scholarly journals Pleistocene horses (genus Equus) in the central Balkans

2003 ◽  
pp. 55-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Forsten ◽  
Vesna Dimitrijevic

A review of the fossil horses of the genus Equus from the central Balkans, a mountainous area comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is presented in this paper. The time period covered by the finds is from the late Early to and including the Late Pleistocene, but the record is not complete: the dated finds are Late Pleistocene in age, while Early and Middle Pleistocene are poorly represented. The horses found resemble those from neighbouring countries from the same time period, probably showing the importance of river valleys as migration routes. The Morava River valley runs in a roughly south-to-north direction, connecting, via the Danube and Tisa River valleys the Hungarian Pannonian Plain in the north with northern Greece in the south, via the Vardar River valley in Macedonia. In Pleistocene, large mammals, including horses, probably used this route for dispersal.

2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 1127-1138
Author(s):  
I.D. Zol’nikov ◽  
I.S. Novikov ◽  
E.V. Deev ◽  
A.V. Shpansky ◽  
M.V. Mikharevich

Abstract —The paper concerns the sediment sequence, which is widespread in the Yenisei valley and in the Tuva and Minusa depressions and also present in the valleys of the southern Chulym plain. The sediments of this sequence were previously described as “Neogene mud-shedding”, as well as moraines, alluvial fan deposits, alluvium of Middle Pleistocene high terraces, and lacustrine sediments. The giant ripple marks on the Upper Yenisei terraces was commonly interpreted as ribbed moraines; however, in recent studies, these ridges have been repeatedly referred to as marks of giant current ripples. Besides, some recently published papers provide description of geology of this sequence fragments suggesting its deposition by cataclysmic floods. Geomorphological analysis of the area shows Pleistocene glaciers to have been localized within the medium–high mountainous areas. The glaciers did not reach the Tuva and Minusa depressions and occupied large areas only in the Todzha basin and on the periphery of the Darkhat basin, forming a glacial dam at its outlet, which resulted in glacial-dammed lakes filling the basin completely. These lakes outburst, and the resultant flooding led to the deposition of megaflood sediments, which we refer to here as the Upper Yenisei sediment sequence. A detailed analysis of its facies architecture revealed similarity of these sediments to those of the Sal’dzhar and Inya sequences in Gorny Altai. Most of the Upper Yenisei megaflood sediments are localized in topographic lows of the Tuva and Minusa depressions. Beyond the Altai–Sayan mountainous area, the megaflood sediments of the Upper Yenisei sequence compose high terraces of the Yenisei, Chulym, Chet’, and Kiya rivers in the southern Chulym plain. The formation of Upper Yenisei sequence dates to the first half of the Late Pleistocene, inasmuch as it contains inset alluvial sediments of the second terrace of the Yenisei River. The available data allow suggesting that the Upper Yenisei sequence formed in the first Late Pleistocene regional glaciation. The Sal’dzhar sequence in Gorny Altai and the fourth terrace of the Ob’ River on the Fore-Altai plain are stratigraphic analogs of the Upper Yenisei sequence. The Upper Yenisei and Sal’dzhar sequences can thus be considered future regional markers serving as a link for the local stratigraphic schemes of the Altai–Sayan mountainous area and adjacent West Siberian plains. The results obtained call for verification by geochronological dating, first of all, by modern luminescence dating methods covering a wider chronological interval than radiocarbon dating.


