Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T00:53:56.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Youngest Radiocarbon Age for Jefferson's Ground Sloth, Megalonyx Jeffersonii (Xenarthra, Megalonychidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

H. Gregory McDonald ,
Thomas W. Stafford  and
Dale M. Gnidovec
H. Gregory McDonald*
Affiliation:
Museum Management Program, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525, USA
Thomas W. Stafford
Affiliation:
AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade 120, Aarhus, Denmark Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Geological Museum, Oester Voldgade 5–7, DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
Dale M. Gnidovec
Affiliation:
Orton Geological Museum, 155 South Oval Mall, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
*
*Corresponding author., E-mail address:[email protected] (H. Gregory McDonald).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A partial skeleton of the extinct ground sloth, Megalonyx jeffersonii, recovered from a farm near Millersburg, Ohio in 1890, was radiocarbon dated for the first time. The ungual dated is part of a skeleton mounted for exhibit at the Orton Geological Museum at Ohio State University and was the first mounted skeleton of this animal. From its initial discovery the bones were treated with multiple organic compounds that had the potential to compromise the radiocarbon age and the specimen required special treatments in order to obtain a valid radiocarbon age. The 14C measurement on the ungual from this skeleton (11,235 ± 40 14C yr BP = 13,180–13,034 cal yr BP) is the youngest 14C age presently determined for M. jeffersonii.

Keywords

MegalonyxJefferson's ground slothRadiocarbon ageHistorical specimensPleistoceneOhioXAD resin
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , March 2015 , pp. 355 - 359
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bocherens, H., Fizet, M., Marioitti, A., Gangloff, R.A., and Burns, J.A. (1994). Contribution of isotopic biogeochemistry (13N, 15N, 18O) to the paleoecology of mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius). Historical Biology 7, 187–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chatters, J.C., Hackenberger, S., and McDonald, H.G. (2004). A Jefferson's ground sloth from the terminal Pleistocene of Central Washington. Current Research in the Pleistocene 21, 93–94.Google Scholar
Claypole, E.W. (1891). Megalonyx in Holmes County, Ohio 1890. American Geologist 7, (122-.132 and 149–153).Google Scholar
DeNiro, M.J. (1985). Post-mortem preservation and alteration of in vivo bone collagen isotope ratios in relation to palaeodietary reconstruction. Nature 317, 806–809.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dorn, T.F., Fairhall, A.W., Schell, W.R., and Takashimas, Y. (1962). Radiocarbon dating at the University of Washington I. Radiocarbon 4, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
France, C.A.M., Zelanko, P.M., Kaufman, A.J., and Holtz, T.R. (2007). Carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis of Pleistocene mammals from the Saltville Quarry (Virginia, USA): implications for trophic relationships. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 249, 271–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, O.P. (1923). The Pleistocene of North America and its vertebrate animals from the states East of the Mississippi River and from the Canadian Provinces East of Longitude 95°. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 322, 1–499.Google Scholar
Hoganson, J.W., and McDonald, H.G. (2007). The first report of the occurrence of Jefferson's ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) in North Dakota and its paleobiogeographical and paleoecological significance. Journal of Mammalogy 88, 73–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jefferson, T. (1799). A memoir on the discovery of certain bones of a quadruped of the clawed kind in the western parts of Virginia. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 4, 246–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, D.J. (2006). Chronology and new research on the Schaefer mammoth (?Mammuthus primigenius) site, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, USA. Quaternary International 142–143, 44–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinzie, C.R., Que Hee, S.S., Stich, A., Tague, K.A., Mercer, C., Razink, J.J., Kennett, D.J., DeCarli, P.S., Bunch, T.E., Wittke, J.H., Israde-Alcántara, I., Bischoff, J.L., Goodyear, A.C., Tankersley, K.B., Kimbel, D.R., Culleton, B., Erlandson, J.M., Stafford jr., T.W., Kloosterman, J.B., Moore, A.M.T., Firestone, R.B., Auro Tortosa, J.E., Jordá Pardo, J.F., West, A., Kennett, J., and Wolbach, W.S. (2014). Nanodiamond-rich layer across three continents consistent with major cosmic impact at 12,800 Cal BP. Journal of Geology 122, 475–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohn, M.J., McKay, M.P., and Knight, J.L. (2005). Dining in the Pleistocene — who's on the menu?. Geology 33, 649–652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leidy, J. (1855). A memoir of the extinct sloth tribe of North America. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge 7, 1–68.Google Scholar
Lundelius jr., E.L., and Slaughter, B.H. (1976). Notes on American Pleistocene tapirs. C.S., Churcher. Athlon: Essays on Paleontology in Honour of Loris Shano Russell Royal Ontario Museum, Life Sciences, Miscellaneous Publications, 226–243.Google Scholar
McDonald, H.G. (1998). The sloth, the president, and the airport. Washington Geology 26, 40–42.Google Scholar
McDonald, H.G., and Jefferson, G.T. (2008). Distribution and habitat of Nothrotheriops (Xenarthra, Nothrotheridae) in the Pleistocene of North America. Wang, X., Barnes, L.G. Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology of Western and Southern North America, Contributions in Honor of David P. Whistler Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Science Series. 41, 313–331.Google Scholar
Mills, R. (1975). A ground sloth, Megalonyx, from a Pleistocene site in Darke County, Ohio. Ohio Journal of Science 75, 147–155.Google Scholar
Murphy, J.L. (1979). Millersburg Ground Sloth. Ohio Historical Society, (Echos 18, 1, 3).Google Scholar
Orton, E. (1891). On the occurrence of Megalonyx jeffersonii in central Ohio. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 2, 235.Google Scholar
Redmond, B.G., McDonald, H.G., Greenfield, H.J., and Burt, M.L. (2012). New evidence for Late Pleistocene human exploitation of Jefferson's Ground Sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) from northern Ohio, USA. World Archaeology 44, 75–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schubert, B.W., Graham, R.W., McDonald, H.G., Grimm, E.C., and Stafford, T.W. Jr (2004). Latest Pleistocene paleoecology of Megalonyx jeffersonii and Cervalces scotti . Quaternary Research 61, 231–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steadman, D.W., Martin, P.S., MacPhee, R.D.E., Jull, A.J.T., McDonald, H.G., Woods, C.A., Iturralde-Vinent, M., and Hodgins, G.W.L. (2005). Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 102, 11763–11768.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stuiver, M., Grootes, P.M., and Braziunas, T.F. (1995). The GISP2 δ18O climate record of the past 16,500 years and the role of the sun, ocean, and volcanoes. Quaternary Research 44, 341–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waters, M.R., and Stafford, T.W. Jr (2007). Redefining the Age of Clovis: implications for the peopling of the Americas. Science 315, 1122–1126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waters, M.R., and Stafford jr., T.W. (2014). The first Americans: a review of the evidence for the late Pleistocene peopling of the Americas. Graf, K.E., Ketron, C.V., Waters, M.R. Paleoamerican Odyssey, Texas A&M University Press, College Station.487–506.Google Scholar
Waters, M.R., Stafford, T.W., McDonald, H.G., Gustafson, C., Rasmussen, M., Cappellini, E., Olsen, J.V., Szklarczyk, D., Jensen, L.J., Gilbert, M.T.P., and Willerslev, E. (2011). Pre-Clovis mastodon hunting 13,800 years ago at the Manis site, Washington. Science 334, 351–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar