New Holocene grey whale ( Eschrichtius robustus ) material from North Carolina: the most complete North Atlantic grey whale skeleton to date

Abstract

Skeletal remains and historical accounts indicate that grey whales ( Eschrichtius robustus ) existed in the North Atlantic Ocean from the Pleistocene into the seventeenth century. Fossil and sub-fossil occurrences in this basin are rare, distributed from the east coast of the United States to Iceland and Europe. Here, we report an incomplete skeleton of a Holocene grey whale from Pender County, North Carolina, USA. This specimen represents a physically immature individual and is the most complete North Atlantic grey whale specimen reported to date. It comprises 42 cranial and postcranial elements, including the cranium, parts of the rostrum, both mandibles, both scapulae, humeri, radii and ulnae, most of the vertebral column anterior to the lumbar region and numerous ribs. Its provenance near the inlet of a large estuary is consistent with previous findings from the southeastern USA and parallels the species' habitat use in Baja California breeding and calving grounds in the North Pacific Ocean. Radiocarbon dating indicates an age of 827 ± 172 years before present. Cut marks on multiple skeletal elements indicate that the animal was butchered, suggesting some level of human exploitation of the species in the southeastern USA in the twelfth century, approximately 500 years prior to its extirpation in the North Atlantic.