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Youngest Radiocarbon Age for Jefferson's Ground Sloth, Megalonyx Jeffersonii (Xenarthra, Megalonychidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

H. Gregory McDonald ,
Thomas W. Stafford  and
Dale M. Gnidovec
H. Gregory McDonald*
Affiliation:
Museum Management Program, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525, USA
Thomas W. Stafford
Affiliation:
AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade 120, Aarhus, Denmark Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Geological Museum, Oester Voldgade 5–7, DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
Dale M. Gnidovec
Affiliation:
Orton Geological Museum, 155 South Oval Mall, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
*
*Corresponding author., E-mail address:Greg_McDonald@nps.gov (H. Gregory McDonald).
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Abstract

A partial skeleton of the extinct ground sloth, Megalonyx jeffersonii, recovered from a farm near Millersburg, Ohio in 1890, was radiocarbon dated for the first time. The ungual dated is part of a skeleton mounted for exhibit at the Orton Geological Museum at Ohio State University and was the first mounted skeleton of this animal. From its initial discovery the bones were treated with multiple organic compounds that had the potential to compromise the radiocarbon age and the specimen required special treatments in order to obtain a valid radiocarbon age. The 14C measurement on the ungual from this skeleton (11,235 ± 40 14C yr BP = 13,180–13,034 cal yr BP) is the youngest 14C age presently determined for M. jeffersonii.

Keywords

MegalonyxJefferson's ground slothRadiocarbon ageHistorical specimensPleistoceneOhioXAD resin
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , March 2015 , pp. 355 - 359
Copyright
University of Washington

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