A late Pleistocene steppe bison (Bison priscus) partial carcass from Tsiigehtchic, Northwest Territories, Canada |
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| Authors: | Grant D. Zazula Glen MacKay Thomas D. Andrews Beth Shapiro Brandon Letts Fiona Brock |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Yukon Palaeontology Program, Department of Tourism & Culture, Yukon Government, PO Box 2703, Whitehorse, YT, Y1A 2C6, Canada;2. Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Center, PO Box 1320, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, X1A 2L9, Canada;3. Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, 326 Mueller Lab, University Park, PA 16801, USA;4. Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK;1. School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, James Parsons Building, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom;2. Research Station of Quaternary Palaeontology Weimar, Senckenberg Research Institutes and Natural History Museums, Am Jakobskirchhof 4, 99423, Weimar, Germany;1. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent''s Park, London NW1 4RY, UK;2. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origin of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China;3. School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK;4. Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK;1. Ministry of Culture, Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology–Speleology, Ardittou 34B, 11636, Athens, Greece;2. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Museum of Palaeontology and Geology, 15784, Athens, Greece;1. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskii pr. 33, Moscow 119071, Russia;2. Ice Age Museum, “National Alliance of Shidlovskiy “Ice Age”, 119 Bld, Mira pr, Moscow 129223, Russia;3. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA;4. UCSC Genomics Institute, University of California Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA;5. Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, Locked Bag 2001, Kirrawee DC, NSW 2232, Australia;1. Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China;2. State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China;3. Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany;4. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, IVPP, Beijing, 100044, China;5. School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK;1. Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy;2. Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Firenze, Florence, Italy;3. Museo della Fauna, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy |
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| Abstract: | A partial steppe bison (Bison priscus) carcass was recovered at Tsiigehtchic, near the confluence of the Arctic Red and Mackenzie Rivers, Northwest Territories, Canada in September of 2007. The carcass includes a complete cranium with horn cores and sheaths, several complete post-cranial elements (many of which have some mummified soft tissue), intestines and a large piece of hide. A piece of metacarpal bone was subsampled and yielded an AMS radiocarbon age of 11,830 ± 45 14C yr BP (OxA-18549). Mitochondrial DNA sequenced from a hair sample confirms that Tsiigehtchic steppe bison (Bison priscus) did not belong to the lineage that eventually gave rise to modern bison (Bison bison). This is the first radiocarbon dated Bison priscus in the Mackenzie River valley, and to our knowledge, the first reported Pleistocene mammal soft tissue remains from the glaciated regions of northern Canada. Investigation of the recovery site indicates that the steppe bison was released from the permafrost during a landslide within unconsolidated glacial outwash gravel. These data indicate that the lower Mackenzie River valley was ice free and inhabited by steppe bison by  11,800 14C years ago. This date is important for the deglacial chronology of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and the opening of the northern portal to the Ice Free Corridor. The presence of steppe bison raises further potential for the discovery of more late Pleistocene fauna, and possibly archaeological evidence, in the region. |
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