First data on the neopleistocene mammal fauna from Oldzho River locality (Upper Yana Region, Sakha Republic, Russia)

The article presents the first complete data on the finds of mammals of the mammoth fauna in the Upper Yana basin (Verkhoyansky Ulus, Oldzho River). A list of mammal species of the locality on the Oldzho River was compiled. 11 mammal species were identified. The snow sheep was noted for the Upper Yana area for the first time. The absolute age of the locality is over 49 thousand years. It was formed during the beginning of Karginsky interstadial (MIS 3). A small amount of remains of species adapted to the conditions of the Arctic zone (reindeer, musk ox) and the complete absence of such species as the arctic fox and wolverine, indicate significant differences between the fauna of Oldzho and the later typically Sartan Fauna. The geomorphology of the locality differs from the typical permafrost sections in the north of the Yana-Indigirka Lowland. In the Oldzho upper part of the section consist of edom loss-ice sediments. On Oldzho the ice thickness does not exceed 4–4.5 meters and it is confined the top of the 50 meters terrace. The base of the terrace is a sandstone and mudstone bedrock. Bones bed layer located under the ice in the loess-like loams with layers of peat and inclusions of plant detritus. Bones of bison, horse, woolly rhinoceros, red deer dominate quantitatively. All age groups of herbivorous mammals are provided. Predators (bear, cave lion, wolf) are represented only by adult individuals. Relatively common pathologies of the limb bones in herbivorous mammals caused by traumatic injuries have been noted.