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Today, Bir Tarfawi, Kharga and Dakhleh Oases all sit in Egypt's hyperarid Western Desert. A dearth of naturally occurring surface water coupled with ≤ 0.1 mm/y of precipitation, and evaporation rates > 2 m/y make Bir Tarfawi uninhabitable today, while Dakhleh and Kharga depend on borehole water to support human inhabitation. Yet in scattered locations dotting the Quaternary surfaces and deposits near each oasis, Paleolithic artefacts, fossil ungulate teeth, and snails record times when surface water did exist in wetlands, small ponds, and even large lakes. At Bir Tarfawi in Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5, 7, and 13, wetlands or small lakes supported freshwater snails, large herbivores, and hominins. Dakhleh Oasis hosted a large lake in MIS 6 that provided a deep reliable water supply for many millennia subsequently. ESR dates on fossils and tufa dates show thriving lacustrine and terrestrial ecosystems at Dakhleh during MIS 5, 7, 9, 11, and 17, and in shorter episodes in MIS 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12. At Kharga Oasis, springs discharged along the Libyan Escarpment edge, but the water was ponded in small basins dammed within tufa deposits. These dated deposits and fossils attest that water existed there in MIS 2–11, and one spot dating to ∼ 2.3 Ma. This proxy evidence suggest that, thanks to higher rainfall and/or groundwater tables, sufficient water persisted for much of the Pleistocene, supporting food resources, like large herbivores and molluscs, to thrive and enabling hominin habitation. and activity in the Western Desert.

In the northeastern Sahara, electron spin resonance (ESR) dating of when animals lived documents their habitability in Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. A Middle Pleistocene paleolake(s) covered >1700 km 2 . At eastern Locality Dak348, 10 m thick, remnant lacustrine marls yielded Pleistocene fauna, rare artefacts, and plant casts. No obvious unconformity exists within these deposits. From upper horizons, a hartebeest tooth ESR dated at 195 ± 11 ka, correlates with Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7, while molluscs from a stratigraphically higher horizon averaged 89 ± 10 ka, correlating with MIS 5a/b. At western Locality Dak006, upslope deflation has left a temporally mixed surficial lag. Numerous lagged tooth fragments, independently dated by ESR, correlate with MIS 5 through 17. Fragments from a slope sand unit correlate with MIS stages 3 through 6. One bovid tooth associated with Younger Middle Stone Age artefacts in the base of the sand dated at 84 ± 7 ka (MIS 5a/b). Molluscs from Romano-Byzantine backdirt at a breached artesian vent dated to 8–15 ± 1 ka, suggesting that ponds formed during MIS 1 and 2. Even without well defined sedimentary contexts, ESR frequency data indicate that the oasis was habitable for herbivores during at least twelve stages in the Mid-Late Quaternary, and, therefore, likely also for humans.

Why are there no perissodactyls in sub-Saharan West Africa? There are no records of hipparions or zebras in that region and records of rhinoceroses are peripheral and sparse. Absence of records is not information of absence. More than a century of palaeontological and archaeozoological research has yielded thousands of skeletal specimens of late Tertiary or Quaternary mammals throughout most of Africa with equid and rhinocerotid specimens well represented from North, East and South Africa, but not saharan, sahelian or soudanian West Africa. This paper explores the evidence of this absence but offers no solution.

While it is expected that prehistoric populations experienced the effects of impacts by extraterrestrial objects, there is little record of such events in occupied regions. We discuss the ramifications of an impact between 100 and 200 ka into Dakhleh Oasis, at that time experiencing humid phase conditions and inhabited by Middle Stone Age people. Based on modeling of impact processes using estimated impact parameters, the impact blast would likely have felled or dismembered most trees over 280–2400 km 2 of the oasis, and inhabitants would have been injured over much of the region, although severely only near the blast location. The impact would not have vaporized much of the Dakhleh paleolake(s), although some water was probably lost through boiling and through waves initiated by the impact blast. Water quality would have decreased as lake turbidity increased, and soot from regional fires fell into the lake. A relatively small event would not have immediately ignited much of the oasis vegetation, but sedimentary evidence suggests that impact-generated fires did spread to significantly affect the landscape. The impact and resulting fires may have triggered mass wasting events as well as significant changes in erosion rates and have substantially affected human uses of the area.

