An adult male approximately 50 years of age. The geological age is 11,500 years B.P. It was discovered by geologists in 1948 in the valley of the Manontovaya River in the northwest Taimyr Peninsula. Burial occurred in peat soil of the first terrace above the flood plain, and most probably, all things considered, in a former flood plain lake. The excavations were conducted in 1949 (Portenko et al., 1951). Nearly a complete skeleton was exposed and collected, as was ‘a certain quantity of guard hairs, partly coarser bristles and underwool, particularly on the right scapula and the limbs.’ Vereshchagin and A. N. Tikhonov (1999:19).
Prof. A.A. Ukraintseva: A complete skeleton of the animal, which died 11,450 ± 450 yr B.P., was found on the Marnonta River, Northwestern Taimyr. Teeth, tusks and ribs of the animal are common in river and lake scraps. Inclusions of bone remains of specimens of the ‘mammoth’ faunal complex are very characteristic of lacustrine deposit of Lake Taimyr. ‘They locally compose whole intercalations’ in outcrops of its later terraces (Kind and Leonov, eds, 1982, p. 134). 14Ch ages of the finds of specimens of the ‘mammoth’ faunal complex, including dates recently obtained by L.D. Sulerzhitsky on bone remains of a mammoth, two horses, some muskoxen, and an elk suggest that representatives of the ‘mammoth’ faunal complex inhabited Taimyr for the past 50,000-55,000 years at least. As late as 9670 ± 60 yr B.P. Mammoths lived in the Liizhnyaya Tungusta River Basin, musk oxen lived at Cape Chelyuskin 2920 ± 50 yr B.P. Horses were the first to leave the area; they inhabited the Bolshaya Balakhnya River Basin and the vicinity of Lake Taimyr 36,300 ± 900 yr B.P., and 2150 ± 200 yr B.P.. Ukraintseva, V.V. (1993 175)
Prof. A. A. Ukraintseva: A turning-point in the evolution of natural environment of Taimyr occurred about 25,000 yr B.P. The last phase of Karginsky warming came to an end a transition to maximal cooling about 20,000 yr B.P. and to the development of glaciation in the Byrranga and Putorana mountains took place. According to the modern notions (Kind and Leonov, eds, 1982), glaciation of Taimyr was incomplete. A small ice shield only formed on the Putorana Plateau; the shield gave birth to piedmont glaciers at the northern plateau foot on the north Siberian lowland. Glaciers of the Anabar center did not reach the North Siberian lowland at all. Field studies, carried out by Zh. M. Belorusova revealed no evidence of Sartan Glaciation either on the eastern North Siberian lowland or in the lower Khatanga River area (Belorusova et al., 1977). No continental glaciation of the region is shown on the landscape map of the epoch of maximal cooling of the late Pleistocene (Gerasimov and Velichko, 1984). A glaciation of the valley-reticulated type developed on northeastern Taimyr, in its highest mountainous part (Makeev et al., 1975). Maximal advance of the Sartan glaciation southwards took place on western Taimyr.
During the Sartan cooling, the climate was rigorous. Open, treeless landscapes, i.e, various tundras, dominated by mosses and lichens, were widely developed. This is suggested by a very low content of pollen and spores in Sartan deposits and a very poor species composition of plants, which grew at that time. Palynological spectra of that time are dominated by spores of cryptogamic plants (mainly, true mosses) and pollen of herbs (sedges, grasses, forbs the latter being poor in species); pollen of shrubs and low shrubs is rare (essentially, low birch, willow, alder); pollen of trees, if any, is represented by scanty grains of larch, large woody Birch, Siberian pine, spruce, which are undoubted adventitious, except for pollen of larch, which is known not to be transported long-distance. Ukraintseva, V.V. (1993:185)
An arid and severe climate is also suggested by multiple eolian landforms, formed at that time (Kind and Leonov, eds, 1982), as well as by remains of specimens of the ‘mammoth’ faunal complex, dated by Sartan cooling (Glaciation), in particular, musk ox, horse, mammoth, bison and others. Of particular paleogeographic interest are a series of 14C dated, recently obtained by L.D. Sulerzhitzky on Ovibos remains from Taimyr, as they allow us to trace the paths and time of migration of the animals as the climate and the character of vegetation varied in this vast region. …
During the 1975-76 field seasons in the Ary-Mas area, on the Novaya River sloping beach, the author (V.V. Ukrainskava) discovered: remains of the horse (Equus lenensis Grom.) namely, a skull of very good preservation and limb bones; a horn of musk ox, teeth and limb bones of mammoth of the later type.
