Papers by Дмитрий Пономаренко
Paleontological Journal, 2023
Five morphotypes of fossil burrows are described from four beds of Eopleistocene paleosols from S... more Five morphotypes of fossil burrows are described from four beds of Eopleistocene paleosols from Sopaty Kurgan (Krasnodar krai, Russia). The architecture, ornamentation and diameter of fossil burrows was compared with a reference collection of modern burrows. The first morphotype is identified as Nannospalax sp. from its architecture, in particular, the shape of the lower junction of vertical shafts and tunnel diameter. The architecture (subhorizontal tunnels, absence of vertical ones), diameter and ornamentation of the second morphotype show affinities with the burrows of the modern water-vole, Arvicola terrestris; it possibly belongs to a large Mimomys sp. The third morphotype is identified as belonging to a large jerboa Allactaga sp. from the shape of the cross-section and diameter. The fourth morphotype is identified as a medium-large-sized arvicolid. The fifth morphotype is identified from the presence of spiral vertical tunnels as belonging to a molevole, Ellobius sp.
Hallesches Jahrbuch für Geowissenschaften / Beiheft, Dec 13, 2019
Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya (The Volga River Region Archaeology), 2021
The Beganchik locality is a stratigraphic sequence of loessic deposits, pedogenic horizons and Pa... more The Beganchik locality is a stratigraphic sequence of loessic deposits, pedogenic horizons and Paleolithic occupations located at the Kama-Volga confluence. The sequence is exposed on a bluff formed on the west side of an erosional remnant between the Kuybyshev Reservoir and the former channel of the Aktay River. Although the site is known for its Terminal Paleolithic-Mesolithic occupations of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, evidence of older occupations and remains of fauna has been identified. Our research team identified evidence of human presence associated with a pedogenic horizon of MIS 3 age. Two AMS radiocarbon ages from a hearth produced ages around 47 000 years BP. Pollen and phytoliths from two soils horizons, including the one associated with the hearths indicate a steppe environment coincident with the formation of correlative soils elsewhere in the Russian Plain.
Quaternary International, 2019
Filled mammal tunnels (krotovinas) are the most common traces in modern grassland soils and trace... more Filled mammal tunnels (krotovinas) are the most common traces in modern grassland soils and trace fossils in loess paleosols. Krotovinas are still insufficiently used in paleogeographic reconstructions owing to the absence of a procedure for documenting their features. When their tracemaker can be identified, krotovinas complement body fossil evidence for past geographic ranges of fossorial mammals. Moreover, local paleoenvironments can be reconstructed more precisely based on the preferred habitat of the identified species. However, the morphology of krotovinas has rarely been reported in detail that would allow their identification. In this article, we suggest five groups of diagnostic features that should be recorded and assessed for taxonomic identification of krotovinas. (1) Ornamentation on the burrow walls, which can be observed when there is sediment compaction contrast between infill and the host material, provides the most taxonomically specific features. (2) Infill type distinguishes between subterranean forms and other burrowers. (3) Tunnel repair and reburrowing patterns. (4) Motifs representing distinctive architectural elements: shafts, spirals, their connections to horizontal tunnels, the shape of chambers, and the predominant orientation of tunnels (horizontal, inclined, vertical). (5) Diameter, which has to be measured transverse to each tunnel or estimated from oblique sections. The measurements and observations can be compared against a reference collection of burrow plaster casts. Synoptic diagrams are suggested as a method for condensing images of diagnostic features from several sections. We suggest that the presence of krotovinas is one criterion for distinguishing grassland paleosols from humus-rich colluvial deposits.
Geological Society of America Bulletin, 2011
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Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya (The Volga River Region Archaeology)
The Beganchik locality is a stratigraphic sequence of loessic deposits, pedogenic horizons and Pa... more The Beganchik locality is a stratigraphic sequence of loessic deposits, pedogenic horizons and Paleolithic occupations located at the Kama-Volga confluence. The sequence is exposed on a bluff formed on the west side of an erosional remnant between the Kuybyshev Reservoir and the former channel of the Aktay River. Although the site is known for its Terminal Paleolithic-Mesolithic occupations of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, evidence of older occupations and remains of fauna has been identified. Our research team identified evidence of human presence associated with a pedogenic horizon of MIS 3 age. Two AMS radiocarbon ages from a hearth produced ages around 47 000 years BP. Pollen and phytoliths from two soils horizons, including the one associated with the hearths indicate a steppe environment coincident with the formation of correlative soils elsewhere in the Russian Plain.