Impact cratering is a ubiquitous geological process on the terrestrial planets. Meteorite impact craters are the most visible product of impact events, but there is a growing recognition that large aerial bursts or airbursts should occur relatively frequently throughout geological time. In this contribution, we report on an unusual impact glass--the Dakhleh Glass (DG)--which is distributed over an area of ~400 km^2 of the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. This region preserves a rich history of habitation stretching back to over 400,000 years before the emergence of Homo sapiens. We report on observations made during recent fieldwork and subsequent analytical analyses that strengthen previous suggestions that the DG formed during an impact event. The wide distribution and large size of DG specimens (up to ~50 cm across), the chemistry (e.g., CaO and Al2O3 contents up to ~25 and ~18 wt%, respectively), the presence of lechatelierite and burnt sediments, and the inclusion of clasts and spherules in the DG is inconsistent with known terrestrial processes of glass formation. The age and other textural characteristics rule out a human origin. Instead, we draw upon recent numerical modeling of airbursts to suggest that the properties of DG, coupled with the absence of a confirmed crater, can best be explained by melting of surficial sediments as a result of a large airburst event. We suggest that glass produced by such events should, therefore, be more common in the rock record than impact craters, assuming that the glass formed in a suitable preserving environment.

In this study, we present evidence, in the form of unusual silicate glasses, for a meteorite impact event ∼ 200–100 ka in the Dakhleh Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt. These glasses, known locally as Dakhleh Glass, were derived from the shock melting of a series of unconsolidated sediments underlain by interbedded carbonates, sandstones and phosphate-rich lithologies. Hypervelocity impact in to a volatile-rich target resulted in the production of impact glasses with CaO and Al 2 O 3 contents of up to ∼ 25 and 18 wt.%, respectively. Other notable properties include the presence of globules of immiscible calcite and pyrrhotite melt phases, shattered quartz grains, and fragments of silicified plant matter. Dating of geoarchaeological artefacts associated with the Dakhleh Glass support preliminary 40 Ar/ 39 Ar data, indicating a ∼ 200–100 ka age for the impact event. Geoarchaeological evidence indicates that archaic Homo sapiens and early modern humans continually inhabited this region of the Western Desert during this period. While it is unclear at present whether the Dakhleh Glass was formed during a cratering event or a large aerial burst, the effect on the environment and inhabitants of Dakhleh would have been catastrophic.

The extinct Cape zebra (Equus cupensis Broom) was first described from the Cape Town region of South Africa in 1909. Subsequent materials were reported from the hinterland of the Cape and into the Orange Free State, with records from Zimbabwe and Zambia, and 18 species were named. These were synonymised with the type binomial. Populations similar to the Cape zebra were described in East Africa as E. oldowayensis. Recently, specimens, also referable to the Cape zebra, have been recovered from Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits in Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, northwest Africa. The known temporal range of these Cape zebra populations is from Late Pliocene in East and South Africa and from Late Pleistocene in Egypt, to Middle Holocene in northeast and South Africa, and to Recent in northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia and the northeast of southern Somalia where it is represented by the extant E. grevyi, Grevy's zebra. The occlusal patterns of the lower cheek teeth (P3-M2) of the South African type, and individuals ...

