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Abstracts Book
P-17
Yunyugen – the Late Pleistocene locality of the mammoth fauna in
the basin of the Yana River (North-Eastern Siberia)
Gavril Novgorodov*1 ; Semyon Grigoriev1 ; Мaksim Сheprasov1 ; Lena Grigorieva2 ; Alexei Tikhonov1 3
1Mammoth Museum of Institute of applied ecology of the North/ North Eastern Federal University/ Russian
Federation, 2International Common Use Center "Molecular Paleontology" of Institute of applied ecology of
the Nort/ North Eastern Federal University/ Russian Federation, 3Zoological Museum/ Zoological Institute,
Russian Academy of Sciences/ Russian Federation
Content
The basin of the Yana River and adjacent territories are one of the most promising regions in the
Northern Eurasia not only for the finds of fossil mammal skeletal remains, but also for the well
preserved carcasses of mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses and other representatives of the
Pleistocene-Holocene faunistical complex [1]. Thus for the last 15 years in the basin of this river,
more than half of all unique finds of the representative of mammoth fauna with soft tissues in
Yakutia have been found. The most famous and well-studied locations of the mammoth fauna
such as Sullar Khaya, Oskhordoh, Muus Khaya, the permafrost megaslump Batagaika, etc. are
situated on this territory. Over the past five years, the unique location of Yunyugen in the middle
stream of the Yana River (68° 55’2.87 N; 134° 28’56.25 E) becomes famous. In fact, the location
was discovered in 1885 by the Russian polar explorer E.V. Toll during the geological
investigations of the north of the Yana-Indigirka lowland and the New Siberian Islands, where he
collected 20 skulls of the Pleistocene bison.
Bone remains of the fossil animals are localized along the Yunyugen stream valley. During the
field work in 2012 and 2016 the bone remains of the almost all large mammals of the Late
Neopleistocene of Yakutia, such as woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, Pleistocene bison,
reindeer, red deer, horse, snow sheep, saiga antelope, muskox, red fox, wolf, wolverine, cave lion,
brown bear and mountain hare were found there. Also the mummified ptarmigan nestling of
unknown geological age was excavated from the depth around 1 m from the surface.
In 2012 and 2016 years 528 bones of the animals of mammoth fauna were selected and
described. According to the osteological analysis, the bison remains are dominated - 43%, woolly
mammoth represented by 22%. It is surprisingly that a large number of bone remains of woolly
rhinoceros (18%) is presented, because usually for Yakutia its presence is not exceeding the 5%
from the total bone remains in collections [2]. A similar large ratio of this species (25%) was
observed on the Yukagir plateau and on the Bolshoi Khomus Yuryakh River [3]. We also noted a
significant amount of bone remains of the red deer Cervus elaphus in comparison with other
locations of the mammoth fauna in the Arctic part of Yakutia. Such finds are more common in the
Kolyma Lowland and in the Central Yakutia [4]. Also the peculiarity of the location of Yunyugen is
a small percentage (7%) of the bone remains of the horse in our collections, in comparison with
the generalized data for Yakutia (26.9%) [2]. The other species are represented by small number
of the finds.
The results of a small series of radiocarbon dates of the bones from Yunyugen falls within the
Kargin interstadial: Bison priscus LE 9888, 36,300 ± 640; Coelodonta antiquitatis LE 9889 40,500
± 1,600; Canis lupus GrA57022, 44,650 + 950 / -700; Mammuthus primigenius LE 9887 47,600 +
2600 / -2000.
The wolf was dated by a humerus, while the damage on which were determined by the
archaeologists as was made by an ancient man. Thus, Yunyugen can be the oldest human site
on the north of Siberia [5].
References
1. Grigoriev S.E., Cheprasov M.Yu., Savvinov G.N., Tikhonov A.N., Novgorodov G.P., Fedorov
S.E., Boeskorov G.G., Protopopov A.V., Plotnikov V.V., Belolyubsky I.N., Protodeaconov K.E., J.
Van der Plicht. Paleontological and archaeological studies in the basin of the Yana River// Bulletin
of the North-Eastern Federal University named M.K. Ammosov. No. 1 (57), 2017. - P. 20-35.
2. Lazarev P.A. Large mammals of the anthropogen of Yakutia. - Novosibirsk: Science, 2008. -
160 p.
3. Sher A.V. The role of the Bering land in the development of the Holarctic mammalian fauna in
the late Cenozoic // Beringia in the Cenozoic. - Vladivostok, 1976. pp. 227-241.
4. Lazarev P.A., Tomskaya A.I. Mammals and biostratigraphy of the late Cenozoic of Northern
Yakutia. Yakutsk: Ed. JAF SB AS USSR, 1987. - 172 p.
5. Pitulko V., Pavlova E., Nikolskiy P. Revising the archaeological record of the Upper
Pleistocene Arctic Siberia: Human dispersal and adaptations in MIS 3 and 2 // Quaternary
Science Review, 2017, Vol. 165. P. 127-148.
Keywords: Yana river, locality, mammoth fauna, Late Pleistocene