The Archaeological Museum of Florina is a museum in Florina in West Macedonia , Greece .
82-493: The museum is housed in a two-storey building that was constructed in 1969 and renovated internally in 1999. It has prehistoric, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine finds from the Florina area. The display on the ground floor was organized in 1998 and inaugurated in May 1999 and contains three basic units. The first of these, to the left of the entrance, provides visitors with information about
164-469: A monotreme , appeared. The predatory South American phorusrhacids were rare in this time; among the last was Titanis , a large phorusrhacid that migrated to North America and rivaled mammals as top predator. Other birds probably evolved at this time, some modern (such as the genera Cygnus , Bubo , Struthio and Corvus ), some now extinct. Alligators and crocodiles died out in Europe as
246-555: A funeral banquet, and deified mortals). Other sculptures and inscriptions (all in Greek) provide evidence for the names of persons, cities, religious beliefs, social conditions and political circumstances. There is a fourth room that houses a conserved mosaic from the remains of a Roman building at Kato Kleines. More specifically, there are ceramic wares, objects for everyday use, materials for building houses, stone and bone tools, spindle whorls, and figurines. One impressive exhibit consists in
328-576: A house of the Roman period at Kato Kleines . On the first floor are displayed finds of the Hellenistic period from Petres and Agios Pandeleimon Hill, most notably a sundial, a statue of Artemis , agricultural implements, and a reconstruction of a house of the Hellenistic period with its masonry, fireplace, storerooms, and other features. There are also exhibits of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine period from
410-407: A keen interest in paleontology , is partially responsible for transforming the word mammoth from a noun describing the prehistoric elephant to an adjective describing anything of surprisingly large size. The first recorded use of the word as an adjective was in a description of a large wheel of cheese (the " Cheshire Mammoth Cheese ") given to Jefferson in 1802. The earliest known proboscideans ,
492-406: A large neocortex relative to body mass and stone tool manufacture. Improvements in dating methods and in the use of climate proxies have provided scientists with the means to test hypotheses of the evolution of human ancestors. Early hypotheses of the evolution of human traits emphasized the selective pressures produced by particular habitats. For example, many scientists have long favored
574-600: A number of bones of Mammuthus meridionalis from the Dmanisi site in Georgia having marks suggested to the result of butchery by archaic humans , likely as a result of scavenging. During the Last Glacial Period , modern humans hunted woolly mammoths, used their remains to create art and tools, and depicted them in works of art. Remains of Columbian mammoths at a number of sites suggest that they were hunted by Paleoindians ,
656-429: A particular habitat. The change to a cooler, drier, more seasonal climate had considerable impacts on Pliocene vegetation, reducing tropical species worldwide. Deciduous forests proliferated, coniferous forests and tundra covered much of the north, and grasslands spread on all continents (except Antarctica). Eastern Africa in particular saw a huge expansion of C 4 grasslands. Tropical forests were limited to
738-638: A result of insular dwarfism . These include Mammuthus lamarmorai on Sardinia (late Middle-Late Pleistocene), Mammuthus exilis on the Channel Islands of California (Late Pleistocene), and Mammuthus creticus on Crete (Early Pleistocene). Like living elephants, mammoths typically had large body sizes. The largest known species like Mammuthus meridionalis and Mammuthus trogontherii (the steppe mammoth) were considerably larger than modern elephants, with mature adult males having an average height of approximately 3.8–4.2 m (12.5–13.8 ft) at
820-953: A tight band around the equator, and in addition to dry savannahs , deserts appeared in Asia and Africa. Both marine and continental faunas were essentially modern, although continental faunas were a bit more primitive than today. The land mass collisions meant great migration and mixing of previously isolated species, such as in the Great American Interchange . Herbivores got bigger, as did specialized predators. In North America, rodents , large mastodons and gomphotheres , and opossums continued successfully, while hoofed animals ( ungulates ) declined, with camel , deer , and horse all seeing populations recede. Three-toed horses ( Nannippus ), oreodonts , protoceratids , and chalicotheres became extinct. Borophagine dogs and Agriotherium became extinct, but other carnivores including