2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selina Tribe

A map of reconstructed Eocene physiography and drainage directions is presented for the southern Interior Plateau region, British Columbia south of 53°N. Eocene landforms are inferred from the distribution and depositional paleoenvironment of Eocene rocks and from crosscutting relationships between regional-scale geomorphology and bedrock geology of known age. Eocene drainage directions are inferred from physiography, relief, and base level elevations of the sub-Eocene unconformity and the documented distribution, provenance, and paleocurrents of early Cenozoic fluvial sediments. The Eocene landscape of the southern Interior Plateau resembled its modern counterpart, with highlands, plains, and deeply incised drainages, except regional drainage was to the north. An anabranching valley system trending west and northwest from Quesnel and Shuswap Highlands, across the Cariboo Plateau to the Fraser River valley, contained north-flowing streams from Eocene to early Quaternary time. Other valleys dating back at least to Middle Eocene time include the North Thompson valley south of Clearwater, Thompson valley from Kamloops to Spences Bridge, the valley containing Nicola Lake, Bridge River valley, and Okanagan Lake valley. During the early Cenozoic, highlands existed where the Coast Mountains are today. Southward drainage along the modern Fraser, Chilcotin, and Thompson River valleys was established after the Late Miocene.


1955 ◽  
Vol 20 (4Part1) ◽  
pp. 367-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul H. Ezell

The area dealt with in this report is that portion of northwestern Sonora and southwestern Arizona bounded on the southwest by the Gulf of California, on the west by the Colorado River valley below the junction of the Gila River, on the north by the Gila River valley, and on the east by an imaginary line from the vicinity of Gila Bend south along the western edge of the Papago Reservation and thence southwest to the mouth of the Sonoyta River on the Gulf of California (Fig. 106). Within this area Sauer has suggested a boundary between the Piman-speaking people of southern Arizona and northern Sonora, and the Yuman-speaking tribes of the lower Colorado and Gila River valleys, based on linguistic affiliations described in early historical sources (Sauer 1934, map). On archaeological evidence Gifford has suggested that the locality between Punta La Cholla and the mouth of the Sonoyta River represented a point on an ethnic boundary (Gifford 1946: 221).


1985 ◽  
Vol 31 (108) ◽  
pp. 143-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas W. Burbank ◽  
Monique B. Fort

AbstractIn the north-western Himalaya, the distribution of modem glaciers and snowlines in the Ladakh and Zanskar Ranges adjacent to the Indus River valley suggests comparable climatic conditions prevail in the two ranges. Similarly, the positions of terminal moraines and reconstructed equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) indicate equivalent magnitudes of Neoglacial and Late Glacial advances in both ranges. However, the terminal positions and reconstructed ELAs from the late Pleistocene maximum advances are at least 400 m lower in the Ladakh Range than in the nearby Zanskar Range. These differences do not appear to reflect either climatic or tectonic controls. Rather, they are caused by an unusual bedrock configuration in the Zanskar Range, where vertical strata of indurated sandstones and conglomerates, and narrow steep-walled canyons cut through them, created a bulwark that effectively precluded significant down-valley advance. Without recognition of this physical impedance to glacial advance, uncritical reconstructions would greatly overestimate the altitude of the ELA in the Zanskar Range.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Lghamour ◽  
Lhoucine Karrat ◽  
Vincenzo Picotti ◽  
Irka Hajdas ◽  
Negar Haghipour ◽  
...  

