European forest elephant

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European forest elephant
Skeleton of Palaeoloxodon antiquus

Skeleton of Palaeoloxodon antiquus

Temporal occurrence
Pleistocene
900,000 to 33,000 years
Locations
  • Central, Eastern and Southern Europe
  • Middle East
Systematics
Elephantimorpha
Elephantida
Elephants (Elephantidae)
Elephantinae
Paleoloxodon
European forest elephant
Scientific name
Palaeoloxodon antiquus
( Falconer & Cautley , 1847)

The now extinct European forest elephant or Eurasian old elephant ( Palaeoloxodon antiquus , formerly also Elephas antiquus ) lived in the middle and upper Pleistocene of Europe and the Middle East . The species is often referred to simply as a forest elephant , which can, however, lead to confusion with today's African forest elephant ( Loxodonta cyclotis ). The European forest elephant belongs to the real elephants (Elephantidae), which are characterized by the reduction of the lower incisors , the formation of long tusks from the upper incisors and the lamellar structure of the molars .

Habitat and climate demands

Possible distribution area of ​​the Palaeoloxodon antiquus . Shown is the maximum extent of the range of the European forest elephant during the warm periods. The black points represent important sites, the ellipse the hypothetical distribution area.

The European forest elephant preferred park-like landscapes and deciduous forests and, with its climatic requirements, was probably adapted to sub-Mediterranean and Mediterranean climates. Its main distribution area therefore included Europe south of the Alps and Western Asia. In the interglacials of the Cromer Complex (850,000 to 475,000 years ago), the Holstein Warm Period (340,000 to 325,000 years ago) and the Eem Warm Period (126,000 to 115,000 years ago), these conditions were also given for large areas north of the Alps. In some cases during the optimum climate it was even up to 3 ° C warmer than today. Since the European forest elephant was present in Europe north of the Alps for the entire duration of these warm periods, it must have at least coped with a cool, temperate climate .

During the warm periods, especially the Eem and Cromer warm periods, the European forest elephant also spread to western , central and eastern Europe , although it did not reach Ireland and Fennoscandinavia . Find sites far north in Central Europe are near Raalte ( Netherlands ), Verden ( Lower Saxony ) and on the Danish island of Fyn . In the Eastern European Plains ( Poland , Western Russia) it penetrated even further north. The 55th degree of latitude is mentioned as the upper limit  (location near Moscow ). The easternmost distribution of the animal species is not clear, as it can overlap with Palaeoloxodon namadicus . The forest elephant is the namesake of the so-called Palaeoloxodon antiquus faunen complex, which dominates Europe north of the Alps especially in the Middle and Young Pleistocene warm periods and which also includes the forest rhinoceros , red deer and fallow deer , roe deer , wild boar , aurochs and Occasionally the hippopotamus also belong to.

When climatic cooling at the end of each warm periods, this northern attracted palaeoloxodon antiquus - populations to the southwest and southeast in the warmer Mediterranean back or died out locally. In the areas that became free, they were then replaced in the early cold periods by steppes and later in cold periods by woolly mammoths of the Mammuthus-Coelodonta faunen complex. This cold steppe fauna retreated to Northeast Europe and North Asia during the warm periods . After the end of the Eem warm period there was still a dwindling population of the European forest elephant in the Mediterranean area, the last of which died out during the Vistula glacial period (115,000 to 11,700 years ago).

Appearance and way of life

The reconstruction of a European forest elephant whose 200,000 year old remains were discovered in 1986 at today's Geiseltalsee (Saxony-Anhalt) (permanent exhibition in the Pfännerhall, Braunsbedra)
Skull and miniature model of a European forest elephant in the Archaeological Museum in Madrid
Remains of the European forest elephant in the Natural History Museum of Rotonda , Italy
Preserved tusk of a forest elephant
Living reconstruction (drawing)

As with almost all fossil vertebrates, the European forest elephant often finds individual bones and especially teeth - as the hardest components of the skeleton - and finds of entire skeletons are rare. Due to the numerous finds and the comparison with recent representatives of the Elephantidae group, some more precise statements can be made here.

The European forest elephant was not only larger than the woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius ), but on average also a little larger than today's African steppe elephant ( Loxodonta africana ). It is one of the largest trunk animals that have ever lived on earth . However, the species possessed, comparable to the recent elephants, a clearly pronounced sexual dimorphism . Bulls reached a shoulder height of up to 4.2 m with a live weight of 6 to a maximum of 11 t, while cows were up to 3 m tall and weighed a maximum of 6 t. The body shape corresponded roughly to that of today's Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus ) with a steep forehead and two humps on the head (cranial dome), which sometimes also formed a transverse bulge. Since the front and rear limbs were about the same length, the back line was not as steeply sloping as in the woolly mammoth; it was more like a slightly hunched back. The tusks, up to 3 m long, are particularly striking, continuous, only slightly, but partly curved and thus wide to the sides.

