Mammoth

From: B.J.PEISER@liverpool-john-moores.ac.uk
To: cambridge-conference@liverpool-john-moores.ac.uk
Subject: MAMMOTH EXTINCTION AROUND 2000 BC?
Date: 18. junij 1997 12:13

Extinction of the Mammoth Around 2000 BC?

It is generally believed that the sudden extinction of the Mammoth (and some 40 other species) coincided with a major climate catastrophe at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary (also called the Younger Dryas boundary) at around 10,000 BP. Russian scholars, however, claim to have discovered evidence for a "mammoth refugium" during the Holocene up until ~2000 BC. If these findings are fairly correct, the final blow to the mammoth might have come from the abrupt climate change at the start of the Subboreal boundary around 2300 BC.

 

Benny J Peiser

 

S.L. Vartanyan, K.A. Arslanov, T.V. Tertychnaya, S.B. Chernov:
Radiocarbon Dating Evidence for Mammoths on Wrangel Island, Artic-Ocean, Until 2000-BC.
In Radiocarbon, 1995, Vol 37, No. 1, pp 1-6

Radiocarbon dating results of mammoth tusks, teeth and bones collected on Wrangel Island between 1989 and 1991 reveal a unique mammoth refugium during the Holocene. We used an improved chemical procedure to obtain and purify collagen from bone. Benzene synthesized from the samples was measured using a liquid scintillation counter. The validity of our data has been confirmed by the results of our measurements on two international control sample series (IAEA and TIRI) and by parallel measurements of Wrangel Island mammoth remains at other laboratories.