Abstract
At the Gratkorn locality (Styria, Austria), a highly diverse, late Middle Miocene (late Sarmatian sensu stricto; 12.2–12.0 Ma) faunal assemblage is preserved in a palaeosol. It represents the first systematically excavated and well-documented continental Sarmatian site in Central Europe. Taphonomical analysis of the 700 large mammal specimen excavated so far has led to the following conclusions: (1) the level of diagenetic alteration is low, as primary (aragonitic) mineralisation in gastropod shells is preserved and teeth and bones of large mammals in general show a relatively low total REE content; (2) the high degree of disarticulation and fragmentation in large mammal bones is induced by hunting, scavenging, trampling, and neotectonics; (3) there are no signs for fluviatile transportation due to the general preservation features of the bones (e.g. no record of abrasion) and the still roughly associated fragments of individual bones and skeletons; and (4) local accumulation of large mammal bones is the result of scavenging. The fossil assemblage is considered to form a more or less autochthonous taphocoenosis without any significant time averaging (or faunal mixing) in terms of geologic resolution (contemporaneously deposited).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aiglstorfer M, Bocherens H, Böhme M (2014a) Large mammal ecology in the late Middle Miocene Gratkorn locality (Austria). In: Böhme M, Gross M, Prieto J (eds) The Sarmatian vertebrate locality Gratkorn, Styrian Basin. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 94(1). doi:10.1007/s12549-013-0145-5
Aiglstorfer M, Göhlich UB, Böhme M, Gross M (2014b) A partial skeleton of Deinotherium (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from the late Middle Miocene Gratkorn locality (Austria). In: Böhme M, Gross M, Prieto J (eds) The Sarmatian vertebrate locality Gratkorn, Styrian Basin. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 94(1). doi:10.1007/s12549-013-0140-x
Aiglstorfer M, Heissig K, Böhme M (2014c) Perissodactyla from the late Middle Miocene Gratkorn locality (Austria). In: Böhme M, Gross M, Prieto J (eds) The Sarmatian vertebrate locality Gratkorn, Styrian Basin. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 94(1). doi:10.1007/s12549-013-0138-4
Aiglstorfer M, Rössner GE, Böhme M (2014d) Dorcatherium naui and pecoran ruminants from the late Middle Miocene Gratkorn locality (Austria). In: Böhme M, Gross M, Prieto J (eds) The Sarmatian vertebrate locality Gratkorn, Styrian Basin. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 94(1). doi:10.1007/s12549-013-0141-9
Andrews P, Whybrow P (2005) Taphonomic observations on a camel skeleton in a desert environment in Abu Dhabi. Palaeontol Electron 8(1):1–17
Backwell LR, Parkinson AH, Roberts EM, d’ Errico F, Huchet J-B (2012) Criteria for identifying bone modification by termites in the fossil record. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 337–338:72–87
Badiola A, Berreteaga A, Pereda-Suberbiola X, Elorza J, Astibia H, Etxebarria N (2009) Taphonomy of vertebrate fossil assemblages from swampy circum-lake environments: an example from the Late Eocene of Zambrana (Iberian Peninsula). Palaios 24:522–534
Behrensmeyer AK (1975) The taphonomy and paleoecology of Plio-Pleistocene vertebrate assemblages east of Lake Rudolf, Kenya. Bull Mus Comp Zool 146:473–578
Behrensmeyer AK (1978) Taphonomic and ecologic information from bone weathering. Paleobiology 4(2):150–162
Behrensmeyer AK (1988) Vertebrate preservation in fluvial channels. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 63(1–3):183–199. doi:10.1016/0031-0182(88)90096-X
Behrensmeyer AK (1991) Terrestrial vertebrate accumulations. In: Allison PA, Briggs DE (eds) Taphonomy: Releasing the data locked in the fossil record. Plenum Press, New York, pp 291–335
Behrensmeyer AK, Kidwell SM (1985) Taphonomy’s contributions to paleobiology. Paleobiology 11(1):105–119
Berthold C, Bjeoumikhov A, Brügemann L (2009) Fast XRD2 Microdiffraction with Focusing X-Ray Microlenses. Part Part Syst Charact 26:107–111