<p>      The Inaouène wadi is a river located in the northern region of Morocco. Its catchment area covers about 5124 km² with an average altitude of 800 m. The tributaries drain the marly reliefs of the Prerif in the northern side, as well as its southern ones are crossing the liasic carbonate and the Paleozoic crystalline rocks of the last Middle Atlas foothills. This region is characterised by a semi-arid Mediterranean climate influenced by the ocean oscillations, the average annual rainfall records 600 mm with a very significant spatial and interannual irregularity.</p><p>Along the major part of its flow, the Inaouène river has cut its bed between the Prerif and the Middle Atlas belts, by following the foreland corridor that separates them. From a pass (Touaher) that marks the corridor closing, the river valley widens from East to West, forming an alluvial plain with a maximum width of 5 km incised by a meandering and highly sinuous stream.</p><p>      Alluvial deposits in this valley are more developed on the Atlas side than at the Prerif foot; At least five levels representing the vestiges of the Lower and Middle Pleistocene terraces are present in the landscape.</p><p>More recent deposits occupy the valley floor, they constitute a more homogeneous surface showing low terraces abrupts and lateral limits between different sedimentary units. These alluvial deposits correspond to the terminal Pleistocene, middle and upper Holocene epoch. About 30 samples of charcoal and TOC have been selected and analysed using the  AMS 14C dating. Due to the scarcity of organic matter, some of the samples contained less than 0.1 mg of carbon and had to be analysed using the gas ion source (GIS) interface of the MICADAS (Haghipour et al., 2019; Wacker et al.,2013). 12 sections were described in the field and of which 8 sections were analysed regarding grain size, mineralogical composition, carbonate content as well as organic matter in soils and sediments.</p><p>      The analysis results indicate that the late Pleistocene is characterised by a high fluvial activity reflected by the development of braided system river and so coarse material, while fine deposits of floodplains are more abundant during the Holocene.</p><p>……...........</p><p><strong>Haghipour, N., Ausin, B., Usman, M. O., Ishikawa, N., Wacker, L., Welte, C., Ueda, K., and Eglinton, T. I., 2019, Compound-Specific Radiocarbon Analysis by Elemental Analyzer-Accelerator Mass Spectrometry: Precision and Limitations: Analytical Chemistry, v. 91, no. 3, p. 2042-2049.</strong></p><p><strong>Wacker, L., Fahrni, S., Hajdas, I., Molnar, M., Synal, H., Szidat, S., and Zhang, Y., 2013, A versatile gas interface for routine radiocarbon analysis with a gas ion source: Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-Beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms, v. 294, p. 315-319.</strong></p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1679-1703
Author(s):  
Dariusz Krzyszkowski ◽  
Lucyna Wachecka-Kotkowska ◽  
Marcin Krawczyk

AbstractThe article depicts the problem of river system development during the Middle Pleistocene Interglacial in the Bystrzyca River Valley (Sudetic Foreland, south-western Poland). Ten research sites located within the Świdnica Plain are presented, in which the structural, grain size (granulometry), petrographic, quartz grain morphoscopy, and heavy mineral analyses were carried out. The study results show the formation of piedmont fan deposits 2–8 km to the NE of the Sudetic Marginal Fault. The location of the fluvial deposits between the Sanian and Odranian tills indicates that they were deposited during the Holsteinian Interglacial (Krzczonów Formation, Mazovian; see Table 1). According toxthe lithofacies analysis, vast alluvial plains, composed of angular gravel grains in the south and of sands in the north, were deposited in the Sudetic Foreland in the environment of a very dynamic river. They are covered with a discontinuous layer of Odranian till. The petrographic spectrum shows 90–99% of local rocks, namely, Sudetic porphyry, Sowie Mts Gneiss and milky quartz, and 1–10% of Scandinavian rocks. In the proto-Bystrzyca river system, the existence of an oxbow lake in the distal part of the Krzczonów fan has been proved, which was developing at the end of the Holsteinian Interglacial. The continuity of the alluvial deposits is interrupted in the vicinity of Świdnica due to both the tectonic movements and the formation of the narrow tectonic graben of Roztoka–Mokrzeszów.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 16-30
Author(s):  
F. Enikeev ◽  