Since, in contrast to the woolly woolly mammoth, which is also Pleistocene, there are no preserved soft tissues, little can be said about the further appearance of the European forest elephant. The trunk that starts in the nasal region must have been very muscular in comparison to the Asian elephant due to the preserved muscle attachment points and is reconstructed to a length of up to 280 cm. However, nothing is known about the structure of the trunk end. Whether this species had a fur is speculative, but since elephants are not completely naked, at least a slight hairiness can be assumed. The occurrence of the proboscis in the warm-time but still winter-cold landscapes of Europe north of the Alps makes it probable that the European forest elephant is at least more hairy than the elephants today. The size of the auricle is also unknown, but due to the relationships and again the climatic adaptation, it could be more in the range of variation between the Asian elephant and the mammoth than that of the African elephant.

Like the recent elephants, the European forest elephant was probably a herd animal that lived in associations of mothers and young animals, while the adult bulls were largely solitary or formed their own groups. The group size and territorial behavior should not have differed much from today's elephants. Just like its recent relatives, it will have been heavily dependent on fresh water, which certainly had a strong influence on its migratory movements. The structure of the molars with their characteristic lamellar structure, mediated by the number and shape of the lamellae between the Loxodonta line and the Mammuthus line, is close to the Asian elephant. This suggests both softer food, such as leaves , fruits , buds or bark ( browsing ), and harder food such as grasses ( grazing ). On the basis of stomach contents found and food residues adhering to teeth, the use of maple , hornbeam , hazelnut , alder , ash , beech and ivy , but also herbs such as artemisia and grasses such as sedges could be concluded , at least for the region north of the Alps . Microscopic examinations of traces of wear on the surfaces of the molars also show the use of different nutritional bases. Obviously, the European forest elephant changed its nutritional strategy depending on the food available during the individual seasons ( browsing in spring and summer, grazing in autumn and winter).

In addition to this general view of life, numerous pathological changes are known, which are also well documented in recent elephants. Deformities of vertebrae up to adhesions ( spondylosis and ankylosis ) occur relatively frequently, arthritis of the musculoskeletal system and anomalies of tusks and molars are also known. Drilled bone parts, such as B. on the shoulder blade or on the nasal bone, which, however, often healed again, suggest competition with rivals .

The European forest elephant certainly had a similar impact on its immediate ecological environment as today's elephants. By knocking down young trees or tearing out bushes , debarking or hollowing out large trees or breaking off branches and defoliation of the trees by eating, it is possible that in connection with other megaherbivores , such as the forest rhinoceros or the large wild cattle , the landscape can be sustainable coined. This may have kept the landscapes artificially open and prevented dense forest vegetation, ultimately creating park landscapes. This influence of the large herbivores on the landscape can still be observed today in the Serengeti in East Africa . The term forest elephant is therefore also misleading and refers to its warm climatic presence ( forest time ) in Europe north of the Alps; due to its size, it must have preferred open landscapes.

Early humans and the European forest elephant

Both early humans (human tribal history ) and the European forest elephant reached the European continent in the late early Pleistocene ; if the data from Atapuerca (Sima del Elefante) are correct, humans succeeded in doing this earlier.

Sites in which early humans and the European forest elephant appear together are often documented. One of the oldest references is the 600,000 year old site of Mauer near Heidelberg ( Baden-Württemberg ). However, the geological circumstances suggest that the fossils found there were washed up in a former loop of the Neckar . Isernia la Pineta ( Italy ) is likely to be similarly old or slightly younger . In addition to stone artifacts and numerous bones of rhinos, wild cattle, hippos and horses, the remains of the lower jaw of the European forest elephant were documented on the three inspection horizons documented here. Since the remains of the proboscis do not show any anthropogenic changes, a natural entry cannot be ruled out here either.

Tuscan remnants and mandible of the European forest elephant found in Ambrona, Spain

The first indications that early humans could also have hunted the European forest elephant come from Torralba and Ambrona , a "twin station" in Spain that is around 400,000 years old. Here, the remains of over 60 elephants were uncovered on an area of ​​more than 1800 m² examined, along with wild horses, aurochs and rhinos. Since, in addition to the roughly thousand stone artefacts, several sharpened wooden sticks were found and referred to as hunting weapons, the excavators initially interpreted the site as a hunting ground. However, this assumption did not go unchallenged, since such a "mass hunt" for elephants is considered rather unlikely.

The finds from Bilzingsleben show that early humans also used the remains of the proboscis as a source of raw materials . Here, on the bank of a former lake , skull remains classified as Homo erectus (see also discussion in Homo heidelbergensis ) have been described by early humans together with their artificial legacies in the form of stone and (albeit sometimes controversial) bone artifacts . The European forest elephant is also found among the numerous remains of the fauna, some of which are interpreted as hunting prey and food waste. Young animals with numerous skull and dentition remains dominate him. Traditional long bones and other postcranial skeletal parts mostly come from older animals. Noteworthy is a shin fragment on which regular incised lines were carved with a flint tool , the meaning of which is unknown. Comparably old to the finds from Bilzingsleben are those from Schöningen , where the European forest elephant has also been identified. The well-known Schöninger spears were probably used for hunting wild horses. In addition, a rib of a European forest elephant was found here that has cut marks. A cow elephant that died of natural causes at the former Schöninger See was also preserved with its almost complete skeleton . According to the interpretation of the excavators, the carcass could have been used by early humans, as indicated by around 30 flint artifacts in the immediate vicinity.

An interesting find comes from Campitello in Tuscany (Italy). Here in 2001 the skeleton of a European forest elephant was excavated on about 13 m², which is not completely preserved and showed no traces of human manipulation (part of the skeleton was destroyed during previous construction work), but was associated with three flint artifacts. Organic material adhered to one of the cuts, which after further investigations turned out to be birch pitch . The findings are dated to the Saale ( Riss ) cold period. Also in Tuscany is Poggetti Vecchi, a complex of about the same age, on which partial skeletons of several individuals came to light. Due to their age distribution, they probably belonged to a family group. Several hundred stone artifacts and individual tools made of bones and wood were associated with the elephants. The skeletons of La Polledrara di Cecanibbio in Latium , central Italy, can be assigned to the time before the Saale glaciated . In addition to water buffalo , horses and various species of rhinoceros, several hundred remains of the bones of the European forest elephant were recovered, including three complete skulls. More than 60 stone artifacts were found in association with the faunistic remains, some of which had simple edge retouching.

The clearest evidence to date that this proboscis was one of the prey of early humans was obtained in 1948 in Lehringen near Verden an der Aller (Lower Saxony) (see Lance von Lehringen ). Here, too, a skeleton of a European forest elephant was found, with a lance made of yew wood and 25 flint artifacts between its ribs . The find dates to the Eem warm period. A similar find of a human-manipulated carcass from the same temporal position was unearthed in 1987 in the Gröbern opencast mine ( Saxony-Anhalt ). He found over 20 flint artifacts, but there was no evidence of a hunting weapon. A second forest elephant skeleton found in Gröbern that same year proved to be free of any anthropogenic changes.

An outstanding site is the Geiseltal (Saxony-Anhalt), namely the Neumark-Nord 1 site on the northeastern edge, also from the Eemzeit period . In this former lake basin, more than 1,350 bones from the European forest elephant have been recovered since 1985, which belong to around 70 individuals, including some almost completely preserved skeletons. These were associated with other representatives of the warm-time Palaeoloxodon antiquus fauna, such as forest and steppe rhinoceros, aurochs, horses, red deer and fallow deer and the like. a. A large part of the mostly very old or sick trunk animals died here a natural death, a phenomenon that can still be observed today in alleged elephant cemeteries in Africa. None of the animals showed evidence of intentional killing by early humans; however, flint artefacts were found in some elephant bones, including one that was tainted with organic matter. This is an extract of oak bark that was apparently used for tanning .

Systematics

Internal systematics of the elephants according to Meyer et al. 2017
 Elephantidae  


 Loxodonta africana


   

 Loxodonta cyclotis 


   

 Paleoloxodon




   

 Elephas


   

 Mammothus




Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

The European forest elephant is a species of the genus Palaeoloxodon within the elephant family (Elephantidae). It belongs therefore to the modern line of development from the recent radiation phase of the order of mammoths (Proboscidea). Palaeoloxodon is a very diverse genus with gigantic representatives such as the European forest elephant, but also Palaeoloxodon namadicus and Palaeoloxodon recki , some of which are assumed to have a body weight of more than 12 t, as well as dwarf members, such as Palaeoloxodon falconeri or Palaeoloxodon lomolinoi . The independence of the European forest elephant has not always been clear in the course of research history, as it was sometimes assumed to be synonymous with the Asian Palaeoloxodon namadicus . The close relationship of the genus Palaeoloxodon was also difficult. Here a closer relationship to the African elephant ( Loxodonta ) as well as to the Asian elephant ( Elephas ) was under discussion, the latter being preferred since the 1970s due to individual morphological similarities. Molecular genetic studies of fossils from Neumark-Nord in Geiseltal and Weimar-Ehringsdorf in 2017, however, revealed a closer relationship between the European forest elephant and the representatives of the Loxodonta genus with a closer relationship to the forest elephant ( Loxodonta cyclotis ) than to the African steppe elephant ( Loxodonta africana ). In-depth analyzes, however, showed far more complex relationships. Accordingly, there are similarities to different elephant groups, which are composed of three components: The first consists of alleles that are shared by the African steppe and forest elephants and possibly go back to the parent group of the two species. The European forest elephant shares a significant proportion of common gene components with the West African forest elephant, while another proportion is also found in the woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius ). It can be seen as probable that in the early phase of the phylogenetic development of the individual elephant forms, which mainly took place in Africa, there were still numerous hybridization events before the genetic isolation of the individual species began. Palaeoloxodon in particular was one of the dominant elephant genera in Africa in the Pliocene and early Pleistocene .

Tribal history

Most likely, Palaeoloxodon antiquus split from the African Palaeoloxodon recki about 1 to 0.9 million years ago , but the process is still largely under discussion. It is plausible that descendants of Palaeoloxodon recki immigrated to Europe via the Levant . The first appearance of the European forest elephant in Europe is recorded in the late Early Pleistocene and in the older Middle Pleistocene in southwestern Europe. The oldest sites include Huescar, Granada (Spain) and Soleilhac ( France ). An isolated molar from this early colonization phase has also been reported from Slivia (Italy).

At the latest in the younger section of the Cromer complex, the European forest elephant also reached Central Europe north of the Alps. Important sites here are Mauer near Heidelberg (Baden-Württemberg), Mosbach (urban area of Wiesbaden , Hesse ) and Pakefield ( England ). In the following warm periods it appears regularly in this region, like the finds from Swanscombe (England), Maastricht (Netherlands), Bilzingsleben (Thuringia), Schöningen (Lower Saxony) among others with the forest elephant from Schöningen , Steinheim an der Murr (Baden-Württemberg ) or Ehringsdorf (Thuringia) for the Middle Pleistocene warm periods and Geiseltal (Saxony-Anhalt), Lehringen (Lower Saxony), Gröbern (Saxony-Anhalt) or Burgtonna (Thuringia) and Warsaw (Poland) for the last warm period.

It has not been proven whether the European forest elephant developed intraspecificly during its appearance in the Middle and Young Pleistocene. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, people were considering whether older and younger forms could be differentiated based on the molars. The basis for this assumption was the individual enamel lamellae of the molar teeth, the number of which should increase over time and their thickness should decrease at the same time. In the following years this was contradicted. On the one hand, finds of the European forest elephant from the Holstein and Eem warm ages show no significant differences; on the other hand, older material is too rare to show development trends. Rather, such findings are to be understood as individual or sexual variations.

With the end of the Eem warm period, the European forest elephant disappeared from its northern refuges. A find near Berlin is interesting , which suggests that it was possibly still to be found in Central Europe until the beginning of the early Vistula glacial period . In addition, some finds, u. a. from Raalte (Netherlands), it also suggests that individual smaller populations may have reached parts of central or north-western Europe again during the warmer interstadial of the Vistula glaciation. The most recent dates here are at 32,500 and 37,500 years ago. However, since these are readings, this is controversial.

The last finds of the European forest elephant come from Spain, Italy and Croatia . Here too, however, it most likely died out before the maximum of the last glacial period. ( see main article Quaternary extinction wave ) A particularly recent date with 33,000 to 34,000 years ago comes from Foz do Enxarrique , Portugal .

From the southern margins of distribution along the Mediterranean coast, individual populations of the European forest elephant made their way across the open sea to remote islands such as Malta , Crete , Cyprus or Sicily . Often this happened during the sea lows during the cold periods. The populations isolated in this way developed dwarf forms ( Palaeoloxodon falconeri , Palaeoloxodon mnaidrensis , Palaeoloxodon cypriotes ) as a result of food shortages . Based on 14C analyzes and wall paintings from ancient Egypt, it has been proven that some of these dwarf elephants survived into the Bronze Age (e.g. on the island of Tilos until approx. 1300 BC).

Research history

The expert opinion of the Collegium Medicum zu Gotha on a "dug unicorn" from February 14, 1696 (left) and the letter of Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel to the Florentine grand ducal librarian Antonius Magliabechi with his description of the elephant skeleton from the same year (right).

The first scientifically described find of a European forest elephant comes from the travertine quarries of Tonna in what was then the Duchy of Saxony-Gotha-Altenburg . It was discovered in 1695 and presented the following year by the historiographer Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel as the remnant of an elephant. Since the members of the Collegium Medicum in Gotha considered the find to be a “ mineral plant” (now known as dendrite ) or a “ unicornu fossile” , there was a heated scholarly dispute that lasted for several years.

In the period that followed, several fossil elephant finds were made, mainly in quarries , which often ended up in private collections. In this context , letters and letters written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe at the beginning of the 19th century are of interest in terms of research history . a. to the then Grand Duke Carl August of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach , in which he reported several times about such finds from the Ilm Valley travertines near Weimar .

The European forest elephant was first described scientifically in 1847 by the two Englishmen Hugh Falconer and Proby Thomas Cautley . They gave it the name Elephas antiquus . The basis for the name was mainly found in teeth from eastern England ( Essex , Norfolk ), which the two paleontologists compared with fossils they had collected on extensive trips to South Asia ( India , Nepal ). In 1924, Hikoshichiro Matsumoto introduced the generic name Palaeoloxodon on the basis of Asian elephant remains , which he regarded as a subspecies of the African elephant ( Loxodonta africana ). Vincent J. Maglio was of the opinion in the 1970s that the relationship with Loxodonta was incorrect and that Palaeoloxodon was closer to the Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus ). He then synonymized both forms. Maglio also saw the European forest elephant only as a Western Eurasian variant of Elephas namadicus , which was named by Falconer and Cautley in 1845, but was not often shared. Only the molecular genetic investigations from 2017 then revealed the closer relationship between the European forest elephant and the African elephant.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The description, which occurs frequently in the literature, that the tusks of the European forest elephant are particularly straight and only slightly curved in the last third, from which the English name straight-tusked elephant comes from for this animal species, is largely incorrect and, according to a statement by MR Palombo to the findings of Riano (Italy). However, these were severely deformed and partially broken by the sediment load. The current appearance of Riano's tusks is a result of conservation. See also Karol Schauer 2010.
  2. ↑ The predominant depiction of the European forest elephant in live reconstructions as naked is certainly due to a psychological effect that is supposed to make it clear that the proboscis lived in a warm environment. See also Karol Schauer 2010.
  3. ↑ Asian researchers prefer a derivation of Elephas namadicus from Elephas planifrons . For the different evaluations of the individual fossil Elephas species see also Karlheinz Fischer 2010 and above all Haruo Saegusa and W. Henry Gilbert 2008 with extensive discussion from page 213.

