Radiocarbon-dated megafauna from the Interpleniglacial in the western Lower Rhine Embayment, Germany – The finds from the loess deposits in the Coenen brick quarry (District of Düren)

Abstract

Sites with informative megafaunal assemblages are rarely documented in the Lower Rhine Embayment. In the 1960’s many remains of large mammals were collected during sporadic salvage operations in the Coenen brick quarry in Körrenzig (District of Düren, Rhineland). AMS-14C dates place the find horizon into the Interpleniglacial (MIS 3). In the terrestrial records of the rhenish loess sections, deposits of this period are only preserved under very favourable conditions, particularly in the loess-palaeosoil-sequences. The radiocarbon dates presented here correlate with new, unpublished dates for the Aurignacian site of Lommersum, as well as with dates for the eponymous Neanderthal skeleton from Erkrath/Hochdahl, and fall in the transition Middle to Upper Palaeolithic. Since 2009 the site “Ziegeleigrube Coenen” is geologically and archaeologically re-investigated and new palaeontological and archaeozoological analyses of the faunal assemblage were undertaken. A random cross-section of local megafauna is documented among the finds and seven different species of large mammals could be identified. Individual measurements of the bones and teeth provide reference values for future studies of megafauna in the Lower Rhine Embayment. Two bones may have been intentionally fractured by humans. However the importance of the assemblage is not only reflected by the diversity of the inventory but also in the particular conditions of preservation in loess sediments, allowing for 14C-dating in the period between 43 and 34 ka BP. This paper provides an outlook on the state of research in the Lower Rhine Basin and summarizes important sites with remains of large mammals from the MIS 8-3 in Western Central Europe.

• GQT1
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Bibliography

Matzerath, S., Turner, E., Fischer, P., van der Plicht, J. (2012): Radiocarbon-dated megafauna from the Interpleniglacial in the western Lower Rhine Embayment, Germany – The finds from the loess deposits in the Coenen brick quarry (District of Düren). – In: Quartär, Vol. 59, p: 47-66, DOI: doi: 10.7485/QU59_2