Unravelling the Late Pleistocene habitat of the southernmost woolly mammoths in Europe

The southernmost record of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) in Europe has been found in Late Pleistocene sediments from ‘El Padul’ peat-bog, in the Granada Basin (southern Spain). In this paper we discuss a plausible habitat based on stable isotopic analyses of these specimens, dated ∼40–30 cal ky BP, probably corresponding with the beginning of Heinrich Stadial 4 (HS4) and the end of Heinrich Stadial 3 (HS3). Woolly mammoth remains preserve an accurate isotopic register of past climatic conditions because they needed to ingest large amount of resources daily (water and fresh food), whose isotopic signature, influenced by the environmental conditions, was recorded in their tissues. The δ18Ow values of the past meteoric waters (−5.4‰ to −6.7‰ vs V-SMOW), calculated from the isotopic composition of teeth enamel, suggest moderate temperatures in comparison with those of similar age recovered in central and northern Europe. Due to its geographic position in southern Europe, our samples recorded the highest δ18Ow values of past meteoric waters deduced from mammoth remains in Europe. The difference between these values and those of δ18Ow of current mean annual precipitation are minimal, contrasting with those of higher latitudes during the end of the last glaciation (∼50 to ∼20 cal ky BP). The isotopic values of nitrogen (10.1‰ to 13.2‰ vs AIR) and carbon (−20.7 to −21.8‰ vs V-PDB) of collagen show a dry habitat, which occasionally could have been extreme. Taken as a whole, the isotopic results suggest that the studied specimens lived in a very dry steppic area, with moderately cold conditions, contrasting with the wet environment of ‘El Padul’ peat-bog, and its colder temperatures, due to the influence of glacial conditions of the Sierra Nevada, the highest peninsular mountain range. The described habitat may be sited in a more westerly position than the ‘El Padul’ peat-bog, and it was warmer and drier than those of contemporaneous European woolly mammoths.

► We study the isotopic composition of the southernmost woolly mammoths in Europe.
► The isotopic data allow us to reconstruct the habitat of these specimens.
► They inhabited a dry steppe with moderate cold temperatures from 40 to 30 calkybp.
► They lived in southwestern Iberia with occasional migration to the ‘El Padul’ area.
► They recorded the highest δ18Ow values from latest Pleistocene mammoths in Europe.