According to palynological data, the onset of Sartan cooling in the Ary-Mas area was characterized by progressive floristic impoverishment and change in vegetation. Light forests thinned out and turned into tundra, with gallery forests located along the rivers. Tundra plant associations, dominated by mosses and lichens, became ubiquitous in time. The Sartan periglacial complex undoubtedly included herbaceous (sedge-grass) communities, developed in the site of drained lakes, which were gradually replaced by moss vegetation. Ukraintseva, V.V. (1993:186)
Sartan cooling from 24,000 (23,000) to 12,000 yr B.P.
Sartan Ice Age (12,000(13,000) – 23,000(25,000) yr B.P., the final stage of Pleistocene was marked by the most essential cooling, related to the Last (Sartan, late Valdai, late Wisconsin) glaciation in all glaciated areas. Numerous radiocarbon dates for both various regions of Siberia and the whole of Northern Hemisphere indicate that the cooling initiated 22,000-23,000 yr B.P.; in the middle and northern latitudes of Northern Eurasia and North America it reached a maximum 18,000-20,000 yr B.P.. … According to Van Campo (1984), in Western Europe the cooling maximum occurred 15,000 yr B.P. The cooling was so severe that the Arctic, the Pacific, and the Atlantic were ice-covered. This caused a profound reorganization of the zonal structure of vegetation zones, formed earlier. At that time, most of extratropical Europe was covered by open, treeless landscapes, which were named the hyper-zone by Velichko (1973). Small localities of light coniferous and birch forests were situated farther south only (Gerasimov and Velichko, 1984).
Arctic deserts existed in the north of Eurasia, on the shelf, free of sea water; they gave way to tundras of different type to the south and to periglacial steppes occurring in the transitional area only (Lavrenko, 1981). At that time, ranges of tundra and steppe animals were contiguous or even overlapped each other. Steppe animals considerably widened their ranges northwards. All the above-given coenoses are marked by palynological spectra, which reflect the treeless and almost shrubless nature of vegetation cover. … The author (V.V. Ukraintseva) holds the opinion, stated by Ager (1982), that such pollen spectra can represent types of vegetation, which both have recent equivalents (for example, polar deserts, alpine grass tundra) and have no equivalents (arctic steppe or tundra-steppe). …
It is natural that the boundaries of geographical zones were also shifted southwards. Over the vast territories of the north of Eurasia, the zone of arctic deserts was developed and the tundra zone essentially extended; a common cooling led to the suppression of forest vegetation; however, the forest zone did not disappear completely in the territory of Russian Plain and Western Siberia. Ukraintseva, V.V. (1993 217, 218)
Protein in Northeast Siberia
Prof. V.V. Ukraintseva: The protein content is one of the main nutrient index of feed (Andreev, ed. 1974). … The seasonal dynamics of nutrients and mineral elements is believed to be of great importance for the extinct animals such as mammoth, rhinoceros and others, and recent large herbivores. The content of protein and albumen is known to drastically decrease in pasture forage in autumn-winter-spring seasons (Andreev, ed., 1974).
In the upper Yana area, the content of protein decreases in main types of forage herbs in winter, as compared to summer: grasses and sedges show a 3.5-6.9 and 2.6-6.4 times decrease, respectively. In the middle Kolyma area, the content of protein and albumen in plants decreases by winter to a lesser degree: grasses and sedges have a content of protein and albumen less than 2.4-3.5 and 2.4-5.2 times their contents in summer.
Herbs, studied in the upper Yana and middle Kolyma areas ranges from 19 to 37 g/kg air-dried matter and from 7 to 11 g/kg dry matter in summer and winter, respectively. A sharp drop in protein-albumen nutritiousness of winter forage affects albumen exchange and productivity of the animals, particularly, horses. Ukraintseva, V.V. (1993 230, 231)
Woolly mammoth on meadow-steppe (tall grassland). After: B. Kurtén (1988:57). Only in the mild, temperate climate – where there is enough food and water throughout the year – this elephant is able to live. In an arctic climate it would starve and thirst to death.