New radiocarbon dates for Milu ( Elaphurus davidianus ) sub-fossils from southeast China

Milu (Elaphurus davidianus, Pere David's deer) is one of the few species of large mammals that became extinct in the wild, but survived domestically. A good understanding of expansion and habitat is required if the reintroduction of Milu into the wild is to be implemented. Among the widely reported findings of Milu sub-fossils, only a small fraction have been dated. Here we report new AMS radiocarbon dates on Milu sub-fossil samples unearthed from two sites at Qingdun, Jiangsu and Fujiashan, Zhejiang in southeast China. These AMS C-14 ages of Milu sub-fossils provide new evidence for the presence of Milu expansion in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River during the Holocene Optimum interval from 5000 yr BC to 3000 yr BC. These new ages also have important implications for the reconstruction of the paleoclimate and paleo-geography during the Neolithic Period in southeast China. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.