We carried out a geologic survey and a preliminary archaeological survey of four fossil-spring tufa localities in Kharga Oasis, Egypt, to constrain the timing of pluvial episodes in the Western Desert, and to document prehistoric occupation contemporaneous with times of increased rainfall. Uranium-series dating of the tufas confirms that at least five episodes of tufa deposition are represented in Kharga, although not every event is represented at each locality. Across the region studied, tufas were most frequently deposited as part of a fluvial barrage system, characterized by terraced, vegetated pools impounded by arcuate tufa dams and separated by small waterfalls. Available water resources during pluvial phases would have included not only spring-fed streams but also small freshwater lakes. While Earlier Stone Age (ESA) and Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic artifacts may be found either as surficial lags on tufas, or, less commonly, encased within tufas, Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic artifacts are generally found in or on silts within surface deflation depressions in the tufas, principally at Wadi Midauwara. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Three lungfish species are recognized from tooth plates recovered from shales of the Mut Formation (Qusseir Group) in eastern Dakhleh Oasis. Ceratodus humei Priem, 1914 is identified on characters shared with the type specimen, and Neoceratodus africanus Haug, 1905 on characters shared with the type specimen and specimens assigned to this species by subsequent authors. Protopterus crassidens sp. nov. is represented by two recently found plates, as well as two plates previously considered to represent Ceratodus or Protopterus humei. These plates all bear three ridges and crests, unusually heavy mesial ridges, crushing bollard-like buccal cusps to the mesial ridges and thick, robust buccal margins. The status and characteristics of C. humei are reviewed and the general problems of interspecific variation of fossil lungfish tooth plates and species recognition based on tooth plates are discussed. The diagnosis of C. humei is revised and the species returned to its original generic assignment, based mainly on the broad sample of tooth plates from Dakhleh Oasis. This sample demonstrates that many tooth plates assigned to this species subsequent to its original description do not belong within C. humei. New specimens of N. africanus are described from Bahariya Oasis.

Vertebrates and invertebrates associated with lithic artifacts are reported from a later middle Pleistocene horizon in Dakhleh Oasis, probably dating to isotope stage 7. This represents the first middle Pleistocene fauna of this stage from a site in the Egyptian Western Desert and demonstrates the presence of extensive permanent lakes along the margin of the Libyan Escarpment. The fauna includes two freshwater snails (Limnaea stagnalis, Planorbis planorbis), a catfish (Clarias sp.), two reptiles (Varanus cf. griseus, ?Trionyx sp.), four water birds (Grus grus, Anas platyrhynchos, Anas sp. small, Arenaria interpres) and one land bird (Struthio camelus), and probably eleven mammals (Phacochoerus aethiopicus, Hippopotamus amphibius, Camelus ?thomasi, Pelorovis antiquus, ?Damaliscus, large antelope, Gazella sp. large, Gazella cf. dorcas, small antelope, Equus capensis, and possibly Hyaena hyaena). Most of the fossils derive from a near shore marl deposit in a freshwater lake that occupied a depression whose northern boundary coincides with the present southern margin of the oasis in its eastern end. Casts of the stems of reeds are also present. The animals represent a proximal freshwater tied fauna of obligatory aquatics and those who require freshwater during much of their activity, a distal savanna fauna of grazers, browsers or rooters who migrate to water on a diurnal cycle, and probable transitory avian migrants attracted to the palaeolake in passage. Human presence is attested by flakes and bifaces found in situ.

Analyses of fossil mammal faunas from 2945 localities in the United States demonstrate that the geographic ranges of individual species shifted at different times, in different directions, and at different rates in response to late Quaternary environmental fluctuations. The geographic pattern of faunal provinces was similar for the late Pleistocene and late Holocene, but differing environmental gradients resulted in dissimilar species composition for these biogeographic regions. Modern community patterns emerged only in the last few thousand years, and many late Pleistocene communities do not have modern analogs. Faunal heterogeneity was greater in the late Pleistocene.

Premaxillary shape is a good indicator of the diets of extant artiodactyls, and probably of extinct ones as well. Grazing mammals have squarer premaxillae than browsers, and animals which exhibit dietary strategies between those of grazers and browsers (“intermediate feeders”) have premaxillae that are squarer than browsers but more pointed than grazers. A simple geometric model (Premaxillary Shape Index or PSI) is derived here, which describes premaxillary shape in a standardized and repeatable fashion. Premaxillary shapes are shown to correlate with diet in extant herbivores. The average PSI for 12 species of extant browsers is 54.9%; that of extant intermediates (20 species) 66.6%; and of grazers (10 species) 79%. The PSIs for each group are significantly different (P < 0.01). Our study indicates that, like modern camelids, Tertiary/Quaternary camels were not grazers, but rather browsers (Hemiauchenia macrocephala; Megatylopus gigas; Palaeolama weddelli; Procamelus occidentalis;, Alforjas sp. ...

(1995). Giant Cretaceous lungfish Neoceratodus tuberculatus from a deltaic environment in the Quseir (=Baris) Formation of Kharga oasis, western desert of Egypt. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 845-849.

