On remains of Homotherium from the bottom of the North Sea between the British Isles and the Netherlands and their stratigraphical age
Mol, D.; Langeveld, B. (2022). On remains of Homotherium from the bottom of the North Sea between the British Isles and the Netherlands and their stratigraphical age, in: Conard, N.J. et al. The Homotherium finds from Schöningen 13II-4: Man and big cats of the Ice Age - Contributions of the scientific workshop at the paläon (Schöningen) from 05.06 to 07.06.2015. pp. 35-51. https://doi.org/10.11588/propylaeum.1006.c13520 In: Conard, N.J. et al. (2022). The Homotherium finds from Schöningen 13II-4: Man and big cats of the Ice Age - Contributions of the scientific workshop at the paläon (Schöningen) from 05.06 to 07.06.2015. Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums: Mainz. ISBN 978-3-88467-339-3; e-ISBN 978-3-96929-136-8. 203 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.11588/propylaeum.1006, more |  |
| Abstract | This paper focuses on remains of sabre-toothed cats that have been recovered from sediments of the Southern Bight of the North Sea between the British Isles and the Netherlands. These skeletal elements have been recovered by fishermen over the years during trawling for bottom-dwelling flatfish. Other important sources of such fossils are the constructed beach of Maasvlakte 2 and some other replenished beaches. These beaches are being actively constructed by dredging sediments, inclusive of abundant fossil remains from the North Sea floor and dumping them in order to extend coastal land areas. All these remains are thus retrieved ex situ. Based on their morphology and state of preservation, these remains can be confidently dated as Early or early Middle Pleistocene, Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. We discussthe faunal compositions and their age, inclusive of a mandible of Homotherium latidens (Owen, 1846) that was collected on March 16, 2000, by the fishing vessel UK33, southeast of the Brown Bank in the North Sea halfway between IJmuiden (the Netherlands) and Lowestoft (East Anglia) and described by Reumer et al. (2003). This specimen was radiocarbondated by Utrecht University at c. 28 000 BP, thus furnishing proof of the survival of Homotherium latidens into the Late Pleistocene in northwest Europe. Furthermore, we present four new records of Early Pleistocene Homotherium latidens, all recovered recently (2015-2016) from the beach of Maasvlakte 2. |
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