The article presents the results of the reconstruction of the spatial boundaries and parameters of glaciers for the isolated mountain structures of the Patomsky and North Baikal uplands in the era of the Last Glaciation (MIS 2) with the construction of a paleogeographic map. The object of this study is the dynamics of exogenous processes during the development of the permafrost zone in Eastern Siberia. The subject of research is the glacial relief forms of the Late Neopleistocene of the Patomsky and North Baikal uplands. The comparative, descriptive, cartographic research methods, methods of observation and actualism have been used. Based on the interpretation of aerial and satellite images, the identification of typomorphic glaciers with the maximum number of preserved destructive and accumulative glaciogenic forms, a depression of the snow boundary was established, which at that time was at the level of 2000…2100 m. The features of the lower boundary deformations of the chionosphere were revealed. Its deepest minimum is noted on the northwestern edge of the considered territory. The greatest decrease in relation to the paleoclimatic snow boundary, which extended to an altitude of 1600…1700 m, was 600…700 m. The positive extremum was confined to the central part of the Patom upland and exceeded the paleoclimatic snow line by 50…100 m. Anomalous extremes at that time period are due to global climatic, regional orographic and local (slope exposure) causes. It has been determined that in terms of morphology, glaciation of the territories under consideration is mountain-valley and reticulate with several sections of mountain-cover, confined to the flattened surfaces of the summit belt of mountain structures. According to the difference between the ice surface isolines and the valley bottom in the cross section, the thickness of the glacier was specified, and could reach 400…600 m. When searching for alluvial occurrences and gold deposits, as well as when sampling placer flows and secondary geochemical halos, it is recommended to orient prospecting in the direction of movement of ice masses. The new paleogeographic data obtained will increase the possibilities of more efficient mapping of Quaternary sediments within the North Baikal and Patom uplands and the identification of specific sections of river valleys in this area, favourable for placer formation


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-438
Author(s):  
A. V. Buzko

The paper gives the review of epistolary materials for the biography of two archaeologists — Dr. Anastasia Mantsevych from Leningrad (1899—1982) and Dr. Maria Viazmitina from Kyiv (1896—1994). The documents are retained in Maria Viazmitina’s personal fund (N 34) in the Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archaeology of NASU. Among 126 letters from A. Mantsevych to M. Viazmitina 43 are selected for fragmentary publishing. These letters show us the personality of Anastasiia Mantsevych during the time period from 1952 to 1982. Letters demonstrate what thoughts, ideas and reflections stayed behind her published papers, behind her confidence at the scientific conferences during public polemics. Letters discover a strong individual and a sensitive human being at the same time, making essential addition to her scientific portrait. Through the letters the article also gives a review of scientific life in the State Hermitage Museum (Leningrad) and in the Institute of Archaeology (Kyiv). Correspondents point and discuss the significant museum exhibitions and sensational archaeological discoveries, share their plans about visiting main scientific conferences and congresses. Among the discussed topics are «Treasures of Tutankhamun tomb» in Leningrad (1974) and in Kyiv (1975); exhibition exchange between British Museum and State Hermitage in 1979 («The Siberian Collection of Peter I» and «The Oxus treasure»); Dr. Yuri Boltryk’s excavations of Oguz tomb in 1980, Borys Mozolevski’s and Halyna Kovpanenko’s findings of that period, Oleksandr Leskov’s findings in the tombs of the North Caucasus. There are also reflections about Professor Manolis Andronikos’ findings — the tomb of Macedonian kings near Vergina settlement in Northern Greece and Viktor Sarianidi’s findings of «Bactrian Gold» in Afghanistan.


1985 ◽  
Vol 31 (108) ◽  
pp. 143-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas W. Burbank ◽  
Monique B. Fort

AbstractIn the north-western Himalaya, the distribution of modem glaciers and snowlines in the Ladakh and Zanskar Ranges adjacent to the Indus River valley suggests comparable climatic conditions prevail in the two ranges. Similarly, the positions of terminal moraines and reconstructed equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) indicate equivalent magnitudes of Neoglacial and Late Glacial advances in both ranges. However, the terminal positions and reconstructed ELAs from the late Pleistocene maximum advances are at least 400 m lower in the Ladakh Range than in the nearby Zanskar Range. These differences do not appear to reflect either climatic or tectonic controls. Rather, they are caused by an unusual bedrock configuration in the Zanskar Range, where vertical strata of indurated sandstones and conglomerates, and narrow steep-walled canyons cut through them, created a bulwark that effectively precluded significant down-valley advance. Without recognition of this physical impedance to glacial advance, uncritical reconstructions would greatly overestimate the altitude of the ELA in the Zanskar Range.


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