Arctodus simus yukonensis, the extinct northern North American short-faced bear, is represented by an immature left humerus lacking its unfused proximal epiphysis, which was recovered from a point bar on the Ikpikpuk River, Alaska (69°41′N, 154°54′W). This is the northernmost record of this bear. The specimen is dated at 27 190 ± 280 BP (Iso Trace TO-2539) on 14C analysis, which lies within the observed age distribtution of Arctodus. The individual is larger than average for the species based on the dimensions of the distal articulation, despite its immaturity, and may have been male.

Giraffa nebrascensis Matthew and Barbour, 1925 is a junior synonym of Cervalces scotti (Lydekker, 1898) on the characters of the permanent lower fourth premolar. The metaconid-hypoconid area on p4 in Giraffa is mesiodistally narrower than in Cervalces or A Ices, and the hypoconid is transversely lenticular in Giraffa, but club-like in Cervalces and Alces, and more inflated in Cervalces. Twenty-three occurrences of Cervalces scotti from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio and the Atlantic Coastal Shelf off New Jersey are listed, in addition to those reported by Churcher and Pinsof (1987).

The basal part of Jaw Face section at the Wellsch Valley site, some 50 km north-northwest of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, contains mammalian fossils that are considered to be late Blancan to early Irvingtonian in age. It has been sampled for paleomagnetic studies through a thickness of 11 m. The section above 8.8 m has normal polarity; that below has reversed polarity. A tephra, which has yielded a minimum fission-track age of 0.69 ± 0.11 Ma, lies within the reversely magnetized part, near the top of the fossiliferous zone and just below the reversal at the 8.8 m level. Therefore, the change from normal to reversed polarity at the 8.8 m level is probably the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal at 0.73 Ma. Earlier studies have indicated that the Jaramillo (0.9–0.97 Ma) and Olduvai (1.67–1.87 Ma) Normal Polarity subzones occur within the lower predominantly reversed part of the Jaw Face section. In this more detailed study, we find no evidence of these normal subzones. We suggest that earlier results could have been artifacts of the procedures used. Several stratigraphic interpretations are possible. Our preferred interpretation is that the Jaw Face section extends from the upper part of the Matuyama Zone into the lower Brunhes Zone, that is, the mammalian faunas are entirely Irvingtonian in age. Alternatively, the section could contain a substantial hiatus, so the lower part would be early Matuyama in age and its faunas late Blancan – early Irvingtonisn, and the upper part could span the latest Matuyama and lower Brunhes zones. Other possibilities are discussed in the text.

Rangifer tarandus, represented by the isolated distal end of a left metacarpal, was recovered during June 1987 from Bell Cave, Colbert County, Alabama. The Late Pleistocene level that yielded this caribou element is dated at [Formula: see text] years BP. This record is the first for Alabama, and the most southerly known in North America.

Disarticulated skeletal elements of American? toad (Bufo sp., ?B. americanus), grouse (Canachites canadensis or Bonasa umbellus), varying hare (Lepus americanus), cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus), large pika (Ochotona sp.), woodland deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), and striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) have been identified from a travertine cemented dolomite breccia from a demolished cave in the Lockport Formation of the Niagara Escarpment west of Milton, Ontario. Pollen grains recovered from the matrix show that spruce (Picea sp.), pine (Pinus sp.), birch (Betula sp.), oak (Quercus sp.), elm (Ulmus sp.), lime (Tilia sp.), and black walnut (Juglans nigra) coexisted with the fauna. The flora resembles that radiocarbon dated to between 10 500 and 9500 years BC from nearby Crawford Lake. However, the presence of Ochotona sp. suggests a possible Illinoian age for the deposit on the known occurrences of Illinoian Ochotona in Maryland and West Virginia, and the record of Illinoian giant pikas in Alaska and eastern Asia.

Bison occidentals (extinct western bison), Ovis canadensis (mountain sheep), and Equus conversidens (extinct Mexican ass) are represented by new specimens recovered since 1968. The bison is represented by four additional horn-cores, a third lower molar and other elements; the sheep by a manual proximal phalanx, and the horse by four lower cheek-teeth and postcranial material.