literature

  • Jehesekiel Shoshani, Naama Goren-Inbar, R. Rabinovich: A stylohyoideum of Palaeoloxodon antiquus from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel: morphology and functional inferences. In: G. Cavarretta (Ed.): La terra degli elefanti. = The world of elephants. Atti del 1. congresso internazionale, Roma, 16–20 ottobre 2001. Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche, Rome 2001, ISBN 88-8080-025-6 , pp. 665–667, sovraintendenzaroma.it (PDF; 39 kB; accessed in August 2011).
  • Wighart von Koenigswald: Living Ice Age. Climate and fauna in transition. Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8062-1734-3 .
  • Harald Meller (ed.): Elefantenreich. A fossil world in Europe. State Museum of Prehistory, Halle (Saale) 2010, ISBN 978-3-939414-48-3 (volume accompanying the special exhibition, Halle (Saale), State Museum of Prehistory, March 26 - October 3, 2010).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Diana Pushkina: The Pleistocene easternmost distribution in Eurasia of the species associated with the Eemian Palaeoloxodon antiquus assemblage . Mammal Review 37, 2007, pp. 224-245
  2. ^ Wighart von Koenigswald: Lebendige Eiszeit. Climate and fauna in transition. Stuttgart, 2002, pp. 153-155
  3. ↑ Ralf-Dietrich Kahke: The origin, development and distribution history of the upper-pleistozönen Mammuthus-Coelodonta fauna complex in Eurasia (large mammals) . Treatises of the Senckenbergische Naturforschenden Gesellschaft 546, Frankfurt am Main, 1994
  4. ^ Maria Rita Palombo, Ebru Albayrak and Federica Marano: The straight-tusked Elephants from Neumar-Nord. A glance into a lost world. In: Harald Meller (Hrsg.): Elefantenreich - Eine Fossilwelt in Europa. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 219–251
  5. ^ Wighart von Koenigswald: Lebendige Eiszeit. Climate and fauna in transition. Stuttgart, 2002, 51-53
  6. ↑ Karol Schauer: What did they look like? For the reconstruction of the Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus from the sea deposits of Neumark-Nord. In: Harald Meller (Hrsg.): Elefantenreich - Eine Fossilwelt in Europa. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 296–313
  7. ↑ Karol Schauer: What did they look like? For the reconstruction of the Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus from the sea deposits of Neumark-Nord. In: Harald Meller (Hrsg.): Elefantenreich - Eine Fossilwelt in Europa. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 296–313
  8. ↑ Ulrich Joger: Lifestyle and ecology of modern elephants: Are conclusions about the forest elephant and its environment possible? In: Harald Meller (Hrsg.): Elefantenreich - Eine Fossilwelt in Europa. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 314–321
  9. ↑ René Grube: Vegetable food remains of the fossil elephants and rhinos from the interglacial of Neumark-Nord. In: Jan Michal Burdukiewicz, Lutz Fiedler, Wolf-Dieter Heinrich, Antje Justus and Enrico Brühl (eds.): Knowledge hunters . Festschrift for Dietrich Mania. Publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle 57 Halle / Saale, 2003, pp. 221–236
  10. ^ René Grube, Maria Rita Palombo, Paola Iacumin and Antoinette Di Matteo: What did the fossil elephants from Neumark-Nord eat? In: Harald Meller (Hrsg.): Elefantenreich - Eine Fossilwelt in Europa. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 253-273
  11. ^ Karlheinz Fischer: The forest elephants from Neumark-Nord and Gröbern. In: Dietrich Mania u. a. (Ed.): Neumark-Nord - An interglacial ecosystem of the Middle Palaeolithic people. Publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle 62 Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 361–374
  12. ^ Maria Rita Palombo, Ebru Albayrak and Federica Marano: The straight-tusked Elephants from Neumar-Nord. A glance into a lost world. In: Harald Meller (Hrsg.): Elefantenreich - Eine Fossilwelt in Europa. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 219–251
  13. ↑ Axel Beutler: The large animal fauna of Europe and their influence on vegetation and landscape. In: B. Gerken and C. Meyer (eds.): Where did plants and animals live in the natural landscape and the early cultural landscape of Europe? Natur- und Kulturlandschaft 1, 1996, pp. 51-106
  14. ↑ Margret Bunzel-Drüke, Joachim Drüke & Henning Vierhaus: The influence of large herbivores on the natural landscape of Central Europe. Working Group on Biological Environmental Protection District Soest e. V. 2001
  15. ^ Günther A. Wagner, Hermann Rieder, Ludwig Zöller and Erich Mick (eds.): Homo heidelbergensis. Key find of mankind. Stuttgart, 2007
  16. ↑ Mauro Cremaschi and Carlo Peretto: Les sols d'habitat du site paleolithique d'Isernia La Pineta (Molise, Italy Centrale). L'Anthropologie 92, 1988, pp. 1017-1040
  17. ↑ Patrizia Anconetani: An experimental approach to intentional bone fracture: A case study from the Middle Pleistocene site of Isernia La Pineta. In: Sabine Gaudzinski and Elaine Turner (Eds.): The role of early humans in the accumulation of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic bone assemblages. Bonn, 1999, pp. 121-138
