The woolly mammoth Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach, 1799) is the most important representative of the Eurasian Late Pleistocene megafaunal assemblage (Kuzmin and Orlova, 2004). The study of mammoth extinction patterns is crucial for understanding the impact of global environmental changes on the mammalian populations at the end of the Pleistocene (Kuzmin and Orlova, 2004). Typical, the woolly mammoth is best known from the Weichselian (Last) glaciation (c. 100–10 ka). During the Last Cold Stage, the woolly mammoth occurred widely across northern Eurasia, including nearly all of Europe, mostly in association with regional treeless steppe-tundra vegetation (Allen and Huntley, 2000, Gheerbrant and Tassy, 2009, Lister and Sher, 2001, Lister et al., 2005, Pazonyi, 2004, Svoboda et al., 2005 and Wojtal and Sobczyk, 2005).

Fossil remains of Mammuthus primigenius are common in Hungary; c. 400 specimens have been recovered; among these are five complete skeletons (Főzy and Szente, 2007, Gasparik, 2001 and Vörös, 1981). A woolly mammoth, was excavated by students in a vineyard near the city of Pécs (Zók), located in a loess road cut (Fig. 1). The locality occurs on a hillslope 10 km from Pécs. The mammoth occurred at a depth of c. 70 cm within a leached, yellow loess unit (Fig. 2). Total loess thickness at the site is ∼18 m, with yellow silt being ∼12 m thick and the underlying yellow-grey, fine sand ∼4 m thick (Sebe et al., 2008). The upper 4 m thick layer is rich in terrestrial Mollusks (Cochlicopa lubrica, Vallonia costata, Zonitoides nitidus, Arianta arbustorum, Trichia hispida, Nesovitrea hammonis). Among these, Arianta arbustorum is the dominant species in the mammoth bearing layer.

Thick Quaternary sequences have long been known in the southern foreland of the Mecsek Mountains (Pécsi, 1993 and Újvári et al., 2008). However, their distribution, facies and thickness are highly variable. Plio-Quaternary sediments form a continuous sheet in the area between the Mecsek Mts. and the Görcsöny Hills and at certain places their thickness exceeds 100 m. The pediment is covered by loess-palaeosol succession, which thickens towards the south. On the Pécs Basin southern margin, the dip of palaeosols in the loess – approximately 1 to 3° to the south – is clearly visible in several exposures and this dip is syndepositional, i.e. it shows the slope of the palaeosurface. In Görcsöny village, a particular palaeosol layer (marker horizon) is 2–3 m lower than in the excavation site near Zók (Kovács et al., 2007a and Sebe et al., 2008). According to aminostratigraphic studies conducted by Oches and McCoy (Oches and McCoy, 1995), this palaesol formed during the Middle Pleistocene. The Pécs Basin began to appear morphologically contemporaneously with loess deposition.

For the taphonomic analysis of the available material, we counted the isolated skeletal elements and articulated skeletal parts and considered the breakage, weathering, abrasion, and plant root traces on the bone material. The palaeobiological analysis considered the gender of the remains using the tusks and postcranial material as a basis; we determined the age distribution on the basis of the dentition and tusks. Age was determined from dental progression and wear comparisons to modern African elephants (Haynes, 1991 and Laws, 1966). According to Haynes (Haynes, 1991), most modern paleontologists use Maglio's (Maglio, 1973) dental nomenclature, which is used herein as well. The method is based on values of enamel thickness, plate (lamellar) frequency and plate length of last generation of mammoth molars (M3). The method of measurements has been described in detail by Lister (Lister, 1996). Measurements were taken on molars and skeletal elements using sliding metal calipers. The tusks were studied by OASA as described by Theodorou and Agiadi (Theodorou and Agiadi, 2001). The broken, flat surface of the tusk, as a transverse section was photographed in high-resolution, and the images were processed with a photo-processing program. The Schreger angles were then measured at high magnification. The tusk of ZM has been radiometrically dated at DEB by conventional radiocarbon dating method (gas proportional counting system). A ¹⁴C cross-check (AMS) has been run in AA.

The specimens are kept in the Department of Geology, UP, Hungary.

Order: Proboscidea Illiger, 1811.

Family: Elephantidae Gray, 1821.

Genus: Mammuthus Brookes, 1828.

Species: Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach, 1799.

The third molars in the maxillae (M3, left and right) are preserved. The anterior parts of both molars are almost worn to the base of the crown. The stage of eruption and wear of the M3 (and extrapolating from these to the lower molars that are not available) is equivalent to Laws’ (Laws, 1966) Age Group XXII, which means that the Zók Mammoth had an age of approximately 37 to 38 AEY, according to the scale of Craig (in Haynes, 1991) at the time of its death. This age determination is based on comparing the tooth eruption/wear of the mammoth with observed tooth eruption/wear in African elephants of known ages.

