scholarly journals Pollen analyses of Pleistocene hyaena coprolites from Montenegro and Serbia

2007 ◽  
pp. 73-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Argant ◽  
Vesna Dimitrijevic
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Pollen Concentration ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Mosaic Landscape ◽  
Pollen Analyses

The results of pollen analyses of hyaena coprolites from the Early Pleistocene cave of Trlica in northern Montenegro and the Late Pleistocene cave of Baranica in southeast Serbia are described. The Early Pleistocene Pachycrocuta brevirostris, and the Late Pleistocene Crocuta spelaea are coprolite-producing species. Although the pollen concentration was rather low, the presented analyses add considerably to the much-needed knowledge of the vegetation of the central Balkans during the Pleistocene. Pollen extracted from a coprolite from the Baranica cave indicates an open landscape with the presence of steppe taxa, which is in accordance with the recorded conditions and faunal remains. Pollen analysis of the Early Pleistocene samples from Trlica indicate fresh and temperate humid climatic conditions, as well as the co-existence of several biotopes which formed a mosaic landscape in the vicinity of the cave.

Late Cenozoic pollen spectra from the Atherton Tableland, north-eastern Australia

1982 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 279 ◽  
Author(s):  
AP Kershaw ◽  
IR Sluiter
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Late Cenozoic ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Primitive Angiosperms ◽  
Modern Pollen ◽  
Late Tertiary ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
North Eastern

Pollen analysis of samples from a short sediment sequence on the Atherton Tableland, of Late Tertiary or Early Pleistocene age, provides the first evidence of existing vegetation within the region prior to about 100,000 years B.P. Comparison of fossil samples with modern pollen spectra suggests the presence of a submontane rainforest existing under a temperature regime some 3°C cooler than present. A number of ancient taxa including Nothofagus and several conifers, present in the fossil samples, no longer exists within the region. An attempt is made to explain their decline within an area that harbours a great diversity of rainforest species including many primitive angiosperms. Unfavourable climatic conditions combined with aspects of the dispersal ecology of the taxa would have been important contributing factors.

Pollen Analysis of Hyena Coprolites and Sediments from Equus Cave, Taung, Southern Kalahari (South Africa)

1987 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Scott
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Optimal Temperature ◽  
Local Sources ◽  
Moisture Conditions

AbstractEquus Cave, in Quaternary tufa near Taung in the semiarid woodland of the southern Kalahari, yielded 2.5 m of sediment in which a rich assemblage of bones and coprolites was preserved. The fossils were accumulated mainly by hyenas during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Pollen from coprolites reflects diet as well as vegetation over relatively large areas visited by hyenas, while pollen from sediments represents more local sources. The pollen sequence derived from coprolites and sediments demonstrates how the vegetation evolved from open grassland with small shrubs and occasional trees during the late Pleistocene, to open savanna with more small shurbs, then, during the last 7500 yr, to modern savanna. Temperatures were not more than 4°C cooler and it was slightly moister than today during the late Pleistocene phase; it became gradually warmer but relatively dry before optimal temperature and moisture conditions developed around 7500 yr B.P. Climatic conditions slightly less favorable for woodland occurred during part of the late Holocene.

scholarly journals A Giant Ostrich from the Lower Pleistocene Nihewan Formation of North China, with a Review of the Fossil Ostriches of China

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Eric Buffetaut ◽  
Delphine Angst
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
North China ◽  
Hebei Province ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Wide Geographical Distribution ◽  
Lower Pleistocene ◽  
The Crimea