  18. ↑ Francis Clark Howell: The Man of Ancient Times. Time-Life International. Frankfurt am Main, 1966
  19. ^ Lewis R. Binford: Where there elephant hunters at Torralba? In: Lewis R. Binford: Debating Archeology. New York / San Diego, 1989, pp. 383-422
  20. ↑ Dietrich Mania: In the footsteps of prehistoric man. Berlin, 1990
  21. ↑ Ekke W. Günther: The teeth of the forest elephants of Bilzingsleben. In: Dietrich Mania u. a. (Ed.): Bilzingsleben IV. Homo erectus - Its culture and its environment. Publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle 44, Berlin 1991, pp. 149–174
  22. ↑ Leif Steguweit: Traces of use on artifacts from the hominid discovery site Bilzingsleben (Thuringia). Rahden / Westphalia, 2003, ISBN 978-3-89646-852-9
  23. ↑ Hartmut. Thieme: Lower palaeolithic hunting spears from Germany. Nature 385, 1997, pp. 807-810
  24. ↑ Hartmut Thieme (ed.): The Schöninger Speere. Humans and hunting 400,000 years ago. Exhibition catalog. Stuttgart, 2007
  25. ↑ Jens Lehmann, Jordi Serangeli and Thomas Terberger: Schöningen. Elephant hunt 300,000 years ago. Archeology in Germany, 1/2016, pp. 5–7 ( [1] )
  26. ↑ Jordi Serangeli: Collectors, hunters and a dead elephant in Schöningen. Archeology in Lower Saxony 19, 2016, pp. 100–103 ( [2] )
  27. ↑ Jordi Serangeli, Ivo Verheijen, Bárbara Rodríguez Álvarez, Flavio Altamura, Jens Lehmann and Nicholas J. Conard: Elefanten in Schöningen. Archeology in Germany 3/2020, pp. 8–13
  28. ^ Paul Peter Anthony Mazza, Fabio Martini, Benedetto Sala a. a .: A new Palaeolithic discovery: tar-hafted stone tools in a European Mid-Pleistocene bone-bearing bed. Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (9), 2006, pp. 1310-1318
  29. ↑ Biancamaria Aranguren, Stefano Grimaldi, Marco Benvenuti, Chiara Capalbo, Floriano Cavanna, Fabio Cavulli, Francesco Ciani, Giacomo Comencini, Claudia Giuliani, Giuditta Grandinetti, Marta Mariotti Lippi, Federico Masini, Paul Peter Anthony Mazza, Pasquino. Palleanielchi, Andrea Fabio Savorelli and Anna Revedin Poggetti Vecchi (Tuscany, Italy): A late Middle Pleistocene case of humane elephant interaction. Journal of Human Evolution 133, 2019, pp. 32-60
  30. ↑ Anna Paola Anzidel, Grazia Maria Bulgarelli, Paola Catalano, Eugenio Cerilli, Rosalia Gallotti, Cristina Lemorini, Salvatore Milli, Maria Rita Palombo, Walter Pantano and Ernesto Santucci: Ongoing research at the late Middle Pleistocene site of La Polledrara di Cecanibbio (central Italy ), with emphasis on human elephant relationships. Quaternary International 255, 2012, pp. 171-187
  31. ↑ Hartmut Thieme and Stefan Veil: New studies on the Eemzeitlichen elephant hunting ground Lehringen, Ldkr. Verden. Die Kunde 36, 1985, pp. 11-58
  32. ^ Dietrich Mania, Matthias Thomae, Thomas Litt and Thomas Weber: Neumark - Gröbern. Contributions to the hunting of the Middle Paleolithic man. Publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle 43 Berlin, 1990
  33. ^ Karlheinz Fischer: The forest elephants from Neumark-Nord and Gröbern. In: Dietrich Mania u. a. (Ed.): Neumark-Nord - An interglacial ecosystem of the Middle Palaeolithic people. Publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle 62 Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 361–374
  34. ↑ Dietrich Mania u. a .: Quaternary research in the Neumark-Nord opencast mine, Geiseltal (Saxony-Anhalt) and its results so far. In: Dietrich Mania u. a. (Ed.): Neumark-Nord - An interglacial ecosystem of the Middle Palaeolithic people. Publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle 62 Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 11–70
  35. ^ Maria Rita Palombo, Ebru Albayrak and Federica Marano: The straight-tusked Elephants from Neumark-Nord. A glance into a lost world. In: Harald Meller (Hrsg.): Elefantenreich - Eine Fossilwelt in Europa. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 219–251
  36. ^ Gary Haynes: Mammoths, mastodonts, and elephants: Biology, behavior, and the fossil record. Cambridge, 1991
  37. ↑ Johann Koller and Ursula Baumer: The organic coating on the flint blade from Neumark-Nord. Excavation material or scaffolding putty? In: Harald Meller (Hrsg.): Elefantenreich - Eine Fossilwelt in Europa. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 553-563
  38. ↑ a b c Matthias Meyer, Eleftheria Palkopoulou, Sina Baleka, Mathias Stiller, Kirsty EH Penkman, Kurt W. Alt, Yasuko Ishida, Dietrich Mania, Swapan Mallick, Tom Meijer, Harald Meller, Sarah Nagel, Birgit Nickel, Sven Ostritz, Nadin Rohland, Karol Schauer, Tim Schüler, Alfred L Roca, David Reich, Beth Shapiro and Michael Hofreiter: Palaeogenomes of Eurasian straight-tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolution. eLife 6, 2017, S. doi: 10.7554 / eLife.25413
  39. ↑ Asier Larramendi: Shoulder height, body mass, and shape of proboscideans. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 61 (3), 2016, pp. 537-574
