Fossil bones of the Miocene-Holocene camels of Eurasia (Russia): mineralogical and geochemical properties and ecological reconstructions

Abstract

Using a wide complex of mineralogical-geochemical and isotope-geochemical methods we studied, a unique series of samples of fossil camels’ bone remains taken from Eurasian localities from the northwestern Black Sea region to western Transbaikalia and Mongolia, dated in the chronological range from the Late Miocene (6 Ma) until the 14th century AD. The obtained results indicated the mineralogical and geochemical properties of fossil bones as very effective way of ecological and climatic reconstructions and interpretation of the evolutionary history of mammals.