New radiocarbon dates of Finnish mammoths (Mammuthus sp.)

Six new radiocarbon dates of Finnish subfossil mammoths (Mammuthus sp.) range from c. 32,000 to c. 16,000 yBP. Four of the subfossils found in Late Weichselian minerogenic sediments form a consistent series of dates from 32,000 to 22,500 yBP. They suggest that there was a larger ice-free area in Fennoscandia during a Middle Weichselian nonglacial interval than previously assumed. They also indicate a very fast growth of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet over the northeastern part of Europe to its maximum position during the Late Weichselian. Two bones were found in littoral sediments between Holocene Baltic clays and beach sand. The very young age of one of them (15,950 yBP) can be explained with a different kind of transport, for example by icebergs.