Man and megafauna in Tasmania: closing the gap

QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS

卷:37

Article

Gillespie, Richard^1,2  Worthy, Trevor H.⁴  Rawlence, Nicolas J.^3,5  Reid, Craig⁶  Bertuch, Fiona⁷  Levchenko, Vladimir⁷  Cooper, Alan³ 

[1] Univ Wollongong, Ctr Archaeol Sci, Sch Earth & Environm Sci, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

[2] Australian Natl Univ, Div Archaeol & Nat Hist, Sch Culture Hist & Language, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

[3] Univ Adelaide, Sch Earth & Environm Sci, Australian Ctr Ancient DNA, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

[4] Univ New S Wales, Dept Biol Earth & Environm Sci, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

[5] Univ Waikato, Dept Earth & Ocean Sci, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand

[6] Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Launceston, Tas 7250, Australia

[7] Australian Nucl Sci & Technol Org, Inst Environm Sci, Kirrawee Dc, NSW 2232, Australia

关键词: Megafauna;    Radiocarbon;    Collagen;    Extinction;    Australia;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.01.013

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Recent discussion on the late Pleistocene extinction of the Australian megafauna has revolved around interpretation of several key fossil sites in Tasmania. It has been suggested that humans did not arrive in Tasmania until after the megafauna became extinct, or did not hunt now extinct megafauna, and therefore that humans cannot be implicated in the extinctions. Radiocarbon results from these sites indicate that the youngest extinct megafauna are close to charcoal ages from the oldest archaeological deposits, although difficulties have arisen in establishing chronologies because most relevant sites have ages near the limit for radiocarbon analysis. We report a series of new radiocarbon ages, delta C-13, delta N-15 and C:N ratios on collagen and dentine fractions from skeletal remains in the Mount Cripps karst area and the Mowbray Swamp, both in northwestern Tasmania, and discuss the reliability of ages from these and other sites. We also report the discovery of an articulated Simosthenurus occidentalis skeleton at Mt Cripps, that represents only the second directly-dated extinct megafaunal taxon with a reliable age <50 ka cal BP from Tasmania. Our results suggest that C:N ratios measured on collagen or dentine are not an infallible guide to radiocarbon age reliability. We confirm previous reports of a temporal overlap between the megafaunal and archaeological records in Tasmania, but the presence of archaeological evidence and megafauna with the same age at the same site has not yet been demonstrated. At least two megafaunal taxa-the now-extinct Protemnodon anak and a giant Pleistocene form of the extant Macropus giganteus-were still present in Tasmania after 43 ka, when human crossing of the Bassian landbridge from mainland Australia first became sustainable. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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