The Olduvai zebra, Equus oldowayensis, is identified or confirmed from the following sites: Olorgesailie, Lake Magadi; Marsabit Road, Northern Kenya; Chemoigut Beds (Chesowanja), Baringo Basin; Wajir, Northeast Kenya; Bura, Tana River; Makalia River (MacInnes Site), Rift Valley; Legetet, Koru; Karmosit, Suguta River; and Kanjera, Homa Mountain, all in Kenya, on the evidence from isolated teeth and other fragments. Burchell's zebra, E. burchellii, appears to have been absent from all the sites except possibly Olorgesailie and the Chemoigut Beds.E. oldowayensis is known from about 1.8 Ma ago in Bed I at Olduvai Gorge and from about 1.9 Ma ago in the Shungura Formation (Member G) in the Omo deposits, before which no reliable records are recognised. It was the common and dominant zebra of the latest Pliocene and Pleistocene in the East African plains and was replaced by the present common zebra, E. burchellii, only during the latest Pleistocene and Holocene times. E. oldowayensis is similar to modern Grevy's zebra, E. grevyi, to which it gave rise, and these two zebras are not directly related to Burchell's zebra.

This paper presents the results of a combined stratigraphical, paleomagnetic, and vertebrate paleontological study of the Maser-Frisch Site near Irvine, Alberta. At that site, about 3 m of mainly pond and stream deposits overlies Cretaceous bedrock and underlies Quaternary till and loess. All of the deposits have normal magnetic polarity. Further, the lower pond and stream deposits have yielded an interesting collection of mammal bones. Taxa identified include rabbit or hare, ground squirrel, prairie dog, bog lemming, canids, cats, badger, elephant, horses, camel, and shrub-ox. The identified taxa tentatively imply a late Irvingtonian Land Mammal Age for the fauna. This, along with their preglacial setting and normal polarity, indicates that the pond and stream deposits were laid down near the beginning of the Brunhes Polarity Chron (about 0.7 Ma) and so provide a maximum limit for the first glaciation of the region. Together, the fauna and deposits offer an interesting glimpse at conditions prevailing on the High Plains of the region at that time, which apparently resembled the dry, treeless grassland found there at present.

Teeth collected from Pleistocene surficial sediments in southeastern Alberta and western Saskatchewan have been dated by electron spin resonance (ESR). The dates generally agree with the previously determined temporal sequence of the deposits, largely based on studies of fossil vertebrates and supplemented by some absolute ages, but the absolute ages of the oldest deposits appear to be much younger than previously estimated. Absolute ages (ESR) have been compared with faunal ages (using nomenclature of Stalker and Churcher): the age of Aftonian – early Kansan deposits at the Maser–Frisch site is 450 ± 30 ka; Kansan deposits in the Medicine Hat region range from 410 to 250 ka; Sangamon deposits at Mitchell Bluff are 67 ± 12 ka; middle Wisconsinan deposits at Empress, Alberta, are 34 ± 4 ka; postglacial beds near Medicine Hat give ages of 11 ± 2 ka (in agreement with 14C ages). At Wellsch Valley, however, ESR dates (280 ± 35 ka) are much younger than the age of about 1.5 Ma obtained from fauna, fission track, and paleomagnetics. This discrepancy may be due to late introduction of U into the teeth.

The South American Middle to Late Pliocene fauna of Argentina included the borhyaenid marsupials Thylacosmilus atrox and Notosmilus pattersoni, the latter known only from a single Late Pliocene occurrence. Thylacosmilus atrox has been interpreted as a marsupial with a carnivorous specialisation convergent on the fissipede and machairodont sabre-tooths of Eurasia, Africa and North America. Thylacosmilus atrox superficially resembles placental sabre-tooths in general conformation but also shows remarkable divergences, some of which are attributable to its marsupial ancestry.

