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Lab number
TO-2019
Material dated
caribou bone collagen; collagène osseux de caribou
Taxa dated
Rangifer tarandus antler (407 mg; id. by A.J. Sutcliffe)
Locality
270 m asl, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut
Map sheet
39 E/11
Submitter
A.J. Sutcliffe
Date submitted
April 11, 2001
Normalized Age
2030 ± 50
Significance
palaeobiology; paléobiologie
Context
surface, Cape Herschel
Associated taxa
Mammalia: Rangifer tarandus
Comments
SdFh-VP, Cape Herschel: The shed antler of a Peary caribou had lain on the ground surface for two millennia when it was found by Weston Blake, Jr., and R.J.H. Richardson. In the polar desert environment of Cape Herschel this antler provided an unusual nutrient source and was colonized by a remarkably rich biota that was meticulously analyzed by Antony Sutcliffe and his colleagues at the Natural History Museum in London. Portions of the antler that were protected from weathering by mosses were remarkably well preserved, and it must be considered possible that this antler could have been used as a raw material to make a tool many centuries after its deposition.

References