Tusk diameter in M. primigenius is strongly sexually dimorphic. Female woolly mammoths have relatively slender, straight and gracile tusks (Averianov, 1996). For females reported by Averianov (Averianov, 1996), the diameter near the ends of the alveoli are less than 90 mm and the tusks turn only slightly medially. Conversely, the tusks of male woolly mammoths are more massive, with a diameter at the end of the alveoli of up to 200 mm and possess very strong medial curvature. The recovered left tusk of the ZM is ∼2 m in length. The tusk diameter, measured slightly closer to the proximal end of the tusk, is 160 mm. This measurement is almost double the maximum for females reported by Averianov (Averianov, 1996) for Russian woolly mammoth and thus points to the likelihood of the ZM being a male.

The incomplete skull, including retention of ZOK-2 tusks and upper third molars (Fig. 6), together with the horizontal orientation of the slightly dissociated postcranial remains (mainly fragments), indicate that the mammoth was buried where he died. Fractured edges of broken bones are sharp and exhibit no traces of rounding. Traces of gnaw-marks are absent on the bones. Especially intriguing regarding the taphonomic history of the individual is its left tusk. The skull, as noted, retained only the right tusk and maxillary teeth, but the left tusk had been rotated, pointing in a caudal direction. This is an unusual natural postmortem orientation, suggesting the intervention of an unknown but competent agent. The disarticulated left tusk and rib fragments were found behind and under the skull, indicating that they had been moved. Stratigraphic and geomorphologic studies indicate that the bones were deposited in a very low energy environment and are in their primary context, with no significant post depositional movement. The major postcranial elements are missing, probably, as that part of the skeleton is in a valley direction, so removed by erosion. The fact that only one animal was found and it is indicated to be a male equates well with the analogous behavior of unattached or lone African elephants. However, there is no evidence of human processing of the mammoth remains, even although an important Palaeolithic (Gravettian) “mammoth hunter” settlement was discovered in the region (Dobosi, 2005). The intervention of a predator or a living mammoth is more likely.

The pattern of the Schreger bands in the tusk dentine of M. trogontherii (Pohlig, 1885) is similar to that in M. primigenius (Palombo and Villa, 2001). Average plate number of steppe mammoth is less (x19x) than woolly mammoth (Lister, 1996). Lamellar frequency of ZM (7) is more than the average of M. trogontherii. Enamel thickness is less (1.75 mm) than the mean of steppe mammoth (2.3 mm). The M3 s present in the ZM possess x22x plates, which is at the edge of the range for M. trogontherii but well within that of M. primigenius.

Tusks of Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus (Falconer and Cautley, 1847) are large, and weakly curved opposite to specimens of ZM. The molars of straight-tusked elephant are hypsodont (HI 1.8–2.0 in M3, similar to that of ZM), with a relatively narrow crown, characteristically wrinkled enamel with a mean thickness of 2.6 to 2.7 mm in M3 opposite to that of ZM. M3 possess an average of x16x plates with a maximum at x19x–x20x, which is less than the average of ZM. The praemaxilla of E. antiquus is fan shaped and extremely wide distally. The praemaxilla of ZM is straight, long, and parallel. The enamel loops on the occlusal surface of M3 of ZM are different to that of straight-tusked elephant.

Based on these results, this specimen is ascribed to Mammuthus primigenius.

Since early studies, it has been accepted that mammoths existed under conditions of cold, dry climate and preferred open steppes, locally with trees and bushes (Lister and Sher, 2001, Sher, 1997, Velichko and Zelikson, 2005 and Velichko et al., 2002).

During the glacial stages of the Pleistocene, the Carpathian Basin was subject to a cryogenic environment that produced a variety of periglacial features (Kovács et al., 2007b). The particularly cold climate during these glacial periods results from the basin's unique geomorphological setting, which is surrounded by the Carpathians, creating an almost closed climatic system. The loess snail findings (Arianta arbustorum dominant) from the mammoth bearing layer are subhygrophilic/hygrophilic, cold-resistant, steppe fauna (Hertelendi et al., 1992 and Sümegi and Krolopp, 2002). Based on these data, the landscape in the Carpathian Basin was: extremely continental arid climate with a small amount of solid precipitation; firm soil; dominance of open plant communities (herb, grass and low shrubs), locally with trees. This kind of environment in the Carpathian Basin was still favourable for the mammoth's existence even close to the Last Glacial Maximum.