Mammoths of the Molodova V Paleolithic site (Dniester Basin): The case of dental thin-enamel specialization and paleoecological adaptation

Abstract

Molars of mammoths from the Mousterian Layer 11 of the Molodova V Paleolithic site (Dniester Basin) were thoroughly studied. The material was examined using the author's method for construction and analysis of multivariate diagrams in the coordinates of the major dental evolving characters in the Archidiskodon–Mammuthus lineage. According to the morphometric data of M3, and the combination of values of the enamel thickness, length and frequency of plates in a tooth crown, the mammoths analyzed belong to one of thin-enamel groups within the genus Mammuthus. Mammoths with a similar structure of the crown and a peculiar morphology of dental plates were adapted to severe periglacial climates of the late Middle and Late Pleistocene. The conclusions on the ecological confinement of the mammoths discussed and their relative geological age (end of Saalian — first half of Weichselian) determined from their position within the mammoth lineage (in accordance with the M3 parameters), are supported by the results of comprehensive studies of Layer 11 in the Molodova V site, and are in good agreement with other faunal and paleobotanical data.