First radiocarbon dates on woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius ) from northern Germany

A major gap in the radiocarbon chronology of woolly mammoth in Europe results from an absence of dated records from the Late Weichselian moraine regions of the Northern European Lowlands. In the past many fossil mammoth remains were discovered in the province of Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania in northeastern Germany. Seven finds, which were well preserved, were radiocarbon dated by accelerator mass spectrometry. The dates, ranging from 44.8 to 23.9 14 C ka BP (50–28 cal. ka BP), can be correlated with Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 of the late Quaternary, and indicate that mammoth was able to colonise this region during a period of rapid environmental changes. The new radiocarbon evidence fits well into the known colonisation pattern of woolly mammoth and shows a continuous distribution in the Late Weichselian moraine areas of northern Germany before the expansion of the Scandinavian ice sheet. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.