有本质区别,因此红外光谱仪在象牙饰品与猛犸象牙饰品的检测上难以提供准确信息.荧光光谱的测试结果显示,在280 nm波长光的激发下,由于象牙和猛犸象牙中的氨基酸在微环境及其质量分数不同,象牙的发射光谱峰值在307 nm处,猛犸象牙的发射光谱峰值在315 nm处,且象牙的荧光强度高于猛犸象牙.同步荧光光谱测试中△λ分别取15,60 nm,分别测试样品中的酪氨酸、色氨酸,测试结果显示两类牙质测试图谱谱形一致但强度差异明显,即荧光分光光度计在象牙和猛犸象牙的检测上可提供有效的信息.     

猛犸牙与象牙的微生长结构及红外吸收光谱的差异性

猛犸象属古脊椎动物,其现存的猛犸牙多呈半化石状态。采用SEM,FTIR等分析测试仪器对猛犸牙和象牙的微生长结构、胶原蛋白等差异特征进行了研究。结果表明,象牙和猛犸牙主要由胶原蛋白和羟基磷酸钙组成,由胶原蛋白酰胺键致特征的红外吸收谱带分别位于1 663 cm-1（νC-O）,1 558 cm-1（νC-H）和1 240 cm-1（δN-H）处。石化作用导致胶原蛋白酰胺键受到不同程度的破坏,致使猛犸牙中胶原蛋白的红外吸收谱带强度递减。象牙与猛犸牙指向牙心的两组粗勒兹纹理的夹角存在着明显的差异,前者的最大夹角〉120°,后者的最大夹角〈95°。象牙的粗勒兹纹层具纤束状交织结构,结构致密、坚韧、细腻;猛犸牙的粗勒兹纹层多具叶片状结构,胶原蛋白纤束体数量明显减少,结构疏松,质地干涩,孔隙度增大,微裂隙发育,韧性变差。     

Pleistocene fluvial sediments,palaeontology and archaeology of the upper River Thames at Latton,Wiltshire, England

Pleistocene fluvial sediments of the Northmoor Member of the Upper Thames Formation exposed at Latton, Wiltshire, record episodic deposition close to the Churn–Thames confluence possibly spanning the interval from Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 7 to 2. The sequence is dominated by gravel facies, indicating deposition by a high‐energy, gravel‐bed river. A number of fine‐grained organic sediment bodies within the sequence have yielded palaeoenvironmental and biostratigraphical data from Mollusca, Coleoptera, vertebrates, pollen and plant macrofossils. The basal deposit (Facies Association A) contains faunal material indicating temperate conditions. Most of the palaeontological evidence including a distinctive small form of mammoth (Mammuthus cf. trogontherii), together with the U‐series age estimate of >147.4 ± 20 kyr suggest correlation with MIS 7. The overlying deposits (Facies Associations B and C) represent deposition under a range of climatic conditions. Two fine‐grained organic deposits occurred within Association B; one (Association Ba) in the northern part of the pit as a channel fill and the other (Association Bb) in its southern part as a scour‐fill deposit. The coleopteran assemblages from Ba, indicate that it accumulated under temperate oceanic conditions, while Bb, which also yielded a radiocarbon age estimate of 39 560 ± 780 ¹⁴C yr BP, was formed under much colder and more continental climatic conditions. The sequence is considered to represent deposition within an alluvial fan formed at the Churn–Thames confluence; a depositional scenario which may account for the juxtaposition of sediments and fossils of widely differing age within the same altitudinal range. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Holes in the spinous processes of woolly mammoth vertebrae: spatial and temporal distribution,and the causes of pathology formation

The latest data on holes in the spinous processes of the vertebrae of woolly mammoths, a rare pathology, are presented. This was identified at 19 sites of northern Eurasia. Such destructive changes are recorded ca. 34–12k ¹⁴C a bp , and only two sites dated to >50k and >41k ¹⁴C a bp. The main hypotheses about hole formation are: vertebral abnormalities; bone infections; genetic traits; and unfavourable geochemical environment. The pathology occurred in mammoths of all age groups, and could have arisen at the embryonic stage. There are two types: classic holes associated with osteolytic changes; and very rarely tumour-like lesions. The most likely cause of the lesions is alimentary osteodystrophy caused by chronic mineral starvation. The aetiology of this disease is usually associated with a deficiency or excess of macro- and microelements in the geochemical landscape, and through forage and water this leads to a severe metabolic disorder. Analysis of palaeopathological data shows two waves of geochemical stress in animals, ca. 26–18k and ca. 16–12k ¹⁴C a bp. Therefore, the woolly mammoth extinction can be viewed as a non-linear function, with two peaks of high mortality corresponding to the Last Glacial Maximum and the Lateglacial.     