Териофауна России и сопредельных территорий, 2016
Непосредственное наблюдение за работой конечностей у роющих животных возможно главным образом в л... more Непосредственное наблюдение за работой конечностей у роющих животных возможно главным образом в лаборатории, а потому спектр роющих движений в природных условиях остаётся неизученным. В ходе рытья конечности и роющие части черепа (резцы, клюв) оставляют на стенках норы царапины, отражающие траекторию роющего движения. Морфология этих царапин была впервые описана палеонтологами при изучении ядер ископаемых нор. Реконструкция траекторий роющих движений по таким царапинам затрудняется отсутствием опорной коллекции современных аналогов ископаемых. Такая коллекция впервые стала собираться в Палеонтологическом институте пять лет назад в ходе полевых работ в Европейской части России, Западной Сибири, Алтае и на востоке Северной Америки. В настоящее время она включает девять видов млекопитающих, из которых восемь – грызуны. Сбор и изучение гипсовых слепков нор млекопитающих имеет не только вспомогательное значение (в палеонтологии), но и может служить более полному познанию роющей деятельности современных млекопитающих.
Most commonly used features in fossil vertebrate burrow descriptions are not directly related to ... more Most commonly used features in fossil vertebrate burrow descriptions are not directly related to tracemaker morphology. The general form of vertebrate burrows reflects behaviour and ecology (colonial or solitary; subterranean or surface-dwelling; hibernating or not) that can be found in unrelated and morphologically distinct groups. Burrow diameter is not directly related to morphology but only gives an approximate size range. In contrast, bioglyphs (surface marking) are directly linked to the morphology of appendages and other body parts. In particular, claw marks represent trajectories of digging movements. Although trajectories themselves are often taxon-specific, they can be used to make only limited inferences about tracemaker morphology, because similarly oriented digging strokes can be produced by forelimbs with different proportions. This study suggests a method for inferring the length of forelimb elements from one feature of claw marks, the radius of curvature and its variation. The forelimb can be represented as a kinematic chain with three or four links . The trajectories produced by movements at each joint are arcs with the radius of curvature corresponding to the distance between the joint and the tip of the claw. The trajectory described by the claws during digging depends on the resistance of the substrate which, in turn, varies with the angle of attack . The variation of the radius of curvature within a single clawmark reflects changing proportions between movements at several joints. A single burrow can contain hundreds of claw marks that represent a sufficient sample to make conclusions about forelimb proportions.
Поволжская археология, 2015
This paper reconstructs the history of human occupation on the Volga River bend (Samarskaia Luka)... more This paper reconstructs the history of human occupation on the Volga River bend (Samarskaia Luka) adjacent to the Zhiguli archaeological site and burial ground based on the pedological, ichnological, and anthrocological study of the site’s occupation layer and the stratozems accumulated in a ravine downstream from the site. 7 cycles of erosion and accumulation occurred in the ravine during the Holocene. Each cycle began with forest fires, leading to the increase in runoff and ravine incision, and ended with the stabilization of the surface as grassland or forest was reestablished.
The cycles correlate with periods of human occupation of the catchment area, rather than climatic change. The length of periods between changes of land use varied from a few decades in the agricultural cycles of the early Middle Ages, up to several hundred years in the nomadic-pastoral cycles of the Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and the late Middle Ages. Vegetation changed within every cycle as the human utilization of the watershed resulted in the elimination of the understory, the reduction of tree-species richness, the increase in the proportion of conifers, and, due to a combination of fire and grazing, led to deforestation. Our study indicates that a long deforestation period occurred for the middle Holocene (Eneolithic—Bronze Age). A new period of progressive deforestation began in the middle of the first millennium AD. The first traces of the typical steppe inhabitants, the burrowing rodents, are found in the soils of this age.
Discontinuities in human occupation lasting a few hundred years occurred in the middle Holocene. Shorter breaks (less than a century) occurred between the Scythian-Gorodets period and the Imenkovo-Khazar period, later between the Khazar period and the Bulgarian period, and in the period preceding the Russian colonization of the area in the sixteenth century.
