THE OCCURRENCE OF DAMA-DAMA IN CENTRAL-EU ROPE DURING THE PLEISTOCENEWITH SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF THE FINDS AT NEUMARK-NORD

Occurences of fallow deer in Central Europe can first be reliably docu mented for the middle-Pleistocene. D. dama has proven strictly to belo ng to warm period faunas and is thought to die out during the cold per iods. Fig. 3 presents an overview of the sequence of warm and cold per iods during the Pleistocene, and Fig. 5 shows the location of the most significant finds. In addition to the important English finds of Hoxn ian age, which represent D. dama clactoniana there is now an even bett er sample of Pleistocene Dama. Several new, well preserved fallow deer skeletons and partial skeletons in an articulated condition were reco vered from the open-cast lignite mine of Neumark-Nord at the northern periphery of the Geiseltal, Central Germany. These finds included at l east 52 different individuals and can be dated as Eemian or as an intr asaalian interglacial period. Compared to recent fallow deer, the fall ow deer of Neumark-Nord are characterized by a 15% larger bodysize, an tlers with up to 75% palmation, especially long brow tines, and greate r antler spread reminiscent of Megaloceros giganteus (Fig. 8-17). Neum ark-Nord represents the first fossil deer population, the metrical ana lysis of which will be represented later.