A Cervalces antler rack is reported from Canton, South Dakota, and is compared with that of C. scotti from New Jersey and with other specimens from North America and Eurasia. Other new materials are reported from the Old Crow Basin, Yukon Territory, Canada, the Fairbanks area, Alaska, U.S.A., and from various localities in the eastern U.S.A. Additional measurements are given for previously recorded specimens. Known only from the Pleistocene Epoch, Cervalces possibly represented a Holarctic genus in which beam length and conformation of the tines and palmations varied considerably across its range. The genus appears to comprise two species: the North American species, C. scotti, with branching antlers whose variations are explicable either through age, maturational, geographic, or possibly stratigraphie variation; and the Eurasian species, C. latifrons, with flat palmate antlers. The specific status of the Beringian population with large antler beams is unknown, because no palmations have been rep...

A new cervine deer (Torontoceros hypogaeus), described from a partial cranium with portions of the main antler beams, has been recovered from deposits of early Lake Ontario age on the exposed bench of Glacial Lake Iroquois at Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The deer was about the size of a caribou, has heavy antlers that lie chiefly in a nearly horizontal plane, and its beams are bowed anteriorly. The tines are not flattened, the brow tines are asymmetrical, and no evidence of surface roughening or palmation of the beam is found. A 14C date of 11,315 ± 325 yr B.P. obtained on the antler allows the date at which Glacial Lake Iroquois drained to be revised to before 11,400 yr B.P. Spruce (Picea), pine (Pinus), and sedges (Cyperaceae) are major components of the associated pollen spectrum, which implies a typically interstadial or postglacial climate in which mixed forests grew in the Toronto area.

A radiocarbon-dated gravel deposit in Calgary, Alberta, has yielded a large humerus referred to the extinct camelid, Camelops cf. hesternus. With a date of 11 300 ± 290 BP (RL-757) this is the first securely dated postglacial record of Camelops in Canada. Studies of the gravels show them to represent a period of rapid aggradation by a braided river, subsequent to the drainage of glacial Lake Calgary. The gravels are equivalent in age and characteristics to the Bighill Creek Formation of the Cochrane area, 30 km west of Calgary; and are therefore assigned to that formation. Later fill units are, however, excluded from the formation as they represent Holocene cut-and-fill events of differing hydrologic significance. Recent suggestions that Lake Calgary persisted until 9000 years BP can now be rejected on the basis of stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates. Studies of the camel humerus suggest some revisions in our views concerning morphologic variation in the species: the species was probably more plastic than has been accepted to date. Associated Bison bison antiquus and Equus conversidens from the same gravels (Gallelli and Galvin Pits) are briefly described. The ungulate fauna from these pits suggests a semiforest habitat with extensive shrub and grassland elements.

Remains of single individuals of a juvenile gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), an eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus), and a meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus) have been recovered from a buried soil horizon at Scarborough Bluffs, Toronto, Ontario. These have been dated on associated charcoal fragments at 5550 ± 70 C14 years ago. The charcoal has been identified as being derived from white pine (Pinus strobus), hard maple (either Acer saccharum or A. nigrum), and probably beech (Fagus grandifolia). This faunal evidence is considered approximately contemporaneous with a fauna from Hamilton Bay containing the pine vole (Pitymys pinetorum) and the presence of the pine vole and gray fox is adduced as support for a climatic optimum some 5000 years ago. Remains of the muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) have also been recovered from the Hamilton Bay faunal site, adding another mammal to this faunal list.

Elements from the left hind foot of a small horse, probably Equus conversidens Owen, are reported from a few miles southeast of Medicine Hat, Alberta. The bones were found below a buried soil contained within an eastward-striking glacial spillway. A date of about 8000 y B.P. is suggested for the specimens on stratigraphic considerations. If this date is correct, these bones probably represent the youngest indigenous fossil horse known in North America.

230Th and 231Pa dates were obtained on 10 bone samples from Quaternary deposits near Medicine Hat, Alberta. The youngest date so obtained (9500 ± 1500 years) agrees reasonably well with a radiocarbon date (11 200 ± 200 years) from the same site. In addition, where samples were collected from more than one bed at the same bluff the results are in the correct chronological order. A Sangamon bed containing chipped stones, thought to be artifacts, gave a date of 72 000 ± 6000 years, which is acceptable, though at the younger end of the previously estimated age range of between 200 000 and 70 000 years for the bed.In general, however, the results reveal large discrepancies with the estimated ages of the beds that yielded the bones. Although several causes for the discrepancies are possible, in two or three instances the uranium-series dates themselves appear to be incorrect, and the other dates must be treated with caution.