Quaternary International, 2018
Filled mammal tunnels (krotovinas) are the most common traces in modern grassland soils and trace... more Filled mammal tunnels (krotovinas) are the most common traces in modern grassland soils and trace fossils in loess paleosols. Krotovinas are still insufficiently used in paleogeographic reconstructions owing to the absence of a procedure for documenting their features. When their tracemaker can be identified, krotovinas complement body fossil evidence for past geographic ranges of fossorial mammals. Moreover, local palaeoenvironments can be reconstructed more precisely based on the preferred habitat of the identified species. However, the morphology of krotovinas has rarely been reported in detail that would allow their identification. In this article, we suggest five groups of diagnostic features that should be recorded and assessed for taxo-nomic identification of krotovinas. (1) Ornamentation on the burrow walls, which can be observed when there is sediment compaction contrast between infill and the host material, provides the most taxonomically specific features. (2) Infill type distinguishes between subterranean forms and other burrowers. (3) Tunnel repair and reburrowing patterns. (4) Motifs representing distinctive architectural elements: shafts, spirals, their connections to horizontal tunnels, the shape of chambers, and the predominant orientation of tunnels (horizontal, inclined, vertical). (5) Diameter, which has to be measured transverse to each tunnel or estimated from oblique sections. The measurements and observations can be compared against a reference collection of burrow plaster casts. Synoptic diagrams are suggested as a method for condensing images of diagnostic features from several sections. We suggest that the presence of krotovinas is one criterion for distinguishing grassland paleosols from humus-rich colluvial deposits.
Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 2011
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Talks by Дмитрий Пономаренко
Ichnia 2016 - 4th International Congress on Ichnology, Idanha-a-Nova, UNESCO Naturtejo Global Geopark, Abstracts Book, 2016
Most commonly used features in fossil vertebrate burrow descriptions are not directly related to ... more Most commonly used features in fossil vertebrate burrow descriptions are not directly related to tracemaker morphology. The general form of vertebrate burrows reflects behaviour and ecology (colonial or solitary; subterranean or surface-dwelling; hibernating or not) that can be found in unrelated and morphologically distinct groups. Burrow diameter is not directly related to morphology but only gives an approximate size range. In contrast, bioglyphs (surface marking) are directly linked to the morphology of appendages and other body parts. In particular, claw marks represent trajectories of digging movements. Although trajectories themselves are often taxon-specific, they can be used to make only limited inferences about tracemaker morphology, because similarly oriented digging strokes can be produced by forelimbs with different proportions. This study suggests a method for inferring the length of forelimb elements from one feature of claw marks, the radius of curvature and its variation. The forelimb can be represented as a kinematic chain with three or four links (Fig. 1). The trajectories produced by movements at each joint are arcs with the radius of curvature corresponding to the distance between the joint and the tip of the claw. The trajectory described by the claws during digging depends on the resistance of the substrate which, in turn, varies with the angle of attack (Fig. 2, 3). The variation of the radius of curvature within a single claw-mark reflects changing proportions between movements at several joints. A single burrow can contain hundreds of claw marks that represent a sufficient sample to make conclusions about forelimb proportions.
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Papers by Дмитрий Пономаренко
The cycles correlate with periods of human occupation of the catchment area, rather than climatic change. The length of periods between changes of land use varied from a few decades in the agricultural cycles of the early Middle Ages, up to several hundred years in the nomadic-pastoral cycles of the Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and the late Middle Ages. Vegetation changed within every cycle as the human utilization of the watershed resulted in the elimination of the understory, the reduction of tree-species richness, the increase in the proportion of conifers, and, due to a combination of fire and grazing, led to deforestation. Our study indicates that a long deforestation period occurred for the middle Holocene (Eneolithic—Bronze Age). A new period of progressive deforestation began in the middle of the first millennium AD. The first traces of the typical steppe inhabitants, the burrowing rodents, are found in the soils of this age.
Discontinuities in human occupation lasting a few hundred years occurred in the middle Holocene. Shorter breaks (less than a century) occurred between the Scythian-Gorodets period and the Imenkovo-Khazar period, later between the Khazar period and the Bulgarian period, and in the period preceding the Russian colonization of the area in the sixteenth century.
Talks by Дмитрий Пономаренко
The cycles correlate with periods of human occupation of the catchment area, rather than climatic change. The length of periods between changes of land use varied from a few decades in the agricultural cycles of the early Middle Ages, up to several hundred years in the nomadic-pastoral cycles of the Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and the late Middle Ages. Vegetation changed within every cycle as the human utilization of the watershed resulted in the elimination of the understory, the reduction of tree-species richness, the increase in the proportion of conifers, and, due to a combination of fire and grazing, led to deforestation. Our study indicates that a long deforestation period occurred for the middle Holocene (Eneolithic—Bronze Age). A new period of progressive deforestation began in the middle of the first millennium AD. The first traces of the typical steppe inhabitants, the burrowing rodents, are found in the soils of this age.
Discontinuities in human occupation lasting a few hundred years occurred in the middle Holocene. Shorter breaks (less than a century) occurred between the Scythian-Gorodets period and the Imenkovo-Khazar period, later between the Khazar period and the Bulgarian period, and in the period preceding the Russian colonization of the area in the sixteenth century.