902-543: A word in the Mansi languages of western Siberia meaning "earth horn", in reference to mammoth tusks. Mammoths appear in the folkore of the indigenous people of Siberia, who were impressed by the great size of their remains. In the mythology of the Evenk people, mammoths were responsible for the creation of the world, digging up the land from the ocean floor with their tusks. The Selkup believed that mammoths lived underground and guarded
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#1732855766371984-540: Is a key finding of research into a lake-sediment core obtained in Eastern Siberia, which is of exceptional importance because it has provided the longest continuous late Cenozoic land-based sedimentary record thus far. During the late Zanclean, Italy remained relatively warm and humid. Central Asia became more seasonal during the Pliocene, with colder, drier winters and wetter summers, which contributed to an increase in
1066-473: Is any species of the extinct elephantid genus Mammuthus . They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabiting Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Mammoths are distinguished from living elephants by their (typically large) spirally twisted tusks and in at least some later species,
1148-436: Is possible to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the genus through morphological studies. Mammoth species can be identified from the number of enamel ridges/lamellae on their molars; the primitive species had few ridges, and the amount increased gradually as new species evolved and replaced the former ones. At the same time, the crowns of the teeth became longer, and the skulls became higher from top to bottom and shorter from
1230-688: Is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58 million years ago (Ma). It is the second and most recent epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era . The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch. Prior to the 2009 revision of the geologic time scale, which placed the four most recent major glaciations entirely within the Pleistocene,
1312-639: Is thought to be the ancestor of Mammuthus meridionalis , which first appeared at the beginning of the Pleistocene, around 2.6 million years ago. Mammuthus meridionalis subsequently gave rise to Mammuthus trogontherii (the steppe mammoth) in Eastern Asia around 1.7 million years ago. Around 1.5–1.3 million years ago, M. trogontherii crossed the Bering Land Bridge into North America, becoming ancestral to Mammuthus columbi (the Columbian mammoth). At
1394-659: The American colonies around 1725, enslaved Africans digging in the vicinity of the Stono River in South Carolina unearthed molar teeth recognised in modern times to belong to Columbian mammoths , with the remains subsequently examined by the British naturalist Mark Catesby , who visited the site, and later published an account of his visit in 1843. While the slave owners were puzzled by the objects and suggested that they originated from
1476-598: The Columbian mammoth ( M. columbi ). The woolly mammoth ( M. primigenius ) evolved about 700–400,000 years ago in Siberia, with some surviving on Russia's Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean until as recently as 4,000 years ago, still extant during the existence of the earliest civilisations in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia . According to The American Heritage Dictionary , the word "mammoth" likely originates from *mān-oŋt,
1558-567: The Hardangervidda plateau to 1200 m in the Early Pliocene. In Southern Sweden similar movements elevated the South Swedish highlands leading to a deflection of the ancient Eridanos river from its original path across south-central Sweden into a course south of Sweden. The Pliocene is bookended by two significant events in the evolution of human ancestors. The first is the appearance of
1640-676: The Isthmus of Panama during the Pliocene, making possible the Great American Interchange and bringing a nearly complete end to South America's distinctive native ungulate fauna, though other South American lineages like its predatory mammals were already extinct by this point and others like xenarthrans continued to do well afterwards. The formation of the Isthmus had major consequences on global temperatures, since warm equatorial ocean currents were cut off and an Atlantic cooling cycle began, with cold Arctic and Antarctic waters decreasing temperatures in
