Lancefield Bone Bed (Unit IVa): Late/Upper Pleistocene, Australia
collected 1974, 1975, 1977

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Brachyopidae
replaced by Banksiops
Reptilia - Dromornithiformes - Dromornithidae
cf. Genyornis sp. Stirling and Zietz 1896
Reptilia - Casuariiformes - Casuariidae
Dromaius sp. Vieillot 1816
Mammalia - Diprotodontia - Diprotodontidae
Diprotodon sp. Owen 1838
Mammalia - Diprotodontia
Sthenurus occidentalis
Mammalia - Diprotodontia - Macropodidae
Protemnodon anak Owen 1874
Protemnodon cf. brehus Owen 1874
Macropus titan Owen 1838
synonym of Macropus (Macropus) giganteus
Angiospermae - Myrtales - Myrtaceae
Myrtaceae indet. de Jussieu 1789
Leptospermum sp. Forster and Forster 1775
Angiospermae - Alismatales - Juncaginaceae
Triglochin sp. Linnaeus 1753
Angiospermae - Arales - Lemnaceae
Lemna sp. Linnaeus 1753
Angiospermae - Poales - Poaceae
Poaceae indet. Barnhart 1895
Angiospermae - Poales - Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae indet. Jussieu 1789
see common names

Geography
Country:Australia State/province:Victoria
Coordinates: 37.3° South, 144.7° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:37.3° South, 144.7° East
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period:Quaternary Epoch:Pleistocene
Stage:Late/Upper Pleistocene 10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 6
Key time interval:Late/Upper Pleistocene
Age range of interval:0.12900 - 0.01170 m.y. ago
Age estimate:19800 ± 450 YBP (14C)
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: "3.5 m of an alluvial clay overlying Pliocene basalts" including a "~ 0.2-m-thick bone bed"; radiocarbon dates from the bone bed range from 8775 +/- 260 ybp (which is regarded as a low minimum) to 19,800 +/- 450 ybp (the only date regarded as accurate), but the "roughly contemporary" underlying channel fill is dated at 25,200 +/- 800 and 26,600 +/- 650 ybp
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:paleosol/pedogenic,shelly/skeletal,black,green conglomeratic claystone
Lithology description: "The bones interlock as a horizontal network, in a matrix of greenish clay to black clay and gravelly clay. Laterite fragments and pellets are the dominant clastic materials"
Environment:mire/swamp
Glacial or sequence phase:late glacial
Geology comments: "free water occupied the site, at least seasonally" but "the surrounding plains were virtually treeless" with probable "annual rainfall... slightly less than 500 mm/year"
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,original phosphate
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Spatial orientation:preferred
Articulated whole bodies:none
Associated major elements:some
Disassociated major elements:some
Disassociated minor elements:many
Size sorting:very poor
Feeding/predation traces:tooth marks
Temporal resolution:time-averaged
Spatial resolution:autochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:bulk,selective quarrying,sieve,field collection
Collection size:3000 specimens
Reason for describing collection:paleoecologic analysis
Collection dates:1974, 1975, 1977
Collection method comments: "The 1975 excavation of 5 m2 yielded some 3000 bones, representing a minimum number of individuals of 72 for all species" with 90% being Macropus titan, 7% being Protemnodon, and all other species accounting for < 1%; excavated sediment was apparently screened
Taxonomic list comments:all plants are represented by pollen
Metadata
Database number:92836
Authorizer:J. Alroy Enterer:J. Alroy
Modifier:J. Alroy Research group:vertebrate
Created:2009-12-01 11:08:41 Last modified:2010-01-28 17:27:25
Access level:the public Released:2009-12-01 11:08:41
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
31334. R. Gillespie, D. R. Horton, P. Ladd, P. G. Macumber, T. H. Rich, R. Thorne, and R. V. S. Wright. 1978. Lancefield swamp and the extinction of the Australian megafauna. Science 200:1044-1048 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]