The study of local extinction times, together with the associated environmental and
human population changes in the last glacial termination, provides insights into the
causes of mega- and microfauna extinctions. In East-Central (EC) Europe, groups of
Palaeolithic humans were present throughout the last glacial maximum, but disappeared
suddenly around 15,200 cal BP. In this study cave sediment profiles dated using radiocarbon
techniques and a large set of mammal bones dated directly by AMS 14C were used to
determine local extinction times. These were, in turn, compared to changes in the
total megafauna population of EC Europe derived from coprophilous fungi, the Epigravettian
population decline, quantitative climate models, pollen and plant macrofossil inferred
climate, as well as to biome reconstructions. The results suggest that the population
size of large herbivores decreased in the area after 17,700 cal BP, when temperate
tree abundance and warm continental steppe cover both increased in the lowlands. Boreal
forest expansion started around 16,200 cal BP. Cave sediments show the decline of
narrow-headed vole and arctic lemming populations specifically associated with a tundra
environment at the same time and the expansion of the common vole, an inhabitant of
steppes. The last dated appearance of arctic lemming was at ~ 16,640 cal BP, while
that of the narrow-headed vole at ~ 13,340, and the estimated extinction time of woolly
mammoth was either at 13,830 (GRIWM) or 15,210 (PHASE), and reindeer at 11,860 (GRIWM)
or 12,550 cal BP (PHASE). The population decline of the large herbivore fauna slightly
preceded changes in terrestrial vegetation, and likely facilitated it via a reduction
in the intensity of grazing and the concomitant accumulation of plant biomass. Furthermore,
it is possible to conclude that the Late Epigravettian population had high degree
of quarry-fidelity; they left the basin when these mammals vanished.