Bhatia SB, Soulié-Märsche I, Gemayel P (1998) Late Oligocene and Early Pleistocene charophyte floras of the Hirpur Formation, Karewa Group, India. N Jb Geol Paläont, Abh 210(2):185–209
Blumenschine RJ (1987) Carcass consumption sequences and the archaeological distinction of scavenging and hunting. J Hum Evol 15:639–659
Böhme M, Ilg A, Winkelhofer M (2008) Late Miocene “washhouse” climate in Europe. Earth Planet Sci Lett 275(3–4):393–401
Böhme M, Winklhofer M, Ilg A (2011) Miocene precipitation in Europe: temporal trends and spatial gradients. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 304:212–218
Böhme M, Vasilyan D (2014) Ectothermic vertebrates from the late Middle Miocene of Gratkorn (Austria, Styria). In: Böhme M, Gross M, Prieto J (eds) The Sarmatian vertebrate locality Gratkorn, Styrian Basin. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 94(1). doi:10.1007/s12549-013-0143-7
Coe M (1978) The decomposition of elephant carcases in the Tsavo (East) National Park, Kenya. J Arid Environ 1:71–86
Conybeare A, Haynes G (1984) Observations on elephant mortality and bones in Water Holes. Quat Res 22:189–200
Costeur L, Maridet O, Montuire S, Legendre S (2013) Evidence of northern Turolian savanna-woodland from the Dorn-Dürkheim 1 fauna (Germany). Palaeobio Palaeoenv 93(2):259–275. doi:10.1007/s12549-013-0116-x
Domingo MS, Domingo L, Sánchez IM, Alberdi MT, Azanza B, Morales J (2011) New insights on the taphonomy of the exceptional mammalian fossil sites of Cerro de los Batallones (Late Miocene, Spain) based on rare earth element geochemistry. Palaios 26:55–65
Engel MS, Gross M (2009) A giant termite from the Late Miocene of Styria, Austria (Isoptera). Naturwissenschaften 96:289–295
Fejfar O, Kaiser TM (2005) Insect bone-modification and paleoecology of oligocene mammal-bearing sites in the Doupov Mountains, Northwestern Bohemia. Palaeontol Electron 8(1):11p
Flügel HW, Nowotny A, Gross M (2011) Geologische Karte 1:50.000, Blatt 164 Graz. 1 Blatt. Geologische Bundesanstalt, Wien
Furbish DR, Furbish WJ (1984) Structure, Crystallography, and morphogenesis of the cryptic shell of the terrestrial slug Limax maximus (Mollusca, Gastropoda). J Morphol 180:195–211
Gerdes G (2007) Structures left by modern microbial mats in their host sediments. In: Schieber J, Bose PK, Eriksson PG, Banerjee, S, Sarkar S, Altermann W, Catuneau, O. (eds) Atlas of microbial mat features preserved within the clastic rock record. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 5-38
Göhlich UB, Gross M (2014) The Sarmatian (late Middle Miocene) avian fauna from Gratkorn, Austria. In: Böhme M, Gross M, Prieto J (eds) The Sarmatian vertebrate locality Gratkorn, Styrian Basin. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 94(1). doi:10.1007/s12549-013-0139-3
Gross M (2008) A limnic ostracod fauna from the surroundings of the Central Paratethys (late Middle Miocene/early Late Miocene; Styrian Basin; Austria). Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 264(3–4):263–276
Gross M, Böhme M, Prieto J (2011) Gratkorn: A benchmark locality for the continental Sarmatian s.str. of the Central Paratethys. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 100(8):1895–1913. doi:10.1007/s00531-010-0615-1
Gross M, Böhme M, Havlik P, Aiglstorfer M (2014) The late Middle Miocene (Sarmatian s.str.) fossil site Gratkorn - the first decade of research, geology, stratigraphy and vertebrate fauna. In: Böhme M, Gross M, Prieto J (eds) The Sarmatian vertebrate locality Gratkorn, Styrian Basin. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 94(1). doi:10.1007/s12549-013-0149-1
Hanley JH, Flores RM (1987) Taphonomy and paleoecology of nonmarine mollusca: Indicators of alluvial plain lacustrine sedimentation, upper part of the Tongue River Member, Fort Union Formation (Paleocene), Northern Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana. Palaios 1987(2):479–496
Harzhauser M, Gross M, Binder H (2008) Biostratigraphy of Middle Miocene (Sarmation) wetland systems in an Eastern Alpine intramontane basin (Gratkorn Basin, Austria): the terrestrial gastropod approach. Geol Carpathica 59(1):45–58
