Geologie en Mijnbouw / Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 79 (2/3): 269-281 (2000) The Eemian mammal fauna of central Europe Th. van Kolfschoten1 1 Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA LEIDEN, the Netherlands; e-mail:[email protected] "T^ W Received: 15 May 2000; accepted in revised form: 31 May 2000 _X_ ^1 ft Abstract The knowledge of the Eemian fauna of central Europe is based on the fossil record from a number of sites located in the east­ ern part of Germany. The faunas with different deer species as well as Sus scrofa, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, Stephanorhinus kirch- bergensis and Glis glis indicate a forested environment alternating during the climatic optimum of the Eemian s.s. with areas with a more open environment inhabited by species such as Cricetus cricetus, Equus sp. (or Equus taubachensis), Equus hydrunti- nus and Stephanorhinus hemitoechus. Characteristic for the Rhine valley fauna are Hippopotamus amphibius and the water buffa­ lo (Bubalus murrensis); both species are absent in the eastern German faunas with an Eemian age. Taking into account the short period of time covered by the Eemian s.s., the amount of data on the Eemian mammalian fauna is remarkably large. There is, however, still an ongoing debate on whether the stratigraphical position of a number of faunas are of Eemian or 'intra-Saalian' age. Furthermore, there are faunal assemblages or stratigraphically isolated finds re­ ferred to the Eemian without indisputable evidence. This is particularly the case in the Rhine valley, where most of the so- called Eemian fossils come from dredged assemblages. The picture of the evolution of the Eemian fauna and its geographical variation is consequently still incomplete. Keywords: central Europe, Eemian, mammalian faunas, Northwestern Europe, Pleistocene Introduction the Eemian stage, the Riss-Wurm interglacial or, in the British Isles, the Ipswichian), the interval following Important in the debate on present-day climatic the penultimate (Saalian/Riss/Wolstonian) glacial ice- changes are the solid data from earlier interglacials advance and preceding the last (Weichselian/ Wurm/ that can be deduced from the fossil botanical and Devensian) glacial stage. Nowadays, it is known, ho­ zoological records. The last interglacial in particular is wever, that the Eemian stage - as defined at the type important since the set of data is rich compared to locality near Amersfoort (the Netherlands) - covers that of earlier interglacials. This is also the case for the only a restricted part of the interval between the two mammalian record and - although the mammalian glacial ice-advances. The Eemian in a strict sense is the fauna differs in many aspects from the present-day first warm/temperate episode after the retreat of the fauna of NW and central Europe - the fossils may Saalian continental icecap; it is broadly the continental contribute to the reconstruction of the environment equivalent of the marine isotope substage (MIS) 5e and its evolution during the earlier part of the Late (see Turner, 2000 - this issue). Several temperate in- Pleistocene. terstadials separate the Eemian s.s. from the latest Many faunas have been referred to the last intergla­ (Weichselian) glacial maximum and part of the fossil cial (which is known in western and central Europe as remains, previously referred to the Eemian, might date Geologie en Mijnbouw / Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 79(2/3) 2000 269 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.168, on 05 Oct 2021 at 10:51:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016774600021752 from these interstadials. In the present contribution, is, however, sometimes missing. In order to avoid cir­ the author focuses on the Eemian s.s. and in particular cular reasoning {Hippopotamus indicates an Eemian on the mammalian record from this time. age; Eemian faunas are characterised by the presence When discussing the Eemian s.s. fossil record, it is of Hippopotamus), the author has decided to restrict important to realise that there are no mammalian re­ the analyses of Eemian faunas to those associations mains from the type locality of the Eemian nor from that can be correlated with the Eemian s.s. and to de­ Eemian deposits in the type region, the Amersfoort fine the Eemian fauna in the various regions on the Basin. Correlations between the type deposits and basis of sites with dating evidence independent of the mammalian faunas are often based on palynological mammalian fauna itself, be it lithostratigraphic or ra­ data, absolute dates and/or the stratigraphical posi­ diometric. tion of the levels that yielded the fossil remains. A Central Europe (in particular the eastern part of number of faunal remains have been referred to the Germany: Fig. 1) is of major interest for the study of Eemian because of the 'interglacial' character of the Eemian faunas. Localities in this area have yielded the fauna; solid independent evidence for an Eemian age most extensive record. A general picture of the Ee- • Lehringen Schflnfeld Bikgtonna' •Taubach • Stuttgart UnterturKh§im 0 50 100 km 1HJ Weichselian continental ice-sheet I I Saalian continental ice-sheet Fig. 1. Location of the sites with a clear stratigraphical setting, where mammalian remains with an Eemian s.s. age have been collected. 