New Discoveries of Elasmotherium in the South of West Siberian Plain

Abstract

New findings of Elasmoterium from the south of the West Siberian Plain have been described. They originate from four localities including Podpusk, Grigoryevka, Kozhamzhar from Pavlodar Region, and Kirillovka from North Kazakhstan Region. The remains from Podpusk were identified to the species level and they originate from the deposits of the Irtysh Formation (Gelasian). They are the oldest from the area of the West Siberian Plain. The remains from the other localities belong to Elasmotherum sibiricum. In the locality of Grigoryevka, the remains of Elasmotherium found conjointly with Coelodonta antiquitatis – the oldest evi- dence for West Siberian Plain. The skeleton fragment from Kirillovka – the first one from the Asian part of the habitat, and a skull fragment from Kozhamzhar are of the greatest interest. In Kirillovka site, the Elas- motherium remains were found conjointly with a Sthephanorhinus kirchbergensis tooth. This is the first evi- dence of the joint burial in situ for these rhinoceroses in the Asian part of the habitat. AMS method of radio- carbon analysis gave the young age (26038±356 BP; UBA-30522) for the Elasmotherium skull from Ko- zhamzhar. The discovery of Elasmotherium skull in Karginian deposits of Western Siberian Plain points to considerably later extinction of this rhinoceros in Western Siberia, while previously it was assumed that it happened not later than 300,000 years ago.