Haynes G (1983) Archaeology frequencies of spiral and green-bone fractures on ungulate limb bones in modern surface assemblages. Am Antiq 48(1):102–114
Hembree DI, Hasiotis ST (2008) Miocene vertebrate and invertebrate burrows defining compound paleosols in the Pawnee Creek Formation, Colorado, U.S.A. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 270((3–4):349–365. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.07.019
Herwartz D, Tütken T, Jochum KP, Sander PM (2013) Rare earth element systematics of fossil bone revealed by LA-ICPMS analysis. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 103:161–183
Klaus S, Gross M (2010) Synopsis of the fossil freshwater crabs of Europe (Brachyura:Potamoidea: Potamidae). N Jb Geol Paläont, Abh 256(1):39–59
Kocsis L, Trueman CN, Palmer MR (2010) Protracted diagenetic alteration of REE contents in fossil bioapatites: Direct evidence from Lu–Hf isotope systematics. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 74((21):6077–6092. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2010.08.007
Kohn MJ, Schoeninger MJ, Barker WB (1999) Altered states: effects of diagenesis on fossil tooth chemistry. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 63:2737–2747
Lyman RL (1994) Vertebrate taphonomy. Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Martin, RE (1999) Taphonomy: A process approach. Cambridge Paleobiology Series 4. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Merceron G, Costeur L, Maridet O, Ramdarshan A, Göhlich UB (2012) Multi-proxy approach detects heterogeneous habitats for primates during the Miocene climatic optimum in Central Europe. J Hum Ev 63(1):150–161. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.04.006
Metzger CA, Terry DO, Grandstaff DE (2004) Effect of paleosol formation on rare earth element signatures in fossil bone. Geology 32(6):497–500. doi:10.1130/g20376.1
Morlo M (2006) New remains of Barbourofelidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) from the Miocene of Southern Germany: implications for the history of barbourofelid migrations. Beitr Paläont 30:339–346
Nagel D (2009) The early Vallesian vertebrates of Atzelsdorf (Late Miocene, Austria). 10. Carnivora Ann Nathist Mus Wien A Mineral Petrol Geol Palaeontol Archaeozool Anthropol Praehist 111(A):605–618
Palmqvist P, Arribas A (2001) Taphonomic decoding of the paleobiological information locked in a lower Pleistocene assemblage of large mammals. Paleobiology 27(3):512–530. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2001)027<0512:tdotpi>2.0.co;2
Poole JH (1996) The African elephant. In: Kangwana K (ed) Studying elephants. African Wildlife Foundation Technical Handbook Series 7:1–8
Prieto J Angelone C, Casanovas-Vilar I, Gross M, Hír J, Hoek Ostende LW van den, Maul LC, Vasilyan D (2014) The small mammals from Gratkorn: an overview. In: Böhme M, Gross M, Prieto J (eds) The Sarmatian vertebrate locality Gratkorn, Styrian Basin. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 94(1). doi:10.1007/s12549-013-0147-3
Reynard B, Lécuyer C, Grandjean P (1999) Crystal-chemical controls on rare-earth element concentrations in fossil biogenic apatites and implications for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Chem Geol 155(3–4):233–241. doi:10.1016/S0009-2541(98)00169-7
Rink WJ, Schwarcz HP (1955) Tests for diagenesis in tooth enamel: ESR dating signals and carbonate contents. J Archaeol Sci 22(2):251–255. doi:10.1006/jasc.1995.0026
Rogers RR, Fricke HC, Addona V, Canavan RR, Dwyer CN, Harwood CL, Koenig AE, Murray R, Thole JT, Williams J (2010) Using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to explore geochemical taphonomy of vertebrate fossils in the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine and Judith River Formations of Montana. Palaios 25(3):183–195. doi:10.2110/palo.2009.p09-084r
Seilacher A (1964) Sedimentological classification and nomenclature of trace fossils. Sedimentology 3:253–256