  40. ↑ Eleftheria Palkopoulou, Mark Lipson, Swapan Mallick, Svend Nielsen, Nadin Rohland, Sina Baleka, Emil Karpinski, Atma M. Ivancevic, Thu-Hien To, R. Daniel Kortschak, Joy M. Raison, Zhipeng Qu, Tat-Jun Chin, Kurt W. Alt, Stefan Claesson, Love Dalén, Ross DE MacPhee, Harald Meller, Alfred L. Roca, Oliver A. Ryder, David Heiman, Sarah Young, Matthew Breen, Christina Williams, Bronwen L. Aken, Magali Ruffier, Elinor Karlsson , Jeremy Johnson, Federica Di Palma, Jessica Alfoldi, David L. Adelson, Thomas Mailund, Kasper Munch, Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Michael Hofreiter, Hendrik Poinar and David Reich: A comprehensive genomic history of extinct and living elephants. PNAS 115 (11), 2018, pp. E2566 – E2574, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1720554115
  41. ↑ Vincent J. Maglio: Origin and evolution of the Elephantidae. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 63, 1973, pp. 1-149.
  42. ↑ Haruo Saegusa and W. Henry Gilbert: Elephantidae. In: W. Henry. Gilbert and Berhane Asfaw (eds.): Homo erectus: Pleistocene Evidence from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Berkeley, Los Angeles, 2008, pp. 193-226
  43. ↑ Jan van der Made and AV Mazo: Proboscidian dispersals from Africa towards Western Europe. Deinsea 9, 2003, pp. 437-452
  44. ↑ Wolfgang Soergel: Elephas trogontherii (POHL.) And Elephas antiquus (FALC.), Their tribal history and their significance for the structure of the German Diluvium. Palaeontographica 60, 1912, pp. 1-114
  45. ^ Karlheinz Fischer: The forest elephants from Neumark-Nord and Gröbern. In: Dietrich Mania u. a. (Ed.): Neumark-Nord - An interglacial ecosystem of the Middle Palaeolithic people. Publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle 62. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 361–374
  46. ↑ Karlheinz Fischer: New discovery of a forest elephant (Elephas antiquus FALCONER & CAUTLEY 1847) from the Rixdorf horizon of Berlin and the surrounding area in the early days of the Rixdorf period. Brandenburg Geoscientific Contributions 10 (1/2), 2003, pp. 159–163
  47. ^ Anthony J. Stuart: The extinction of woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) in Europe. Quaternary International 126-128, 2005, pp. 171-177
  48. ↑ Dick Mol, John de Vos and Johannes van der Plicht: The presence and extinction of Elephas antiquus Falconer and Cautley, 1847, in Europe. Quaternary International 169/170, 2007, pp. 149-153
  49. ↑ Jan van der Made: The Evolution of the Elephants and their relatives in the context of a changing climate and geography . In: Harald Meller (Hrsg.): Elefantenreich - Eine Fossilwelt in Europa. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 340–362
  50. ↑ MF Sousa and SM Fiqueiredo: The Pleistocene elephants of Portugal. In: G. Cavarretta et al. (Eds.): The World of Elephants - International Congress. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Rome, 2001, pp. 611-616
  51. ^ Maria Rita Palombo: Elephants in miniature. In: Harald Meller (Hrsg.): Elefantenreich - Eine Fossilwelt in Europa. Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 275–295
  52. ↑ M. Masseti: Did endemic dwarf elephants survive on Mediterranean islands up to protohistorical times? In: G. Cavarretta et al. (Eds.): The World of Elephants - International Congress. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Rome, 2001, pp. 402-406
  53. ↑ H. Claus: The geological-palaeontological exploration of the Burgtonna travertine deposit. In: Hans-Dietrich Kahlke (Ed.): The Pleistocene of Burgtonna in Thuringia. Quaternary Palaeontology 3 (Berlin), 1978, pp. 9–41
  54. ↑ Hans Dietrich Kahlke: The Ice Age. Leipzig, Jena, Berlin, 1981
  55. ↑ Authentic message from a complete elephant skeleton found in Burgtonna , monthly correspondence for the conveyance of earth and sky customers , volume 1, p. 21 digitized
  56. ^ Günter Behm-Blancke: Paleolithic resting places in the travertine area of ​​Taubach, Weimar, Ehringsdorf. Old Thuringia 4, 1960
  57. ^ Hugh Falconer and Proby Thomas Cautley: Fauna antiqua Sivalensis . 9 parts, here parts 3 to 8. British Museum. London, 1845-49
  58. ^ Hikoshichiro Matsumoto: Preliminary notes on fossil elephants in Japan. Journal of the Geological Society Tokyo 31 (371), 1924, pp. 255-272
  59. ↑ Vincent J. Maglio: Origin and evolution of the Elephantidae. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 63, 1973, pp. 1-149
  60. ^ Karlheinz Fischer: The forest elephants from Neumark-Nord and Gröbern. In: Dietrich Mania u. a. (Ed.): Neumark-Nord - An interglacial ecosystem of the Middle Palaeolithic people. Publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle 62 Halle / Saale, 2010, pp. 361–374
  61. ↑ Haruo Saegusa and W. Henry Gilbert: Elephantidae. In: W. Henry. Gilbert, Berhane Asfaw (Ed.): Homo erectus: Pleistocene Evidence from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Berkeley, Los Angeles, 2008, pp. 193-226

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Commons : European forest elephant ( Palaeoloxodon antiquus )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files