The Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus blumenbach, 1803) in the paleofauna of the Holocene sites of the Northern Angara region (Ust-Tushama-1, Sosnovy Tushamsky ostrov, Usttalaya)

During the study of the paleozoological material obtained in the field season of 2012 at the sites Ust-Tushama-1, Sosnovy Tushamsky Ostrov, Ust-Talaya, located on the Angara River in the Ust-Ilimsk district of the Irkutsk region, the remains of the Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus Blumenbach, 1803) were first found in the Holocene deposits in the territory of Middle Siberia. The analysis of the paleofaunal remains from the excavations allows a suggestion to be made of the existence of fairly open forest-steppes, inhabited by Irish elks, bisons and horses in the Middle Holocene of the Northern Angara region within the taiga landscapes. Planigraphic fixation of the Megaloceros giganteus remains among the kitchen wastes indicates that it was an object of active hunting in the Neolithic and possibly, even later. In the article comparative morphometric characteristics of the Holocene and Pleistocene Megaloceros giganteus are given; the habitat of the animal in Pleistocene and Holocene is reviewed; possible scenarios of this species' extinction in the Holocene in the South of Middle Siberia are presented and the prospects for further study of the issue at this stage of research are determined.