Shipman P (1981) Life history of a fossil; An introduction to taphonomy and paleoecology. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Sommer J (2007) Sedimentologie, Taphonomie und Paläoökologie der miozänen Dinotheriensande von Eppelsheim/Rheinhessen. Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main
Stiner MC (1990) The use of mortality patterns in archaeological studies of hominid predatory adaptations. J Anthropol Archaeol 9:305–351
Taylor SR, MCLennan SM (1985) The continental crust: its composition and evolution. Blackwell, Oxford
Thulborn RA (1991) Morphology, preservation and palaeobiological significance of dinosaur coprolites. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 83(4):341–366. doi:10.1016/0031-0182(91)90060-5
Tompa AS (1980) A comparative study of the ultrastructure and mineralogy of calcified land snail eggs (Pulmonata: Stylommatophora). J Morphol 150:861–888
Trueman C (2007) Trace element geochemistry of bonebeds. In: Rogers RR, Eberth DA, Fiorillo AR (eds) Bonebeds: Genesis, analysis, and paleobiological significance. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 397–435
Trueman CN (2013) Chemical taphonomy of biomineralized tissues. Palaeontology 56(3):475–486. doi:10.1111/pala.12041
Trueman CN, Behrensmeyer AK, Potts R, Tuross N (2006) High-resolution records of location and stratigraphic provenance from the rare earth element composition of fossil bones. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 70(17):4343–4355. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2006.06.1556
Tschinkel WR (2003) Subterranean ant nests: trace fossils past and future? Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 192:321–333
Tütken T (2003) Die Bedeutung der Knochenfrühdiagenese für die Erhaltungsfähigkeit in vivo erworbener Element- und Isotopenzusammensetzungen in fossilen Knochen. Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen
Tütken T, Vennemann TW, Pfretzschner HU (2008) Early diagenesis of bone and tooth apatite in fluvial and marine settings: Constraints from combined oxygen isotope, nitrogen and REE analysis. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 266(3–4):254–268. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.03.037
van der Made J, Prieto J, Aiglstorfer M, Böhme M, Gross M (2014) Taxonomic study of the pigs (Suidae, Mammalia) from the late Middle Miocene of Gratkorn (Austria, Styria). In: Böhme M, Gross M, Prieto J (eds) The Sarmatian vertebrate locality Gratkorn, Styrian Basin. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 94(1). (in press)
Voorhies MR (1969) Taphonomy and population dynamics of an early Pliocene vertebrate fauna, Knox County, Nebraska. Contributions to Geology University of Wyoming Special Paper 1:69
Acknowledgements
Dr. Kerstin Drost (Tübingen University) is thanked for REE analysis, Dipl. Min. Melanie Keuper and Dr. Christoph Berthold for the X-ray microdiffraction analysis, Sabine Kötter for catching extant Limax, Henrik Stöhr for preparation (all Tübingen University), Helmut Reindl (Gratkorn) and the participants in all excavation campaigns from UMJGP Graz, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich and Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen for their hard work in the field. The municipal administration of the town of Gratkorn is thanked for continuous support of the excavations. We furthermore want to thank Achim G. Reisdorf (University of Basel) and Prof. Dr. Anna Kay Behrensmeyer (NMNH, Washington) whose reviews helped to seriously improve the content and English spelling of an earlier version of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is a contribution to the special issue “The Sarmatian vertebrate locality Gratkorn, Styrian Basin.”
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(PDF 180 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Havlik, P., Aiglstorfer, M., Beckmann, A.K. et al. Taphonomical and ichnological considerations on the late Middle Miocene Gratkorn locality (Styria, Austria) with focus on large mammal taphonomy. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 94, 171–188 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-013-0142-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-013-0142-8