Taphonomical and ichnological considerations on the late Middle Miocene Gratkorn locality (Styria, Austria) with focus on large mammal taphonomy

At the Gratkorn locality (Styria, Austria), a highly diverse, late Middle Miocene (late Sarmatian sensu stricto; 12.2–12.0 Ma) faunal assemblage is preserved in a palaeosol. It represents the first systematically excavated and well-documented continental Sarmatian site in Central Europe. Taphonomical analysis of the 700 large mammal specimen excavated so far has led to the following conclusions: (1) the level of diagenetic alteration is low, as primary (aragonitic) mineralisation in gastropod shells is preserved and teeth and bones of large mammals in general show a relatively low total REE content; (2) the high degree of disarticulation and fragmentation in large mammal bones is induced by hunting, scavenging, trampling, and neotectonics; (3) there are no signs for fluviatile transportation due to the general preservation features of the bones (e.g. no record of abrasion) and the still roughly associated fragments of individual bones and skeletons; and (4) local accumulation of large mammal bones is the result of scavenging. The fossil assemblage is considered to form a more or less autochthonous taphocoenosis without any significant time averaging (or faunal mixing) in terms of geologic resolution (contemporaneously deposited).