Carbon and oxygen stable isotope compositions of late Pleistocene mammal teeth from dolines of Ajoie (Northwestern Switzerland)

Abstract

Fossils of megaherbivores from eight late Pleistocene 14 C-and OSL-dated doline infillings of Ajoie (NW Switzerland) were discovered along the Transjurane highway in the Swiss Jura. Carbon and oxygen analyses of enamel were performed on forty-six teeth of large mammals (Equus germanicus, Mammuthus primigenius, Coelodonta antiquitatis, and Bison priscus), coming from one doline in Boncourt (~80 ka, marine oxygen isotope stage MIS5a) and seven in Courtedoux (51-27 ka, late MIS3), in order to reconstruct the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental conditions of the region. Similar enamel δ 13 C values for both periods, ranging from −14.5 to −9.2‰, indicate that the megaherbivores lived in a C 3 plant-dominated environment. Enamel δ 18 O PO4 values range from 10.9 to 16.3‰ with a mean of 13.5 ± 1.0‰ (n = 46). Mean air temperatures (MATs) were inferred using species-specific δ 18 O PO4 -δ 18 O H2O -calibrations for modern mammals and a present-day precipitation δ 18 O H2O -MAT relation for Switzerland. Similar average MATs of 6.6 ± 3.6°C for the deposits dated to~80 ka and 6.5 ± 3.3°C for those dated to the interval 51-27 ka were estimated. This suggests that these mammals in the Ajoie area lived in mild periods of the late Pleistocene with MATs only about 2.5°C lower than modern-day temperatures.

Subarctic climate for the earliest Homo sapiens in Europe

“…At the same time, we observe on average a stronger seasonal amplitude (difference between summer and winter values) of 2.6 ± 1.2 ‰ in Layer N1-J at the start of the IUP than in either Layer N1-K or Layer N1-I & I, where the seasonal amplitude is smaller (Layer N1-K mean ampl = 1.0 ± 0.7 ‰, 1 SD; Layer N1-I & I mean ampl = 1.5 ± 0.8 ‰, 1 SD). However, these diachronic changes occur within a framework of generally low δ 18 O phos values in all layers in comparison to many other studies of MIS 3 fauna [e.g., ( 13 )].…”

“…For example, annual midpoint δ 18 O phos values in Equus sp. from Bacho Kiro Cave Layer N1-I & I (mean mean annual = 12.2 ± 0.8 ‰ 1 SD) are similar to δ 18 O phos annual midpoint values of 12.5 ‰ ( n = 4; converted from carbonate oxygen isotope values, δ 18 O carb ) and 12.3 ‰ ( n = 1, converted from δ 18 O carb ) of equids from glacial phase Weichselian sites Bocksteinhöhle and Vogelherdhöhle in southwest Germany ( 14 ), as well as annual midpoint values of 12.4 and 13.2 ‰ obtained from equids recovered from the sites of Boncourt Grand Combe ( n = 2; MIS 3) and Courtedoux-Va Tche Tcha ( n = 11; MIS 5a) in Switzerland ( 13 ). This indicates that climatic conditions of the Bacho Kiro Cave IUP are consistent with conditions of a GS.…”

Reconstructing Late Pleistocene paleoclimate at the scale of human behavior: an example from the Neandertal occupation of La Ferrassie (France)

“…Here we build on these existing approaches by adding information from oxygen stable isotope analysis of faunal tooth enamel, a proxy of paleoclimate that is both quantitative and largely unaffected by anthropogenic biases related to prey choice or hunting behavior. Similar approaches have been previously employed for Late Pleistocene Europe 18 – 21 , but the implications of using anthropogenically accumulated archives for environmental archives have not always been specifically highlighted (but see 22 ). We use oxygen isotope measurements ( 18 O) of sequentially sampled Bos/Bison tooth enamel to elucidate seasonal paleoclimate for La Ferrassie—a recently re-excavated and dated Pleistocene site in southwest France with evidence of Neandertal activity spanning MIS 5 to MIS 3 23 – 26 (see Supplementary Text 1 ).…”

SUBSILIENCE: Subsistencia y resiliencia humana ante los drásticos eventos climáticos acontecidos en Europa durante el Estadio Isotópico Marino 3

“…Los datos de temperatura y precipitación se obtendrán de las fórmulas empíricas respaldadas por modelos paleoclimáticos (Kjellström et al 2010;Armstrong et al 2019) y de los estudios sobre fraccionamiento de isótopos en huesos y dientes de mamíferos (Hoppe 2006;Arppe y Karhu 2010;Scherler et al 2014). Unas y otros permitirán la conversión de los valores de isótopos estables obtenidos (principalmente δ 18 O y δD) en valores de temperatura y precipitación.…”