New Record of Terminal Pleistocene Elk/Wapiti (Cervus canadensis) from Ohio, USA

Brian G Redmond,Charles Stephens,David L Dyer

doi:10.18061/ojs.v121i2.7606

Brian G Redmond, Charles Stephens + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.18061/ojs.v121i2.7606

Copy DOI

Abstract

The earliest appearance of elk/wapiti (Cervus canadensis) in eastern North America is not thoroughly documented due to the small number of directly dated remains. Until recently, no absolute dates on elk bone older than 10,000 14C yr BP (11,621 to 11,306 calibrated years (cal yr) BP) were known from this region. The partial skeleton of the Tope Elk was discovered in 2017 during commercial excavation of peat deposits from a small bog in southeastern Medina County, Ohio, United States. Subsequent examination of the remains revealed the individual to be a robust male approximately 8.5 years old at death. The large size of this individual is compared with late Holocene specimens and suggests diminution of elk since the late Pleistocene. Two accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon assays on bone collagen samples taken from the scapula and metacarpal of this individual returned ages of 10,270 ± 30 14C yr BP (Beta-477478) (12,154 to 11,835 cal yr BP) and 10,260 ± 30 14C yr BP (Beta-521748) (12,144 to 11,830 cal yr BP), respectively. These results place Cervus canadensis in the terminal Pleistocene of the eastern woodlands and near the establishment of the mixed deciduous forest biome over much of the region. This early temporal placement also situates this early elk as closely following the last representatives of now-extinct megafauna such as the American mastodon (Mammut americanum) and contemporary with the Late Paleoindian inhabitants of the region.

Highlights

The earliest presence of elk/wapiti (Cervus canadensis) in the eastern woodlands of North America is not thoroughly documented
In October 2017, a 2.28 g sample of cortical bone from the left scapula of the specimen was submitted to Beta Analytic® Inc., Miami, Florida, for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating of collagen
5 directly dated elk specimens of late Pleistocene to early Holocene age are known for the eastern woodlands, and these come from the states of Ohio and New York (Table 4, above)

Summary

Introduction

The earliest presence of elk/wapiti (Cervus canadensis) in the eastern woodlands of North America is not thoroughly documented. There are virtually no records of directly dated elk specimens in North America, south of Beringia, that are more than 10,000 radiocarbon years in age The recent discovery of a partial elk skeleton in northeast Ohio (a.k.a. the Tope Elk) provides new evidence for the presence of this species in at least the lower Great Lakes region by the terminal Pleistocene, referred to as the period between 12,000 to 10,000 14C yr BP This paper describes the Tope Elk remains and direct radiocarbon dating, and discusses the importance of this find to understand the timing of. The Tope family loaned the recovered parts of the skeleton to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) for study and preliminary documentation by Redmond. Title to the collection was permanently transferred to CMNH under Accession Number 2017-13

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion