Radiocarbon chronology of late Pleistocene large mammal faunas from the Pannonian basin (Hungary)

Abstract

Geochronological data from the mammal fauna of the Pannonian basin during the Late Pleistocene are compiled. Thirty-four megafaunal samples (including both fossil bone and associated materials such as charcoal), previously radiocarbon dated by accelerator mass spectrometry and conventional methods, range from 43 to 10.3 14C ka BP (47-13 ka cal BP). Thus, most samples date within Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and 2 of the Late Pleistocene, and indicate that the mammoth steppe fauna was able to colonize this region during a period of rapid environmental change. The radiocarbon evidence fits well into the known colonization pattern of the mammoth steppe and shows a continuous distribution in the Late Weichselian grassland areas of East Central Europe.