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Man and Megafauna in Tasmania: Closing the Gap

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Man and Megafauna in Tasmania: Closing the Gap Quaternary Science Reviews 37 (2012) 38e47 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Quaternary Science Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quascirev Man and megafauna in Tasmania: closing the gap Richard Gillespie a,b,*, Aaron B. Camens c, Trevor H. Worthy d, Nicolas J. Rawlence e,f, Craig Reid g, Fiona Bertuch h, Vladimir Levchenko h, Alan Cooper e a Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia b Division of Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture, History and Language, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia c School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia d Department of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia e Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia f Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand g Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, PO Box 403, Launceston, Tasmania 7250, Australia h Institute for Environmental Science, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Locked Bag 2001, Kirrawee DC, NSW 2232, Australia article info abstract Article history: Recent discussion on the late Pleistocene extinction of the Australian megafauna has revolved around Received 9 September 2011 interpretation of several key fossil sites in Tasmania. It has been suggested that humans did not arrive in Received in revised form Tasmania until after the megafauna became extinct, or did not hunt now extinct megafauna, and 27 November 2011 therefore that humans cannot be implicated in the extinctions. Radiocarbon results from these sites Accepted 11 January 2012 indicate that the youngest extinct megafauna are close to charcoal ages from the oldest archaeological Available online 10 February 2012 deposits, although difficulties have arisen in establishing chronologies because most relevant sites have ages near the limit for radiocarbon analysis. Keywords: d13 d15 Megafauna We report a series of new radiocarbon ages, C, N and C:N ratios on collagen and dentine fractions Radiocarbon from skeletal remains in the Mount Cripps karst area and the Mowbray Swamp, both in northwestern Collagen Tasmania, and discuss the reliability of ages from these and other sites. We also report the discovery of an Extinction articulated Simosthenurus occidentalis skeleton at Mt Cripps, that represents only the second directly- Australia dated extinct megafaunal taxon with a reliable age <50 ka cal BP from Tasmania. Our results suggest that C:N ratios measured on collagen or dentine are not an infallible guide to radiocarbon age reliability. We confirm previous reports of a temporal overlap between the megafaunal and archaeological records in Tasmania, but the presence of archaeological evidence and megafauna with the same age at the same site has not yet been demonstrated. At least two megafaunal taxadthe now- extinct Protemnodon anak and a giant Pleistocene form of the extant Macropus giganteusdwere still present in Tasmania after 43 ka, when human crossing of the Bassian landbridge from mainland Australia first became sustainable. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction mainland Australia’s large-bodied Pleistocene fauna became extinct (e.g. Roberts et al., 2001; Miller et al., 2005; Grün et al., Early human occupation of mainland Australia in the 50e40 ka 2008; Prideaux et al., 2010). This temporal coincidence has stimu- age range is well-documented, often with multi-method dating; lated hotly-debated, if largely inconclusive, argument concerning notable examples include Lake Mungo in the southeast (Bowler the sequence, timing and causes of the Australian megafaunal et al., 2003), Devil’s Lair in the southwest (Turney et al., 2001), extinctions (e.g. Gillespie et al., 2006; Brook et al., 2007; Field et al., and in the northwest at Carpenter’s Gap (O’Connor, 1995) and Riwi 2008). (Balme, 2000). Around this same 50e40 ka interval, the majority of Several aspects of the Australian debate are similar to those concerning the North American extinctions (e.g. Grayson and Meltzer, 2003; Fiedel and Haynes, 2004), with one significant difference: among the large number of sites bridging the Rancho- * Corresponding author. Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and labrean Termination (Haynes, 2008), there are at least 14 well- Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Aus- “ ” tralia. Tel.: þ61 2 6677 9500. dated elephant kill sites in the North American record where E-mail address: [email protected] (R. Gillespie). both directly-dated extinct taxa and associated subsistence 0277-3791/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.01.013 R. Gillespie et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 37 (2012) 38e47 39 archaeology of the same age occur in the same stratigraphic layers megafauna. But despite the analysis of many thousands of bone (e.g. Grayson and Meltzer, 2002; Surovell and Waguespack, 2008). fragments, no skeletal remains of any extinct taxon have been Australia has no known sites with these attributes, and conse- found in Tasmanian archaeological sites (Cosgrove et al., 2010), an quently the debate is reduced to polarised views based on the observation that we discuss below. Reliable dating of Tasmanian contents of a very small number of either fossil or archaeological archaeological and palaeontological sites has been limited due to sites in the appropriate age range. The island state of Tasmania, these sites being at or near the limit of radiocarbon dating, adding periodically connected to mainland Australia during sea level to the difficulties in establishing the provenance of sediments used lowstands, potentially offers an interesting test for late Pleistocene for OSL dating of key sites (Cosgrove et al., 2010). extinction hypotheses. For this study, we measured 14C ages, stable C and N isotopes, Lambeck and Chappell (2001) determined that the Bass Strait and C:N ratios on collagen and dentine fractions isolated from the between mainland Australia and Tasmania was bridged w43 ka, skeletal remains of three extant and four extinct marsupial taxa allowing pedestrian human crossing for the first time and recovered from the Mt Cripps and Mowbray Swamp fossil sites in suggesting a significantly shorter overlap period for humans and northwestern Tasmania. We compare our directly-dated marsupial megafauna in Tasmania than on mainland Australia. This accords ages with previous results from Turney et al. (2008) and Cosgrove well with the oldest Tasmanian archaeological sites so far docu- et al. (2010), assessing their 14C age reliability and any temporal mented, Warreen Cave (Allen, 1996) and Parmerpar Meethaner overlap with the existing Tasmanian archaeological record. The (Cosgrove, 1995), which have maximum calibrated radiocarbon locations of fossil and archaeological sites in Tasmania discussed (14C) ages measured on charcoal ca. 40e38 ka cal BP. Compared here are shown in the Fig. 1 map. with mainland Australia, the extinct megafauna record from Tas- mania is depauperate, probably including only Zygomaturus trilo- 2. Materials and methods bus, Palorchestes azael, Metasthenurus newtonae, Simosthenurus occidentalis, Protemnodon anak, Thylacoleo carnifex and Mega- Table 1 shows details of bones and teeth sampled for this study libgwilia sp. (Turney et al., 2008) plus a giant form of the extant from Mt Cripps and Mowbray Swamp, which are housed at the Macropus giganteus. Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) in Launceston With the first defendable direct 14C age measurements on and the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) in Adelaide. extinct Australian marsupial bones, ca. 43e41 ka cal BP on Collagen content of the bones was estimated using a ninhydrin Protemnodon from Mt Cripps, Turney et al. (2008) suggested that method on decalcified and hydrolysed bone samples, compared Tasmania may have been the last refuge for the Australian with similarly-prepared aliquots from a modern Wallabia bicolor Melbourne 38°S Landbridge ~43 ka Bass Strait 40°S Mowbray Swamp Mt Cripps Launceston Parmerpar Meethaner 42°S ORS 7 Pallawa Trounta JF154, JF155, Warreen Cave Ultimate Cave, Titan’s Shelter Nunamira Hobart Bone Cave 0 100 km 144°E 146°E 148°E Fig. 1. Map showing the location of Tasmanian fossil sites (red filled circles) and archaeological sites (white filled circles) discussed in the text, with an approximate contour for the Bassian landbridge w43 ka (modified from Cosgrove et al., 2010; Lambeck and Chappell, 2001). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) 40 R. Gillespie et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 37 (2012) 38e47 Table 1 Lastly, all fractions were freeze dried before combustion, graphi- Bones and teeth analysed in this study, showing sample location, museum accession tisation and AMS radiocarbon analysis using standard methods at numbers, body part and sample ID used in subsequent tables; taxa marked with an ANSTO (Fink et al., 2004) or the ORAU (Bronk Ramsey et al., 2004). asterisk are extinct megafauna. Separate sub-samples of each fraction were combusted in a coupled Location Species Body part QVM No. Sample ID elemental analyser-isotope ratio mass spectrometer system for Mt Cripps Simosthenurus upper I1 frag. 2009 GFV:0002 MCSt-1 measurement of d13C, d15N and atomic C:N ratios. (CP222) occidentalis* s fi * We used the 2 sample signi cance and pooled mean age tools Mt Cripps Protemnodon anak L tibia 2001 GFV:2 MCP-1 14 (CP213) in CALIB 6.0 (Stuiver et al., 2010) to compare conventional C ages L femur 2001 GFV:40 MCP-2 from the different fractions prepared in this study. Those ages L lower I1 2011:GFV:1 MCP-3 considered acceptable were calibrated with OxCal 4.1 (Bronk Thylogale billardierii L tibia 2001 GFV:68 MCT-1 Ramsay, 2009) using the IntCal09 atmospheric data in Reimer Vombatus ursinus R femur 2001 GFV:30 MCV-1 et al.
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