1722-726: The Lake Prespa area, chiefly the basilica of Agios Achilleios (capitals, chancel screen closure panels, chancel screen colonnettes), frescoes from various churches, parts of a wood-carved chancel screen from the hermitage of the Transfiguration ( Metamorfosi ), and an Vema door from the Church of Agios Athanasios in the community of Agios Germanos (16th century). 40°46′51″N 21°24′50″E / 40.78083°N 21.41389°E / 40.78083; 21.41389 ( Florina Archaeological Museum ) Mammoth A mammoth
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#17328557663711804-555: The Netherlands the Pliocene is divided into these stages (old to young): Brunssumian C, Reuverian A, Reuverian B, Reuverian C, Praetiglian , Tiglian A, Tiglian B, Tiglian C1-4b, Tiglian C4c, Tiglian C5, Tiglian C6 and Eburonian . The exact correlations between these local stages and the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) stages is not established. During the Pliocene epoch (5.3 to 2.6 million years ago (Ma)),
1886-471: The North Atlantic and North Pacific Ocean beds. Mid-latitude glaciation was probably underway before the end of the epoch. The global cooling that occurred during the Pliocene may have accelerated on the disappearance of forests and the spread of grasslands and savannas. During the Pliocene the earth climate system response shifted from a period of high frequency-low amplitude oscillation dominated by
1968-506: The clade that contains the elephants, arose about 55 million years ago on the landmass of Afro-Arabia. The closest relatives of the Proboscidea are the sirenians and the hyraxes . The family Elephantidae arose by million years ago in Africa, and includes the living elephants and the mammoths. Among many now extinct clades, the mastodon is only a distant relative of the mammoths, and part of
2050-534: The great flood described in the Bible, Catesby noted that the slaves unanimously agreed that the objects were the teeth of elephants similar to those from their African homeland, to which Catesby concurred, marking the first technical identification of any fossil animal in North America. In 1796, French biologist Georges Cuvier was the first to identify woolly mammoth remains not as modern elephants transported to
2132-489: The hominin Australopithecus anamensis in the early Pliocene, around 4.2 million years ago. The second is the appearance of Homo , the genus that includes modern humans and their closest extinct relatives, near the end of the Pliocene at 2.6 million years ago. Key traits that evolved among hominins during the Pliocene include terrestrial bipedality and, by the end of the Pliocene, encephalized brains (brains with
2214-609: The pygmy mammoth ( Mammuthus exillis ) date to around 13,000 years ago, coinciding with the reducing of the area of the Californian Channel Islands as a result of rising sea level, the earliest known humans in the Channel Islands, and climatic change resulting in the decline of the previously dominant conifer forest ecosystems and expansion of scrub and grassland. [REDACTED] Pliocene The Pliocene ( / ˈ p l aɪ . ə s iː n , ˈ p l aɪ . oʊ -/ PLY -ə-seen, PLY -oh- ; also Pleiocene )
2296-634: The savannah hypothesis . This proposes that the evolution of terrestrial bipedality and other traits was an adaptive response to Pliocene climate change that transformed forests into more open savannah . This was championed by Grafton Elliot Smith in his 1924 book, The Evolution of Man , as "the unknown world beyond the trees", and was further elaborated by Raymond Dart as the killer ape theory . Other scientists, such as Sherwood L. Washburn , emphasized an intrinsic model of hominin evolution. According to this model, early evolutionary developments triggered later developments. The model placed little emphasis on
2378-565: The underworld , while the Nenets and the Mansi (the latter of whom, along with the Khanty , conceived mammoths as giant birds) believed that mammoths were responsible for the creation of mountains and lakes, while the Yakuts regarded mammoths as water spirits. The word mammoth was first used in Europe during the early 17th century, when referring to maimanto tusks discovered in Siberia, as recorded in
2460-493: The weasel family diversified, and dogs and short-faced bears did well. Ground sloths , huge glyptodonts , and armadillos came north with the formation of the Isthmus of Panama. The latitudinal diversity gradient among terrestrial North American mammals became established during this epoch some time after 4 Ma. In Eurasia rodents did well, while primate distribution declined. Elephants , gomphotheres and stegodonts were successful in Asia (the largest land mammals of
2542-546: The 1618 edition of the Dictionariolum Russico-Anglicum. The earliest scientific research paper on mammoths was by Vasily Tatishchev in 1725. John Bell , who was on the Ob River in 1722, said that mammoth tusks were well known in the area. They were called "mammon's horn" and were often found in washed-out river banks. Bell bought one and presented it to Hans Sloan who pronounced it an elephant's tooth. In
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2624-465: The 41,000-year period of Earth's obliquity to one of low-frequency, high-amplitude oscillation dominated by the 100,000-year period of the orbital eccentricity characteristic of the Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles. During the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, 3.6 to 2.6 Ma, the Arctic was much warmer than it is at the present day (with summer temperatures some 8 °C warmer than today). That
2706-558: The African elephants, as well as the American mastodon (described in 1792) were also placed in Elephas . Cuvier coined the synonym Elephas mammonteus for the woolly mammoth a few months later, but E. primigenius became the widely used name for the species, including by Cuvier. The genus name Mammuthus was coined by British anatomist Joshua Brookes in 1828, as part of a survey of his museum collection. Thomas Jefferson , who famously had
2788-536: The Americas became extinct approximately simultaneously at the end of the Late Pleistocene. Hunting of Columbian mammoths by Paleoindians may have been a contributory factor in their extinction. The timing of the extinction of the dwarf Sardinian mammoth Mammuthus lamarmorai is difficult to constrain precisely, though the youngest specimen likely dates to sometime around 57–29,000 years ago. The youngest records of
2870-534: The Arctic, but as an entirely new species. He argued this species had gone extinct and no longer existed, a concept that was not widely accepted at the time. Following Cuvier's identification, German naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach gave the woolly mammoth its scientific name, Elephas primigenius , in 1799, placing it in the Elephas , the genus which today contains the Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus ). Originally
2952-471: The Bering Strait until around 5,600 years ago, with their extinction likely due to the degradation of freshwater sources, and on Wrangel Island off the coast of Northeast Siberia until around 4,000 years ago. The last reliable dates of the Columbian mammoth date to around 12,500 years ago. Columbian mammoths became extinct as part of the end-Pleistocene extinction event where most large mammals across
3034-580: The Earth's climate became cooler and drier, as well as more seasonal, marking a transition between the relatively warm Miocene to the cooler Pleistocene . However, the beginning of the Pliocene was marked by an increase in global temperatures relative to the cooler Messinian . This increase was related to the 1.2 million year obliquity amplitude modulation cycle . By 3.3-3.0 Ma, during the Mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (mPWP), global average temperature
3116-669: The Late Pliocene, by 3.2 million years ago, mammoths dispersed into Eurasia via the Sinai Peninsula. The earliest mammoths in Eurasia are assigned to the species Mammuthus rumanus . The youngest remains of mammoths in Africa are from Aïn Boucherit, Algeria dating to the Early Pleistocene, around 2.3–2 million years ago (with a possible later record from Aïn Hanech, Algeria, dating to 1.95–1.78 million years ago). Mammuthus rumanus
3198-503: The Pliocene also included the Gelasian Stage, which lasted from 2.59 to 1.81 Ma, and is now included in the Pleistocene. As with other older geologic periods, the geological strata that define the start and end are well-identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the epoch are slightly uncertain. The boundaries defining the Pliocene are not set at an easily identified worldwide event but rather at regional boundaries between
3280-613: The Pliocene contains the Dacian (roughly equal to the Zanclean) and Romanian (roughly equal to the Piacenzian and Gelasian together) stages. As usual in stratigraphy, there are many other regional and local subdivisions in use. In Britain , the Pliocene is divided into the following stages (old to young): Gedgravian, Waltonian , Pre-Ludhamian, Ludhamian, Thurnian, Bramertonian or Antian, Pre-Pastonian or Baventian, Pastonian and Beestonian . In
3362-503: The Pliocene were such proboscideans as Deinotherium , Anancus , and Mammut borsoni , ) though proboscidean diversity declined significantly during the Late Pliocene. Hyraxes migrated north from Africa. Horse diversity declined, while tapirs and rhinos did fairly well. Bovines and antelopes were successful; some camel species crossed into Asia from North America. Hyenas and early saber-toothed cats appeared, joining other predators including dogs, bears, and weasels. Africa
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3444-533: The Western Atlantic, assemblages of bivalves exhibited remarkable stasis with regards to their basal metabolic rates throughout the various climatic changes of the Pliocene. The Pliocene was a high water mark for species diversity among Caribbean corals. From 5 to 2 Ma, coral species origination rates were relatively high in the Caribbean, although a noticeable extinction event and drop in diversity occurred at
3526-531: The abundance of C 4 plants across the region. In the Loess Plateau , δ13C values of occluded organic matter increased by 2.5% while those of pedogenic carbonate increased by 5% over the course of the Late Miocene and Pliocene, indicating increased aridification. Further aridification of Central Asia was caused by the development of Northern Hemisphere glaciation during the Late Pliocene. A sediment core from
3608-555: The back to the front over time to accommodate this. The earliest mammoths, assigned to the species Mammuthus subplanifrons , are known from southern and eastern Africa, with the earliest records dating to the Late Miocene , around 6.2–5.3 million years ago. By the Late Pliocene , mammoths had become confined to the northern portions of the African continent with remains from this time assigned to Mammuthus africanavus . During
3690-662: The climate cooled. Venomous snake genera continued to increase as more rodents and birds evolved. Rattlesnakes first appeared in the Pliocene. The modern species Alligator mississippiensis , having evolved in the Miocene, continued into the Pliocene, except with a more northern range; specimens have been found in very late Miocene deposits of Tennessee . Giant tortoises still thrived in North America, with genera like Hesperotestudo . Madtsoid snakes were still present in Australia. The amphibian order Allocaudata became extinct. In
3772-426: The course of mammoth evolution in Eurasia, their diet shifted towards mixed feeding-grazing in M. trogontherii, culminating in the woolly mammoth, which was largely a grazer, with stomach contents of woolly mammoths suggesting that they largely fed on grass and forbs . M. columbi is thought to have been a mixed feeder. Evidence that humans interacted with mammoths extends back to around 1.8 million years ago, with
3854-657: The development of numerous adaptions to living in cold environments, including a thick layer of fur. Mammoths and Asian elephants are more closely related to each other than they are to African elephants . The oldest mammoth representative, Mammuthus subplanifrons , appeared around 6 million years ago during the late Miocene in what is now southern and Eastern Africa. Later in the Pliocene , by about three million years ago, mammoths dispersed into Eurasia, eventually covering most of Eurasia before migrating into North America around 1.5–1.3 million years ago, becoming ancestral to
3936-475: The early-mid Pliocene (5 Ma – 3 Ma), after three-million-year intervals with modern or glacial ice volume became longer and collapse occurs only at times when warmer global temperature coincide with strong austral summer insolation anomalies. Continents continued to drift , moving from positions possibly as far as 250 km from their present locations to positions only 70 km from their current locations. South America became linked to North America through
4018-553: The end of the Early Pleistocene Mammuthus trogontherii migrated into Europe, replacing M. meridionalis around 1–0.8 million years ago. Mammuthus primigenius (the woolly mammoth) had evolved from M. trogontherii in Siberia by around 600,000–500,000 years ago, replacing M. trogontherii in Europe by around 200,000 years ago, and migrated into North America during the Late Pleistocene. A number of dwarf mammoth species, with small body sizes, evolved on islands as
4100-558: The end of this interval. Oceans continued to be relatively warm during the Pliocene, though they continued cooling. The Arctic ice cap formed , drying the climate and increasing cool shallow currents in the North Atlantic. Deep cold currents flowed from the Antarctic. The formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 3.5 million years ago cut off the final remnant of what was once essentially a circum-equatorial current that had existed since
4182-525: The first humans to inhabit the Americas. A possible bone engraving of a Columbian mammoth made by Paleoindians is known from Vero Beach, Florida. Following the end of the Last Glacial Maximum , the range of the woolly mammoth began to contract, disappearing from most of Europe by 14,000 years ago. By the Younger Dryas (around 12,900-11,700 years Before Present ), woolly mammoths were confined to
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#17328557663714264-543: The first time since the Cretaceous , with North American rodents and primates mixing with southern forms. Litopterns and the notoungulates , South American natives, were mostly wiped out, except for the macrauchenids and toxodonts , which managed to survive. Small weasel-like carnivorous mustelids , coatis and short-faced bears migrated from the north. Grazing glyptodonts , browsing giant ground sloths and smaller caviomorph rodents , pampatheres , and armadillos did
4346-406: The genetic changes found in woolly mammoths responsible for tolerance of cold conditions. Scientists discovered and studied the remains of a mammoth calf, and found that fat greatly influenced its form, and enabled it to store large amounts of nutrients necessary for survival in temperatures as low as −50 °C (−58 °F). The fat also allowed the mammoths to increase their muscle mass, allowing
4428-518: The geomorphology and history of the Florina region from the period of the earliest archaeological finds (about 5800 BC) to the end of the Roman period. However, the main subject of this unit is the activities of humans within the prehistoric period, presented through finds from the excavation of the prehistoric settlement at Armenchori. In the two adjoining rooms are displayed representative examples of sculpture, mainly Roman and include relief grave and votive stelae with various subjects (horsemen, portraits,
4510-413: The influence of seasonal variation. More recent research has emphasized the variability selection hypothesis, which proposes that variability in climate fostered development of hominin traits. Improved climate proxies show that the Pliocene climate of east Africa was highly variable, suggesting that adaptability to varying conditions was more important in driving hominin evolution than the steady pressure of
4592-441: The jaws of a 200,000 - 500,000 year old mammoth , which was found in the village of Sotiras . Also on the ground floor are grave stelae of the Roman period from Vevi (2nd–3rd century AD), Petres (2nd century BC), Sitaria (3rd century AD), Vythkouki , Kastoria regional unit (320BC); statues from Vevi (a male torso of the Roman period) and Lakia (a statue of Artemis of the Roman period); and an exceptional mosaic floor from
4674-481: The largest known among proboscideans with some specimens over 4 m (13.1 ft) in length and likely 200 kg (440.9 lb) in weight with some historical reports suggesting tusks of Columbian mammoths could reach lengths of around 5 m (16.4 ft) substantially surpassing the largest known modern elephant tusks. The heads of mammoths were prominently domed. The first several thoracic vertebrae of mammoths typically had long neural spines. The back
4756-468: The mammoths to fight against enemies and live longer. Woolly mammoths evolved a suite of adaptations for arctic life, including morphological traits such as small ears and tails to minimize heat loss, a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, and numerous sebaceous glands for insulation, as well as a large brown-fat hump like deposit behind the neck that may have functioned as a heat source and fat reservoir during winter. Based on studies of their close relatives,
4838-525: The modern elephants, mammoths probably had a gestation period of 22 months, resulting in a single calf being born. Their social structure was probably the same as that of African and Asian elephants, with females living in herds headed by a matriarch, whilst bulls lived solitary lives or formed loose groups after sexual maturity, with adult males experiencing periods of musth . The earliest mammoth species like M. subplanifrons and M. rumanus were mixed feeders (both browsing and grazing) to browsers. Over
4920-545: The northern South China Sea shows an increase in dust storm activity during the middle Pliocene. The South Asian Summer Monsoon (SASM) increased in intensity after 2.95 Ma, likely because of enhanced cross-equatorial pressure caused by the reorganisation of the Indonesian Throughflow. In the south-central Andes , an arid period occurred from 6.1 to 5.2 Ma, with another occurring from 3.6 to 3.3 Ma. These arid periods are coincident with global cold periods, during which
5002-547: The northernmost regions of Siberia. This contraction is suggested to have been caused by the warming induced expansion of unfavourable wet tundra and forest environments at the expense of the preferred dry open mammoth steppe , with the possible additional pressure of human hunting. The last woolly mammoths in mainland Siberia became extinct around 10,000 years ago, during the early Holocene . The final extinction of mainland woolly mammoths may have been driven by human hunting. Relict populations survived on Saint Paul island in
