Late Pleistocene age, size, and paleoenvironment of a caribou antler from Haida Gwaii, British Columbia

• Published in: Canadian journal of earth sciences Vol. 56; no. 6; pp. 688 - 692
• Main Authors: Mathewes, Rolf W, Richards, Michael, Reimchen, Thomas E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa National Research Council of Canada 01.06.2019; NRC Research Press; Canadian Science Publishing NRC Research Press
• Subjects: absolute age; accelerator mass spectrometry dating; Analysis; Animal remains (Archaeology); Antlers; Artiodactyla; biometry; British Columbia; C-14; Canada; carbon; Caribou; Cenozoic; Cervidae; Chordata; Collagen; Coniferous forests; datation spectrométrie de masse par accélérateur; Earth science; Eutheria; Forests; fossil antler; Fossils; Geochronology; Glaciation; Glaciers; Glaciology; Graham Island; Haida Gwaii; horns; Isotopes; Mammalia; middle Wisconsinan; MIS 3; Mixed forests; morphology; Morphometry; Palaeoecology; Paleoecology; Paleogeography; Paleontology; paléoécologie; panache fossile; Plant cover; Pleistocene; principal components analysis; Quaternary; Questions; radioactive isotopes; Radiocarbon dating; Rangifer; Rangifer tarandus; Ruminantia; statistical analysis; Studies; Tetrapoda; Theria; Ultrafiltration; upper Pleistocene; Vegetation cover; Vertebrata; vertebrate; Vertebrates; Western Canada; Wisconsinan; Woodlands; British Columbia; United States > US; Wisconsin
• ISSN: 0008-4077; 1480-3313
• DOI: 10.1139/cjes-2018-0246

The basal portion of a fossil caribou antler from Graham Island is the only evidence of large terrestrial vertebrates older than the Fraser (late-Wisconsin) glaciation on Haida Gwaii. This antler has been radiocarbon dated three times by different laboratories and all ages fall within the mid-Wisconsin Olympia Interglaciation (Marine Isotope Stage 3, MIS 3). We suggest that the latest date, using ultrafiltration of bone collagen, is closest to the true age at 43 200 ± 650 years BP (48 200 - 45 200 cal BP). Previous paleoecological analysis from Graham Island reconstructed a vegetation cover during MIS 3 consisting of mixed coniferous forest with nonforested openings, similar to cool subalpine forests of today. These conditions are consistent with environments that support woodland caribou and the related extinct Dawson caribou. Morphometric comparison of antlers from woodland and Dawson caribou suggest that they are more similar than previously interpreted and raise questions about the inferred differences between the mainland and island subspecies.