The remains of a large camelid from the Upper Pleistocene (Carolinian) tar-seep deposits near Talara, Peru, aro deseribed with measurements. Comparison with other described South American Pleistocene Camelidae indicates its conspecific identity with Pulaeolama aepuatorialis Hoffstetter, 1952. The absence of interlophar styles on both upper and lower molars is considered the main basis for tho recognition of a now subgenus, Astylolama subgen. nov. Palaenlamua is considered, therefore, to possess three subgenera, Palaeolama. (Palaeolama), P. (Protauchenia) and P. (Astylolama.) A single large left phalanx II from the same deposit is assigned to Palaeolama sp., but may belong within Palaeolama crassa Hoffstetter, 1952 which is known only from a single metatarsal recovered from the Rio Chiche. An isolated right lower caniniform tooth resembling C1 of P. weddellii and P1 of Tanupolama stevensi is reported.

Richly fossiliferous marine deposits of Pleistocene age are associated with three major erosion surfaces in the Talara region of northwestern Peru. The fauna, geomorphology, and geologic history of the deposits are described in detail. A terrestrial vertebrate fauna from tar seep deposits on the oldest surface is compared with those of Carolinian deposits of Ecuador and the La Brea (California) deposits. The climate represented by these deposits is essentially similar to that of the present day.

Five ungulates are reported from gravels comprising the second major terrace above the Bow River's north bank at Cochrane, Alberta. These ungulates are Cervus canadensis (wapiti), Rangifer tarandus (caribou), Ovis canadensis (mountain sheep), Bison occidentalis (extinct western bison), and Equus conversidens (extinct Mexican ass). E. conversidens was previously known from middle and late Pleistocene beds of the southern United States and Mexico and is here reported from the post-Wisconsin Pleistocene of Alberta and possibly Saskatchewan. Radiocarbon analysis of Bison bones from the gravels yielded two dates that averaged 11 065 B.P.

A crude stone chopper and a worked left antler fragment have been recovered from Lake Agassiz II beds near Morson, Rainy River District, Ontario. The stone chopper resembles other stone implements surface collected in Rainy River District. The antler fragment is identified as probably Alces alces, and has been dated by 14C at 5 898 B.C. ± 423 years. The antler fragment shows two opposed dorsal and ventral grooves and other signs of working by Homo, the toolmarks in the grooves and on the shaped surfaces suggesting the use of a beaver-tooth adze and a hand ax respectively. This is believed to be the oldest dated report of North American Alces coeval with Homo.

Mammals recovered from gravels lying about 100 ft (30 rn) above the level of the Red Deer River on Highway 41, halfway between Bindloss and Empress, now comprise Mamrnrstiall.~ i~~zi~~r~~toy and Eqrrr~s (Asitl~ts) corlr.rr.si$ens in addition to the lioan-like cat (PLIII~~C~LB afrox) previously recordcci from the site. r\ post-Wisconsin age of greater than 8000 years B.P. is suggcstd for the deposit. h4r;rnmofllcts impcrutor ct Eqrrta.5 (A~inrts) conr~ersidens font partie maintenant des mamrnifPres trouvks clans les graviers qui reposent h 100 pi. (30 rn) au-dessous du niveau de la Rivikre Red Deer, le long de la grand-route 41, B mi-chemin ellitre Bindloss st Empress. Csux-ci s'ajoutent au chat semhlable h un lion (Pantlrera atrox) d$j:~ trouvC cet enadroit. Nous staggerons pour le d6pCit un ige post-Wisconsin plus vieux que 8000 ans B,P. ['T'raduit par le journal1

Parts of a tusk and lower molar of a mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, have been recovered from above the Early Wisconsin Sunnybrook Till at Woodbridge, Ontario. A Mid-Wisconsin (Port Talbot Interstade) age (40 000–50 000 years B.P.) is suggested for these specimens.

A Late Pleistocene fauna comprising 3 fish, 1 reptile, 22 birds, and 14 mammals is identified from sites containing Sebilian, Sebekian, Silsilian, Menchian, and Halfan industries. It is remarkable for its variety, especially of birds, and gives evidence for year-round occupation of these sites.