A large incomplete ostrich femur from the Lower Pleistocene of North China, kept at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris), is described. It was found by Father Emile Licent in 1925 in the Nihewan Formation (dated at about 1.8 Ma) of Hebei Province. On the basis of the minimum circumference of the shaft, a mass of 300 kg, twice that of a modern ostrich, was obtained. The bone is remarkably robust, more so than the femur of the more recent, Late Pleistocene, Struthio anderssoni from China, and resembles in that regard Pachystruthio Kretzoi, 1954, a genus known from the Lower Pleistocene of Hungary, Georgia and the Crimea, to which the Nihewan specimen is referred, as Pachystruthio indet. This find testifies to the wide geographical distribution of very massive ostriches in the Early Pleistocene of Eurasia. The giant ostrich from Nihewan was contemporaneous with the early hominins who inhabited that region in the Early Pleistocene.

scholarly journals Reconstructing Late Pleistocene paleoclimate at the scale of human behavior: an example from the Neandertal occupation of La Ferrassie (France)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Pederzani ◽  
Vera Aldeias ◽  
Harold L. Dibble ◽  
Paul Goldberg ◽  
Jean-Jacques Hublin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Climatic Data ◽  
Human Scale ◽  
Winter Temperatures ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Climatic Records

AbstractExploring the role of changing climates in human evolution is currently impeded by a scarcity of climatic information at the same temporal scale as the human behaviors documented in archaeological sites. This is mainly caused by high uncertainties in the chronometric dates used to correlate long-term climatic records with archaeological deposits. One solution is to generate climatic data directly from archaeological materials representing human behavior. Here we use oxygen isotope measurements of Bos/Bison tooth enamel to reconstruct summer and winter temperatures in the Late Pleistocene when Neandertals were using the site of La Ferrassie. Our results indicate that, despite the generally cold conditions of the broader period and despite direct evidence for cold features in certain sediments at the site, Neandertals used the site predominantly when climatic conditions were mild, similar to conditions in modern day France. We suggest that due to millennial scale climate variability, the periods of human activity and their climatic characteristics may not be representative of average conditions inferred from chronological correlations with long-term climatic records. These results highlight the importance of using direct routes, such as the high-resolution archives in tooth enamel from anthropogenically accumulated faunal assemblages, to establish climatic conditions at a human scale.

Emergence of critical climate states during the Pleistocene

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Golledge
Keyword(s):  
Dynamical Systems ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Dominant Frequency ◽  
Climate System ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Glacial Cycles ◽  
Pleistocene Climate ◽  
System Nodes ◽  
Systems Framework

<p>During the Pleistocene (approximately 2.6 Ma to present) glacial to interglacial climate variability evolved from dominantly 40 kyr cyclicity (Early Pleistocene) to 100 kyr cyclicity (Late Pleistocene to present). Three aspects of this period remain poorly understood: Why did the dominant frequency of climate oscillation change, given that no major changes in orbital forcing occurred? Why are the longer glacial cycles of the Late Pleistocene characterised by a more asymmetric form with abrupt terminations? And how can the Late Pleistocene climate be controlled by 100 kyr cyclicity when astronomical forcings of this frequency are so much weaker than those operating on shorter periods? Here we show that the decreasing frequency and increasing asymmetry that characterise Late Pleistocene ice age cycles both emerge naturally in dynamical systems in response to increasing system complexity, with collapse events (terminations) occuring only once a critical state has been reached. Using insights from network theory we propose that evolution to a state of criticality involves progressive coupling between climate system 'nodes', which ultimately allows any component of the climate system to trigger a globally synchronous termination. We propose that the climate state is synchronised at the 100 kyr frequency, rather than at shorter periods, because eccentricity-driven insolation variability controls mean temperature change globally, whereas shorter-period astronomical forcings only affect the spatial pattern of thermal forcing and thus do not favour global synchronisation. This dynamical systems framework extends and complements existing theories by accomodating the differing mechanistic interpretations of previous studies without conflict.</p>

scholarly journals Notes on distribution and relative abundances of some animal species, and on climate in the Kruger National Park during prehistoric times

Koedoe ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ina Plug
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Animal Population ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
The Past ◽  
Relative Abundances ◽  
Insight Into

Faunal remains obtained from archaeological sites in the Kruger National Park, provide valuable information on the distributions of animal species in the past. The relative abundances of some species are compared with animal population statistics of the present. The study of the faunal samples, which date from nearly 7 000 years before present until the nineteenth century, also provides insight into climatic conditions during prehistoric times.

