Stratigraphy of the Colorado Creek mammoth locality, Alaska

Abstract

The Colorado Creek mammoth locality in west-central Alaska contains the remains of two mammoths that were scavenged by carnivores. Sedimentologic interpretations of the reworked eolian deposits surrounding the bones, supplemented by 10 radiocarbon dates, indicate that the lower and upper mammoths died and were buried within separate, but superimposed, thaw gullies about 23,000 and 16,000 yr ago, respectively. From our results, we propose a polycyclic taphonomic model for thaw gullies governed largely by slope aspect, rather than regional climate, and in which mixing between faunal horizons is more likely than not. Variations in the rate of silt influx and the position of the permafrost table provide a paleoclimatic proxy record that can be correlated to other records in eastern Beringia.