Polar Record. Page 1 of 6. c  Cambridge University Press 2013. doi:10.1017/S0032247413000193 1 Radiocarbon dating of musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus) bones from the Thule region, northwest Greenland Ole Bennike Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark (obe@geus.dk) Received January 2013 ABSTRACT. The Thule region in north Greenland formerly supported a population of musk-oxen (Ovibos moschatus). Radiocarbon dating of bones of this mammal collected on the terrain surface and from archaeological sites has yielded late Holocene ages, indicating that the species was a late immigrant to this part of Greenland. The species may have arrived at a time when the area was uninhabited, and it had at least a thousand years to spread south, before the Late Dorset people arrived. The heavy glaciation of Melville Bugt in the late Holocene was probably the main reason that the musk-ox did not disperse south to west Greenland. The population of musk-ox in the region may have peaked during the Medieval Warm Period, and the species survived during the occupation of the region by the Late Dorset people. The size of the population may have declined during the beginning of the Little Ice Age, and musk-ox was probably exterminated from the region shortly after the arrival of the mobile Thule people. Introduction The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitis) and the tun- dra musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus) are some of the most famous ice age mammals. Their thick and warm wool made them well adapted to ice age conditions. Like many other members of the late Quaternary megafauna, the woolly rhinoceros became extinct at the last termination, at around 14 000 years ago (Stuart and Lister 2012). In contrast, the woolly mammoth and tundra musk-ox sur- vived in northern refugia. The last mammoths survived on Wrangel Island where the species was exterminated around 4000 years ago probably because of the arrival of hunters (Vartanyan and others 1995). The tundra musk-ox survived in northern Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland until the late Holocene, but in the last few centuries it was exterminated over wide areas, and in the 1930s the status of the species was considered vulnerable (Lent 1999). However, it survived in northern Canada and north and northeast Greenland, and over the past decades it has been successfully re-introduced to many parts of its former range. A number of extinct musk-ox species have been described, including Staudinger’s musk-ox (Praeovi- bos priscus), Soergel’s musk-ox (Soergelia spp.) and the helmeted musk-ox Bootherium bombifrons (Crégut- Bonnoure 1984). The only musk-ox species surviving today is the tundra musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), here- after simply the musk-ox. This is also the only species that has been reported from the Quaternary of Greenland, and all fossil finds from Greenland can be referred to this species from the morphology of the skull. The musk-ox is a fascinating, archaic-looking gregari- ous herbivorous mammal. Its main natural predators are wolves, and if attacked musk-oxen will usually stand their ground and try to scoop up attacking wolves with their curved horns. They will also stand their ground if attacked by man, and hence can be easily killed by rifles. In the early part of the last century, the geographical range of the musk-ox became smaller and smaller due to hunting. North-western Canada was colonised by musk-oxen during the Holocene, and it migrated to north Greenland during the mid-Holocene, around 4500–5000 cal. years BP (Bennike and Andreasen 2005b; Campos and others 2010). Recently, the species has been re- introduced to many parts of its former range, and also to some regions such as West Greenland where it never occurred naturally (Lent 1999). Fossil finds of musk- oxen in deposits from the last glacial stage show that the species was widespread in Europe, Asia and North Amer- ica, both south of the large ice sheets and in Beringia as well as in eastern Russia (Campos and others 2010). There are no records of musk-ox from the Thule region from historical times (Winge 1902). However, several musk-ox bones were picked up by members of the Peary Expedition in 1894 in the northern part of the Thule region according to Ohlin (1895). Rasmussen (1921) mentioned that musk-ox bones can be found in the area from Kap York to Parker Snow Næs, and are common in the land areas around Olrik Fjord and Inglefield Bredning (Fig. 1). Sand (1935) mentioned that musk-ox was exterminated in that area in the distant past, but reported that bones are found at many sites near the ruins of winter houses in the region, and Jensen (1930) also mentioned that musk-ox bones are common in middens near Thule. According to Peter Freuchen who had an intimate knowledge of the area and the people, the local hunters had no record of having hunted musk-ox in the Thule region (Freuchen 1911). Vibe (1967) mentioned that he knew of three musk-ox skulls from the region. Three radiocarbon ages from the Thule region were presented by Bennike and Andreasen (2006). In connec- tion with that study, we tried to locate musk-ox bones from the region in the collections of the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, but we could only find a single cranium. Two more radiocarbon ages were reported from an archaeological site in the region (Gulløv 2008). In the summer of 2011 the author conducted a study of