Aeolian influx and related environmental conditions on Gran Canaria during the early Pleistocene

2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inmaculada Menéndez ◽  
José Mangas ◽  
Esperança Tauler ◽  
Vidal Barrón ◽  
José Torrent ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Textural Analysis ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Quartz Content ◽  
Gran Canaria ◽  
Climatic Oscillations ◽  
Climatic Variations

AbstractThe island of Gran Canaria is regularly affected by dust falls due to its proximity to the Saharan desert. Climatic oscillations may affect the Saharan dust input to the island. Geochemical, mineralogical, and textural analysis was performed on a well-developed and representative early Pleistocene paleosol to examine Saharan dust contribution to Gran Canaria. Significant and variable Saharan dust content was identified in addition to weathering products such as iron oxides and clay minerals. Variations in quartz and iron oxide concentrations in the paleosol likely reflect different Saharan dust input in more/less-contrasted rhexistasic/biostatic climatic conditions. Linking the quartz content in Canarian soils, the Ingenio paleosol, and two Canarian loess-like deposits to different ages from the Quaternary, we hypothesized that the dust input should be lower (about 33–38%) throughout the early to middle Pleistocene than during the late Quaternary. The Saharan dust input to the Gran Canaria profile in the Pleistocene persisted in spite of climatic variations.

Bayesian analysis of sea-level sensitivity to CO2 forcing across the mid-Pleistocene transition: possible implications for early-Pleistocene ice-sheet extent

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parker Liautaud ◽  
Peter Huybers
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Bayesian Analysis ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Model Parameters

<p><span>Foregoing studies have found that sea-level transitioned to becoming approximately twice as sensitive to CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> radiative forcing between the early and late Pleistocene (Chalk et al., 2017; Dyez et al., 2018). In this study we analyze the relationships among sea-level, orbital variations, and CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> observations in a time-dependent, zonally-averaged energy balance model having a simple ice sheet. Probability distributions for model parameters are inferred using a hierarchical Bayesian method representing model and data uncertainties, including those arising from uncertain geological age models. We find that well-established nonlinearities in the climate system can explain sea-level becoming 2.5x (2.1x - 4.5x) more sensitive to radiative forcing between 2 and 0 Ma. Denial-of-mechanism experiments show that the increase in sensitivity is diminished by 36% (31% - 39%) if omitting geometric effects associated with thickening of a larger ice sheet, by 81% (73% - 92%) if omitting the ice-albedo feedback, and by more than 96% (93% - 98%) if omitting both. We also show that prescribing a fixed sea-level age model leads to different inferences of ice-sheet dimension, planetary albedo, and lags in the response to radiative forcing than if using a more complete approach in which sea-level ages are jointly inferred with model physics. Consistency of the model ice-sheet with geologic constraints on the southern terminus of the Laurentide ice sheet can be obtained by prescribing lower basal shear stress during the early Pleistocene, but such more-expansive ice sheets imply lower CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> levels than would an ice-sheet having the same aspect ratio as in the late Pleistocene, exacerbating disagreements with </span><span>𝛿</span><span><sup>11</sup></span><span>B-derived CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> estimates. These results raise a number of possibilities, including that (1) geologic evidence for expansive early-Pleistocene ice sheets represents only intermittent and spatially-limited ice-margin advances, (2) </span><span>𝛿</span><span><sup>11</sup></span><span>B-derived CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> reconstructions are biased high, or (3) that another component of the global energy balance system, such as the average ice albedo or a process not included in our model, also changed through the middle Pleistocene. Future work will seek to better constrain early-Pleistocene CO</span><span><sub>2</sub></span><span> levels by way of a more complete incorporation of proxy uncertainties and biases into the Bayesian analysis.</span></p>

