The skeleton of mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) from the Upper Paleolithic site Kostenki 14 (Markina Gora), European Russia

Abstract

The paper presents a description of the skeleton of the woolly mammoth Mammuthus primigenius excavated from the multilayer Upper Paleolithic site Kostenki 14 (Markina gora) in Voronezh Province, European Russia. Skeleton was found in deposits filling a small gully. The bones were arranged in anatomical order and displaced slightly from each other. The whole absence of the cultural remains and cut marks on the bones indicate that the animal died naturally, without human participation. This skeleton demonstrates replacement of M1 by M2 in the upper jaw, and unfused epiphyses of most bones. Based on morphological and morphometric data, the skeleton belongs to young individual died at the age of 19–25 years, probably, a male. The mammoth from Kostenki 14 lived in the Middle of Valdai interglacial, 33–36 thousands years ago by radiocarbon dating.