Chapter 7: Berelekh Mammoths

 

Professor N.K. Vereshchagin and A.N. Tikhonov: A large series of skeletal remains, numbering 8,830 bones (including at this count, four skulls, more than 180 cheek teeth and tooth fragments, and 44 tusks), from 156 individual mammoths collected at the Berelekh mammoth ‘cemetery,’ on the Berelekh River, a left tributary of the Indigirka River in Yakutia. Approximately 75% of all the individuals collected and presumably representatives of those preserved at this locality were females. In addition to the bones, about two kg of tangled hair (wool and guard hair) was recovered, as were several small pieces of partially rotted skin, and a well preserved hind leg with skin.

 

The excavations and washouts (melting of permafrost by water pump) of the strata of the banks of the Berelekh were conducted by an expedition lead by N.K. Vereshchagin, B.S. Rusanov, and P.A. Lazarev in 1970, 1972, and 1980. The geological age of the Berelekh material according to radiocarbon age determination of tusk ivory is 12,240 ± 160 years B.P., but on the basis of 14C age determination of ligament and skin the geological age of the material is 13,700 ± 400 years B.P. The death of the individuals and the burial of their skeletons and carcasses occurred in a flood plain lake, representing the late Pleistocene bed of the proto-Berelekh River.

 

The hind leg of the mammoth, with measurements of the sole of the foot of 24 x 25 cm, preserved four toe-nails. Dense wool in the area of the tarsals and on the lower shin portion, with a length of 30 – 40 mm, was of a reddish-gold colour. Over the lower part of the femur, the hair-covering reached 20 – 25 cm and more in length. N. K. Vereshchagin and A.N. Tikhonov (1999:19, 20)

 

Prof. A.A. Ukraintseva reports about this site: A cemetery of mammoths, the largest burial site in the North-East of Siberia (Vereshchagin, 1977), is situated at 71°N and 145°E, among marginal ‚islands’ of larch forests on the middle Berelekh River, the left tributary of the Indigirka River (Fig. 52). The height of Berelekh River terrace reaches there 10-12 m above low water level and 15-20 m at localities of gently sloping ground-ice mounds. A bone bed is traced on the riverside for a distance of 180 m due to dark coloring of rocks. In 1970, the bed occurred at a depth of 3.5-4.0 m from the terrace edge and varied within 0.50-0.60 m to 1-2 m in thickness at different sites. The bone bed is overlain by a bed, which contained branches and roots. The bed formed in the time interval 11,87± 60 – 10,260 ± 150 yr B.P. (Lozhkin, 1977).

 

Radiocarbon analysis of branches and roots, collected by N.K. Vereshchagin in 1970 at a depth of 2.5 m from the terrace edge yielded a date of 11,830 ± 110 yr B.P. The mammoth remains from the bone bed yielded two values, namely, ages of 13,700 ± 400 yr B.P. and 12,240 ± 160 yr B.P. were obtained on skin and ligament fragments (Lozhkin, 1977) and tusk fragment from a depth of 3.5 m from the terrace edge, respectively. Thus, the dates of death of only two of 140 specimens, which lived and died in the area, were determined (Baryshnikov et al., 1977). Nevertheless, these values give, on the one hand, an indication of the lifetime of the Berelekh mammoth population and, on the other hand, date the bone marker bed. (1993:135)

 

 

Species

Number of bones

Number of specimen

% of all bones

Mammoth

8,431

140

99.3

Glutton

7+1 corpses

4

0.08

Cave lion

1

1

0.01

Woolly rhinoceros

1

1

0.01

Chersky horse

12

3

0.14

Reindeer

32

4

0.37

Primeval bison

8

2

0.09

Willow grouse

8,491

1 corpse

100

 

G.F. Baryshnikov has calculated this (cited from Vereshchagin, 1977)

 

 

Species composition and the amount of bones of the Berelekh cemetery (Table 17) show that the paleopopulation was dominated by mammoths, essentially young and semi-grown up specimen. According to Zherekhova (1977), females accounted for 60% of the population. V.V. Ukraintseva (1993:137)

 

