Palynology and mycology of organic clay balls accompanying mastodon bones—New Brunswick, Canada

Abstract

Enigmatic clay balls accompanying a 37000-year-old skeleton of an American mastodon, and clayey nodules adhering to some of the bones, were examined for pollen and spores of plants and spores of fungi. The nodule assemblage of plant palynomorphs is dominated by pollen of Cyperaceae, that of clay ball by pollen of Pinaceae. Both the nodule and the clay ball asemblages of fungi are dominated by spores of Sordariales, which are predominantly dung-dwelling, and which commonly occur in lake and peat sediments. However, the clay ball fungi are relatively more numerous, taxonomically more diverse, and ecologically representative of a wide range of habitats. From palynological and mycological evidence, and the presence of even-sized fragments of wood, we suggest that the organic component of the clay ball is derived from plants consumed by, and contained within, the animal at the time of death.