Vipera berus (Linnaeus, 1758) remains from the Late Pleistocene of Slovakia

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Ivanov ◽  
Andrej Čerňanský
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Mixed Forest ◽  
Axial Skeleton ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Mammalian Fauna ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
Vipera Berus ◽  
Faunal Assemblages ◽  
The Common

Completely preserved specimens of fossil snakes are extremely rare and ophidian palaeontologists are usually dependent only on disarticulated elements of a postcranial skeleton. Here we present an unusually well-preserved specimen of a small viperid snake from the Late Pleistocene firm travertine at the famous Gánovce-Hrádok Neanderthal mound in Slovakia. The complex study of both cranial and axial skeleton with well-preserved maxilla and basiparasphenoid confirms the presence of a viper from theVipera berusspecies group, and recent distribution ofV. berusspecies complex members supports identification of these preserved remains as belonging to the common adder,V. berus(Linnaeus, 1758). Associated faunal assemblages of the MFG-C and D mammalian fauna groups reported from the firm travertine indicate a humid climate in a predominantly woodland environment with typical forest species in the Gánovce-Hrádok vicinity throughout the Eemian optimum, and mixed forest and steppe environments in the late Eemian to early Weichselian stages. Occurrence ofV. berusdocuments the presence of open or semi-open biotopes with low vegetation. AlthoughV. berusoccurs in the Quaternary glacial/interglacial cycle and throughout the entire warm part, it never dominated herpetofaunal assemblages during the climatic optimum. Therefore, the presence ofV. berusmost likely indicates late Eemian or early Weichselian (interstadial) climatic conditions.

Do Stable Isotope Data from Calcrete Record Late Pleistocene Monsoonal Climate Variation in the Thar Desert of India?

1998 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 240-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian E. Andrews ◽  
Ashok K. Singhvi ◽  
Ansu J. Kailath ◽  
Ralph Kuhn ◽  
Paul F. Dennis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Green Light ◽  
Summer Rainfall ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Thar Desert ◽  
Quaternary Sediments ◽  
Low Latitudes ◽  
Stable Oxygen ◽  
Glacial Periods

Late Pleistocene terrestrial climate records in India may be preserved in oxygen and carbon stable isotopes in pedogenic calcrete. Petrography shows that calcrete nodules in Quaternary sediments of the Thar Desert in Rajasthan are pedogenic, with little evidence for postpedogenic alteration. The calcrete occurs in four laterally persistent and one nonpersistent eolian units, separated by colluvial gravel. Thermoluminescence and infrared- and green-light-stimulated luminescence of host quartz and feldspar grains gave age brackets for persistent eolian units I–IV of ca. 70,000–60,000, ca. 60,000–55,000, ca. 55,000–43,000, and ca. 43,000–∼25,000 yr, respectively. The youngest eolian unit (V) is <10,000 yr old and contains no calcrete. Stable oxygen isotope compositions of calcretes in most of eolian unit I, in the upper part of eolian unit IV, and in the nonpersistent eolian unit, range between −4.6 and −2.1‰ PDB. These values, up to 4.4‰ greater than values from eolian units II and III, are interpreted as representing nonmonsoonal18O-enriched “normal continental” waters during climatic phases when the monsoon weakened or failed. Conversely, 25,000–60,000-yr-old calcretes (eolian units II and III) probably formed under monsoonal conditions. The two periods of weakened monsoon are consistent with other paleoclimatic data from India and may represent widespread aridity on the Indian subcontinent during isotope stages 2 and 4. The total variation in δ13C is 1.7‰ (0.0–1.7‰), and δ13C covaries positively and linearly with δ18O. δ13C values are highest when δ18O values indicate the most arid climatic conditions. This is best explained by expansion of C4grasses at the expense of C3plants at low latitudes during glacial periods when atmospheric pCO2was lowered. C4dominance was overridingly influenced by global change in atmospheric pCO2despite the lowered summer rainfall.

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