Paleoecological reconstruction of the Late Pleistocene in the lower reaches of the Ural (Zhaiyk) River based on the materials of the Daryinsk Museum Collection

Abstract

This article presents the results of a comprehensive study of a collection of Pleistocene mammal remains from the M.A. Sholokhov Memorial Museum (Daryinsk settlement, Baiterek District, West Kazakhstan Region). The material was collected from Late Pleistocene alluvial deposits in the lower reaches of the Ural (Zhaiyk) River and remained unidentified for a long time. Morphometric analyses allowed the collection to be documented and introduced into the scientific record for the first time, and enabled clarification of the taxonomic attribution of the large mammal remains. The collection includes skulls of Bos primigenius and Bison priscus, numerous postcranial elements and teeth of Mammuthus primigenius, a tooth of the transitional form Mammuthus trogontherii chosaricus, a femur of Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach, 1799), as well as antler beams of Megaloceros giganteus and Cervus elaphus. Comparative analyses following von den Driesch, Garutt, Dubrovo, and Foronova, together with comparisons with published series from the Ural–Volga–Caspian region, confirm the typical composition of the Pleistocene megafauna of Western Kazakhstan and indicate a broad spectrum of ecosystems, ranging from cold tundra–steppe environments to floodplain meadows. The results are significant for re-constructing Late Pleistocene palaeoecological conditions in the Ural–Caspian Lowland and for assessing environmental dynamics associated with climatic fluctuations.