270 Geologie en Mijnbouw / Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 79(2/3) 2000 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.168, on 05 Oct 2021 at 10:51:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016774600021752 mian fauna of central Europe will be presented and Grobern (Sachsen-Anhalt) the geographical differences will be discussed in the A few hundred kilometres south-east of the Lehrin­ following. gen locality lies the Grobern site, in the Leipzig low­ lands (Fig. 1). Fossil bones from the site have been Eemian faunas from central and western Europe known since 1986 (Hartung, 1991). In 1987, during the removal of overburden from the lignite pit, a near­ The number of independently well-dated Eemian ly complete skeleton of a straight-tusked elephant was faunas is restricted; there are only a few rather long found, together with flint artefacts, in an infilled lake successions with a good Eemian mammalian record. (Erfurt & Mania, 1990). The depression had been A number of these faunal assemblages come from the formed as a kettle hole in glaciofluvial sands and gra­ northern and eastern part of Germany, from a geolo­ vels on top of the Saalian (Drenthe) till; it contains gically special area. The area had previously been co­ Eemian and early Weichselian limnic sediments (Litt, vered by the Saalian ice sheet; after its withdrawal, se­ 1990). The latter shows an alternation of silty muds dimentation took place at certain places (for example (deposited during the colder episodes), calcareous in pingo depressions) upon the Saalian subglacial muds, gyttja and peat from the warmer episodes. The tills. The sites are located south to southwest of the lacustrine sediments are overlain by Weichselian maximum extent of the Weichselian ice sheet; the se­ sands and solifluction material (Eissmann et al., diment accumulations with the mammalian remains 1988). Palynological research has indicated that the have, therefore, not been destroyed by the Weichselian depression contains a complete Eemian and early ice. The presence of Saalian tills of the Drenthe I, II Weichselian sequence. The latter is characterised by and/or Warthe substages provides important strati- the alternation of three treeless stadials and two in- graphical markers at the sites in the glaciated area. terstadials with boreal tree cover (Brorup and Odde- Outside of the glaciated area, one has to rely on other rade) (Litt, 1990). The palaeobotanical observations criteria, such as absolute dates. This is the case in the are supported by climatic reconstructions based on German travertine sites. the coleopteran record from the same sequence (Wal­ king & Coope, 1996). Sites in the glaciated area The vertebrate remains from the site are from the Eemian deposits, from layers referred to the Eemian Lehringen (Niedersachsen) pollen zones E4a and E4b or from the E4b - E5 tran­ Mammalian remains of Eemian age, exposed during sition (Benecke et al., 1990). The vertebrate assem­ quarrying between 1945 and 1950, have been collec­ blage is diverse; apart from the mammalian record ted from marls near Lehringen. The marls were depo­ (Table 1; the Chiroptera Pippistrellus sp. is not inclu­ sited in a number of small lakes, connected by a small ded in the list) there are at least six different fishes river, the former river Lehrde. The marl deposits are (mainly Cyprinidae), two amphibians and two repti­ intercalated with peat deposits on top of the Drenthe les represented. (= Saalian) till. Palaeobotanical and malacological in­ vestigations of the succession exposed at the Lehrin­ Grabschiitz (Sachsen-Anhalt) gen locality indicate that the peat and marl were for­ Interglacial deposits with mammalian remains are med under forested conditions. It is therefore obvious also known from the Grabschiitz locality, an open­ that the succession is incomplete; the beginning as cast lignite mine at Delitzsch, southwest of Grobern. well as the end of the interglacial are absent. Palaeo­ The geological setting at the site is more or less si­ botanical research indicated furthermore that the so- milar to the one at Grobern, i.e. interglacial deposits called Lehringer interglacial is equivalent to the Ee­ in a basin formed in glacial deposits referred to the mian interglacial. Saalian (Drenthe) ice-advance. According to Litt Von Sickenberg (1969) described the larger mam­ (1990, 1994), the interglacial lacustrine and peat de­ mal remains from the Lehringen site, gathered by an posits are, based on palynological data, of Eemian amateur collector.