The cemetery began to form at the close of Sartan time when the area under study and adjacent territories were mainly occupied by treeless landscapes, namely, grass and low bush-grass tundras on highs and sedge-grass in lows. This is confirmed by the lack of forest species in the Berelekh mammal population and the predominance of pollen of herbs in spectra of the bone bed, as well as the predominance of tundra, tundra-steppe and steppe species in fauna of coleopterous beetles. The upper part of the terrace, exposed by stripping (depth interval 8-12 m from the water edge), was formed by deposition under lacustrine-alluvial conditions, accompanied by alluvium accumulation at lower levels. A fundamental change in the character of natural landscapes in the Berelekh River Basin, caused by a first wave of warming at the end of the late Pleistocene, is fixed by phase I – the phase of larch-birch and birch forests. V.V. Ukraintseva (1993:147).

 

In what kind of a climate would the herds of mammoths (mostly cows with their small calves and juveniles) had had to live in the northern part of the forest-tundra with its patches of larch trees (Larix dahurica). The Berelekh burial site lies west of the delta and lower part of the Indigirka River, close to the present Arctic Coast at 71°N and 21°45’E. The nearest climatic station lies just a few miles to the east, south of the delta of the Indigirka River, at the settlement of Chokurdakh. The forest-tundra goes there just as far, up to Chokurdakh. How warm is there now the summer? That is, in what kind of a climate would the herds of woolly mammoth have had to live up there in the northern part of the forest-tundra?

 

The World Survey of Climatology 7, Climates of the Soviet Union, by Paul E. Lydolph, 1977 p. 373, Table XVII shows us:

 

Climatic table of Chokurdakh, Latitude 70°37’N, longitude 147°53’E, elevation 20 m.

Total temperature sum with days above 0°C is there 742.2°.

 

No elephant (and thus, no mammoth) is able to live in a northern forest-tundra, where the temperature sum with days above 0°C is 742.2°. That is far too cold, and the time, in which the plants are able to grow there, is far too short. Not even the bison would be able to live there.

 

 

Result

 

The pollen and plant-remains show us: The first mammoths (mainly cows with calves and juveniles) in the Berelekh burial site have lived, according to the radiocarbon dates, at the close of the Last Ice Age (Sartan Ice Age). It was so cold that no trees were able to grow up there, only grass and low bush-grass tundra and sedge-grass in the low parts of the country.

 

The mammoth-remains further up in the layers of the Berelekh burial site have lived, when it had become a little warmer. Forest-tundra, with patches of birch- and larch trees was growing now up there. No mammoth is able to live in such a forest-tundra. There is too little food. But the herds of woolly mammoths have also lived already long before this at the Berelekh River, near the present Arctic Coast. According to the C14-dates. That is during the height of the Last Ice Age. It was so cold then up there, that no trees were able to grow, only Arctic tundra and polar desert, as we find them now on the Canadian High Arctic Islands. No elephant or mammoth is able to live there, and also no bison. The forest-tundra, with its light, open larch trees (Larix dahurica) has there a temperature sum with days above 0°C of 746.2°. No mammoth, no bison, and no lion is able to live there. They would starve to death.

 

Together with the mammoths (cowherds with calves and juveniles), also the mighty cave-lion has lived. New research has also shown (Herrington) that also the tiger has lived in northern Siberia and Alaska. They have lived up there as residents, raising cubs. They are only able to raise their cubs, where there is enough large mammal prey biomass during the lean season of the year. Any surplus during the rest of the year is irrelevant. The cave lion and the tiger have lived in northern Siberia and Alaska/Yukon in a mild temperature climate, without an arctic winter. This also shows us that there must be something seriously wrong with these radiocarbon dates. Because according to them, the mammoth and its companions has lived up there, when they were not able to live up there at all, because it was far too cold. Any assertions to the contrary are only wishful thinking. They have nothing to do with serious scientific research.

 

When these animals were living up there, the climate was entirely different. It was mild, temperate, without an arctic winter, without ice and snow. These herds of female mammoths, with their small calves (also unborn ones), bison, and lions have lived up there before the global Flood of Noah’s days. And they have died up there in this global Flood of Noah’s days, in the year 2370 B.C.E according to Bible chronology. Only this explanation agrees with all the scientific facts, which we know now.