Large mammals disappear from the Eifel region 11,000 years ago as a result of increasing forestation

Drill rig in action: Sediment cores are obtained in a dry maar near Schalkenmehr
Drill rig in action: Sediment cores are obtained in a dry maar near Schalkenmehren as part of the ELSA project.
Sediment cores from Eifel maars provide information on the development of ice-age large mammals in Central Europe during the past 60,000 years / Overkill hypothesis not confirmed. Drill rig in action: Sediment cores are obtained in a dry maar near Schalkenmehren as part of the ELSA project. For tens of thousands of years, herds of large mammals such as mammoth and bison roamed the landscape of what is now Central Europe. However, with increasing forestation at the end of the last ice age, populations declined and about 11,000 years ago the large mammals disappeared completely from this region. Forest development is thus the most important factor controlling the presence of large mammals in Central Europe. This is the conclusion of a study led by Frank Sirocko of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). With the participation of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, the University of Wollongong in Australia and the University of Göttingen, deposits from two Eifel maars were examined, providing information about developments over the last 60,000 years.
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