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#17328557663715084-724: The now-separated Atlantic Ocean. Africa 's collision with Europe formed the Mediterranean Sea , cutting off the remnants of the Tethys Ocean . The border between the Miocene and the Pliocene is also the time of the Messinian salinity crisis . During the Late Pliocene, the Himalayas became less active in their uplift, as evidenced by sedimentation changes in the Bengal Fan . The land bridge between Alaska and Siberia ( Beringia )
5166-445: The onset of continental glaciation in the Arctic, suggesting that vegetation changes in Australia during the Pliocene behaved similarly to during the Late Pleistocene and were likely characterised by comparable cycles of aridity and humidity. The equatorial Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature gradient was considerably lower than it is today. Mean sea surface temperatures in the east were substantially warmer than today but similar in
5248-400: The opposite, migrating to the north and thriving there. The marsupials remained the dominant Australian mammals, with herbivore forms including wombats and kangaroos , and the huge Diprotodon . Carnivorous marsupials continued hunting in the Pliocene, including dasyurids , the dog-like thylacine and cat-like Thylacoleo . The first rodents arrived in Australia. The modern platypus ,
5330-602: The position of the Southern Hemisphere westerlies shifted northward and disrupted the South American Low Level Jet, which brings moisture to southeastern South America. From around 3.8 Ma to about 3.3 Ma, North Africa experienced an extended humid period. In northwestern Africa, tropical forests extended up to Cape Blanc during the Zanclean until around 3.5 Ma. During the Piacenzian, from about 3.5 to 2.6 Ma,
5412-505: The recent", referring to the essentially modern marine mollusc fauna. In the official timescale of the ICS , the Pliocene is subdivided into two stages . From youngest to oldest they are: The Piacenzian is sometimes referred to as the Late Pliocene, whereas the Zanclean is referred to as the Early Pliocene. In the system of In the Paratethys area (central Europe and parts of western Asia)
5494-499: The region was forested at irregular intervals and contained a significant Saharan palaeoriver until 3.35 Ma, when trade winds began to dominate over fluvial transport of pollen. Around 3.26 Ma, a strong aridification event that was followed by a return to more humid conditions, which was itself followed by another aridification around 2.7 Ma. From 2.6 to 2.4 Ma, vegetation zones began repeatedly shifting latitudinally in response to glacial-interglacial cycles. The climate of eastern Africa
5576-419: The scene. Bears, dogs and weasels (originally from North America) joined cats, hyenas and civets as the African predators, forcing hyenas to adapt as specialized scavengers. Most mustelids in Africa declined as a result of increased competition from the new predators, although Enhydriodon omoensis remained an unusually successful terrestrial predator. South America was invaded by North American species for
5658-881: The separate Mammutidae family, which diverged 25 million years before the mammoths evolved. Following the publication of the woolly mammoths mitochondrial genome sequence in 1997, it has since become widely accepted that mammoths and Asian elephants share a closer relationship to each other than either do to African elephants . The following cladogram shows the placement of the genus Mammuthus among other proboscideans, based on hyoid characteristics and genetics: † Mammutidae (mastodons) [REDACTED] † Gomphotheriidae (gomphotheres) [REDACTED] † Stegodontidae (stegodontids) [REDACTED] Loxodonta (African elephants) [REDACTED] † Palaeoloxodon (straight-tusked elephants) [REDACTED] Elephas (Asian elephants) [REDACTED] † Mammuthus (mammoths) [REDACTED] It
5740-442: The shift in the diet of mammoths from a browsing based diet in M. rumanus , towards a grazing diet in later species. Both sexes bore tusks. A first, small set appeared at about the age of six months, and these were replaced at about 18 months by the permanent set. Growth of the permanent set was at a rate of about 2.5 to 15.2 cm (1 to 6 in) per year. The tusks display a strong spiral twisting. Mammoth tusks are among
5822-414: The shoulder and weights of 9.6–12.7 tonnes (21,000–28,000 lb ), while exceptionally large males may have reached 4.5 m (14.8 ft) at the shoulder and 14.3 tonnes (31,526.1 lb) in weight. However, woolly mammoths were considerably smaller, only about as large as modern African bush elephants with males around 2.80–3.15 m (9 ft 2.2 in – 10 ft 4.0 in) high at
5904-452: The shoulder, and 4.5–6 tonnes (9,900–13,200 lb ) in weight on average, with the largest recorded individuals being around 3.5 m (11.5 ft) tall and 8.2 tonnes (18,077.9 lb) in weight. The insular dwarf mammoth species were considerably smaller, with the smallest species M. creticus estimated to have a shoulder height of only around 1 metre (3.3 ft) and a weight of about 180 kilograms (400 lb), making it one of
