Plio-Pleistocene proboscideans from the southern bight of the North Sea and the Eastern Scheidt, The Netherlands

Abstract

Abstract The Netherlands and the adjacent part of the North Sea are well known for their abundant remains of late Pleistocene mammals. On the other hand, fossils of Pliocene and early Pleistocene age are comparatively rare in this area. This chapter deals with dredged remains of proboscideans from the Plio-Pleistocene in the North Sea area. Dredging operations in the floodplains of the rivers Rhine, Waal, IJssel and Meuse (Fig. 20.1) still yield many mammalian fossils. In most cases they are typical of the late Pleistocene (Weichselian, 100 000-12 000 years BP) and characterized by the woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius and the woolly rhinoceros, Coelodonta antiquitatis. Other elements of this assem¬ blage are the bovids, Bison priscus and Bos primigenius; giant deer, Megaloceros giganteus; red deer, Cervus elaphus; reindeer, Rangifer tarandus, and carnivores such as hyaena, Crocuta spelaea, and lion, Panthera spelaea. Age determinations of such collections are necessarily based on the results of geological survey. As yet there are no 14C data on these fossils.