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Mauer
paleontological site, Germany
Mauer, Pleistocene locality on the Neckar River of Germany and the name of a Pleistocene deposit, the Mauer Sands (the Pleistocene Epoch began about 2,600,000 years ago and ended about 11,700 years ago). The Mauer Sands are about 64 feet (20 metres) thick and contained the fossil remains of the sabre-toothed cat, bear, horse, hippopotamus, and extinct elephant; Germany’s oldest human fragment, the Heidelberg, or Mauer, jaw was discovered there in 1907. The faunal evidence supports the view that the Mauer Sands were deposited during a relatively moderate climatic phase of the Pleistocene, probably the Günz-Mindel Interglacial Stage.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Maren Goldberg.
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