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Late-glacial mammoth skeletons from Condover, Shropshire, England

Abstract

We report the discovery of abundant skeletal remains of mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach) from late-glacial sediments filling a kettle-hole near Shrewsbury, Shropshire in England. Radiocarbon dated to ˜ 12,800 yr BP, they are by far the latest dated remains of mammoth from Britain, extending its known occurrence there by around 5,000 yr. They provide clear evidence that the full-glacial episode of the last cold stage did not bring about the final extinction of the mammoth in western Europe, but that the species returned in the late glacial before its ultimate demise. The finds represent the most complete mammoths found in Britain, and include the largely complete skeleton of an adult together with partial skeletons of at least three juveniles.

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Coope, G., Lister, A. Late-glacial mammoth skeletons from Condover, Shropshire, England. Nature 330, 472–474 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/330472a0

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