It has always been assumed that mammoths, the huge prehistoric Ice Age cousins of the modern elephant, inhabited parts of British Columbia, but the question of when has always been a bit murky.
Now, a new study from Simon Fraser University has given scientists the clearest picture yet as the giant mammals roamed Vancouver Island.
As part of SFU researcher Laura Termes’ PhD and published earlier this month in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciencesthe study examined 32 suspected mammoth samples collected on Vancouver Island. Of those samples, only 16 were considered suitable for radiocarbon dating.
The youngest sample was found to be about 23,000 years old and the oldest was found to be outside the range that radiocarbon dating could measure, meaning it was older than 45,000 years.
Prior to the study, only two mammoth remains found on Vancouver Island had ever been previously dated. Both lived about 21,000 years ago, so Termes’ research provides a better understanding of when the enormous mammals lived in the area.
“This is really exciting because it shows that mammoths have been living on Vancouver Island for a long time,” said Termes, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Archaeology. ‘We expected similar results [to the two samples previously dated] but what we found were mammoths that were much older. It’s fantastic that they could be preserved for so long.”
Termes says the support of curators at the Royal BC Museum and the Courtenay and District Museum and Palaeontology Centre, which provided access to their collections, was invaluable to the research.
“This research highlights the important role of museum collections in understanding how life has evolved and changed throughout British Columbia’s deep history,” said Victoria Arbour, curator of palentology at the Royal BC Museum. “It is wonderful to see Woolly’s family members in the Royal BC Museum collections spotlighted by this research.”
The UBC ADaPT Facility (which was instrumental in determining whether the samples were indeed mammoths and not whales or other animals) also played an important role in the research, Termes says.
And archaeologists need all the help they can get, because even though mammoths were huge, finding intact specimens in British Columbia is actually quite rare.
‘If we imagine large giant animals from the last ice age being found, we might imagine fully articulated and complete skeletons being systematically excavated. But that simply doesn’t happen in southern B.C.,” Termes said. “Instead, we might get an isolated molar that has been floating around in the water for a long time, or maybe a piece of tusk. And this is what ordinary people encounter.”
For example, one sample she examined was a piece of mammoth tooth that a child found in the gravel of a local playground.
“So maybe it’s a dog owner taking his puppy out on a rainy day, or a gravel pit operator at work,” says Termes, who grew up in Qualicum Beach. “I really like how these beautiful animals find their way into people’s lives in routine and everyday ways.”
Termes says the study is part of a larger investigation of megafauna in BC and she plans to radiocarbon date mammoth samples from other parts of the province.
