The Enmynveem mammoth and vegetation changes in arctic Chukotka during the Late Quaternary

Abstract

Mining operations in the Enmynveem valley, northeastern Siberia, exposed a well-preserved right hind leg of Mammuthus primigenius (woolly mammoth), dated to ca. 37,500 cal yr BP. The leg had a fracture that crosscut the midsections of the tibia and fibula. Additional skeletal and soft tissue remains, including two mummified adults (Berezovka, ca. 47,200 cal yr BP; Bolshoi Lyakhovsky, ca. 37,000 cal yr BP), document the presence of mammoths in interior mountain valleys and across both northern and southern coasts of far northeastern Siberia during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. A mosaic of herb-dominated tundra communities characterized the vegetation of the Enmynveem site during late to middle MIS 3 and MIS 2 (ca. 37,000–17,000 cal yr BP). Shrubs were limited to Salix during the late Pleistocene, whereas Betula also may have been present in sheltered sites during MIS 3. Herb communities remained dominant during the late Pleistocene–Early Holocene transition, although shrub Betula increased during this interval. By ca. 10,200 cal yr BP, the vegetation was Betula–Alnus shrub tundra. Larix and Pinus pumila were established in the valley by ca. 8700 cal yr BP and ca. 5700 cal yr BP, respectively.