Freshwater organic deposits and stratified sediments between Early and Late Midlandian (Devensian) till sheets,at Aghnadarragh,County Antrim,Northern Ireland

The following events have been identified from a complex sequence of Midlandian (Devensian) sediments recently exposed at Aghnadarragh, County Antrim: (1) A lower till interpreted as Early Midlandian was deposited by a major lowland ice sheet which moved south-eastwards from central Ulster across the Lough Neagh depression. (2) Deglacial conditions were followed by a periglacial phase characterised by ice-wedge growth and sedimentation by gravelly debris flows. The latter contain the oldest known remains of Mammuthus primigenius in Ireland. (3) An Early Midlandian interstadial is represented by a woody detritus peat, with evidence of Betula, Pinuos and Picea woodlands and a rich beetle fauna. Wood from this horizon has been shown to be beyond the range of radiocarbon dating (>48 180 BP). (4) Interstadial conditions were succeeded by a cold, non-glacial phase dominated by in-channel gravelly flows and deposition of organic muds which contain plant and insect fossils. These horizons are older than 46 850 BP. (5) An upper, non-drumlinised till was deposited during the Late-Midlandian by a major lowland ice sheet which moved generally eastwards across the Lough Neagh Lowlands from central Ulster. This glaciation probably reached its maximum at ca 20–24 ka. (6) Drumlin formation occurred in the Lough Neagh Lowlands towards the end of the Late-Midlandian. The limiting moraines are dated to 17 ka. The lower till at Aghnadarragh is the first positive record of a major lowland ice sheet in Ireland during the early part of the last cold stage. The Early Midlandian interstadial peats have not been documented elsewhere in Ireland and correlate broadly with the Chelford Interstadial complex of the English Midlands. Related exposures elsewhere in Ulster confirm that the middle part of the last cold stage was free of major lowland ice masses but deposits of this period are absent from Aghnadarragh.     

Late Pleistocene mammoth remains from Coastal Maine, USA

Remains identified as those of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) dated at 12,200 ± 55 ¹⁴C yr B.P. were recovered while excavating in a complex sequence of glaciomarine sediments in Scarborough, Maine, USA. The mammoth was found in the top meter of a fossiliferous unit of mud and sand laminites. These sediments were deposited during a marine regressive phase following the transgression that accompanied northward retreat of the margin of the Laurentide ice sheet. A Portlandia arctica valve from the underlying transgressive unit provides a minimum age of 14,820 ± 105 ¹⁴C yr B.P. for local deglaciation. The mammoth, an adult female, died in midwinter with no evidence of human involvement. Tusk growth rates and oxygen-isotope variation over the last few years of life record low seasonality. The mammoth was transported to the site as a partial carcass by the late-glacial proto-Saco River. It sank in a near-shore setting, was subjected to additional disarticulation and scattering of elements, and was finally buried in sediments reworked by the shallowing sea.     

Patterns of faunal extinction and paleoclimatic change from mid-Holocene mammoth and polar bear remains, Pribilof Islands, Alaska

Qagnaxˆ Cave, a lava tube cave on St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs, has recently produced a mid-Holocene vertebrate faunal assemblage including woolly mammoth, polar bear, caribou, and Arctic fox. Several dates on the mammoth remains converge on 5700 ¹⁴C yr BP. These dates, ~ 2300 yr younger than mammoth dates previously published from the Pribilof Islands, make these the youngest remains of proboscideans, and of non-extinct Quaternary megafauna, recovered from North America. Persistence of mammoths on the Pribilofs is most parsimoniously explained by the isolation of the Pribilofs and the lack of human presence in pre-Russian contact times, but an additional factor may have been the local existence of high-quality forage in the form of grasses enriched by nutrients derived from local Holocene tephras. This interpretation is reinforced by stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values obtained from the mammoth remains. The endpoint of mammoth survival in the Pribilofs is unknown, but maybe coterminous with the arrival of polar bears whose remains in the cave date to the Neoglacial cold period of ~ 4500 to 3500 ¹⁴C yr BP. The polar bear record corroborates a widespread cooling of the Bering Sea region at that time.