5986-554: The smallest elephantids known. The number of lamellae (ridge-like structures) on the molars, particularly on the third molars, substantially increased over the course of mammoth evolution. The earliest Eurasian species M. rumanus have around 8-10 lamellae on the third molars, while Late Pleistocene woolly mammoths have 20-28 lamellae on the third molars. These changes also corresponded with reduced enamel thickness and increasing tooth height ( hypsodonty ). These changes are thought to be adaptations to increasing abrasion resulting from
6068-400: The surrounding environment. Anthropologists tended to focus on intrinsic models while geologists and vertebrate paleontologists tended to put greater emphasis on habitats. Alternatives to the savanna hypothesis include the woodland/forest hypothesis, which emphasizes the evolution of hominins in closed habitats, or hypotheses emphasizing the influence of colder habitats at higher latitudes or
6150-504: The warmer Miocene and the relatively cooler Pleistocene. The upper boundary was set at the start of the Pleistocene glaciations. Charles Lyell (later Sir Charles) gave the Pliocene its name in Principles of Geology (volume 3, 1833). The word pliocene comes from the Greek words πλεῖον ( pleion , "more") and καινός ( kainos , "new" or "recent") and means roughly "continuation of
6232-495: The west. This condition has been described as a permanent El Niño state, or “El Padre.” Several mechanisms have been proposed for this pattern, including increased tropical cyclone activity . The extent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet oscillated at the 40 kyr period of Earth's obliquity. Ice sheet collapse occurred when the global average temperature was 3 °C warmer than today and carbon dioxide concentration
6314-470: Was 2–3 °C higher than today, while carbon dioxide levels were the same as today (400 ppm). Global sea level was about 25 m higher, though its exact value is uncertain. The northern hemisphere ice sheet was ephemeral before the onset of extensive glaciation over Greenland that occurred in the late Pliocene around 3 Ma. The formation of an Arctic ice cap is signaled by an abrupt shift in oxygen isotope ratios and ice-rafted cobbles in
6396-506: Was at 400 ppmv. This resulted in open waters in the Ross Sea . Global sea-level fluctuation associated with ice-sheet collapse was probably up to 7 meters for the west Antarctic and 3 meters for the east Antarctic. Model simulations are consistent with reconstructed ice-sheet oscillations and suggest a progression from a smaller to a larger West Antarctic ice sheet in the last 5 million years. Intervals of ice sheet collapse were much more common in
6478-480: Was dominated by hoofed animals, and primates continued their evolution, with australopithecines (some of the first hominins ) and baboon-like monkeys such as the Dinopithecus appearing in the late Pliocene. Rodents were successful, and elephant populations increased. Cows and antelopes continued diversification and overtook pigs in numbers of species. Early giraffes appeared. Horses and modern rhinos came onto
6560-452: Was first flooded near the start of the Pliocene, allowing marine organisms to spread between the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. The bridge would continue to be periodically flooded and restored thereafter. Pliocene marine formations are exposed in northeast Spain , southern California , New Zealand , and Italy . During the Pliocene parts of southern Norway and southern Sweden that had been near sea level rose. In Norway this rise elevated
6642-562: Was typically sloping, with the body being wider than that of African elephants. The tails of mammoths were relatively short compared to living elephants. While early mammoth species like M. meridionalis were probably relatively hairless, similar to modern elephants, M. primigenius and likely M. trogontherii had a substantial coat of fur, among other physiological adaptations for living in cold environments. Genetic sequencing of M. trogontherii -like mammoths, over 1 million years old from Siberia suggests that they had already developed many of
6724-541: Was very similar to what it is today. Unexpectedly, the expansion of grasslands in eastern Africa during this epoch appears to have been decoupled from aridification and not caused by it, as evidenced by their asynchrony. Southwestern Australia hosted heathlands , shrublands , and woodlands with a greater species diversity compared to today during the Middle and Late Pliocene. Three different aridification events occurred around 2.90, 2.59, and 2.56 Ma, and may have been linked to
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