Preliminary Report on the Discovery of the Skull of Elephas namadicus naumanni MAKIYAMA from the Yabu Formation at Saruyama, Chiba Prefecture

In March of 1971, the writers had an opportunity to find and excavate the skull of the fossil elepahnt at Saruyama, Shimohusa-machi, Katori-gun, Chiba Prefecture. That skull was unearthed to be in the state of lacking the lower jaw bone and the most part of both tusks, but it could be identified that the material belonged to Elephas namadicus naumanni MAKIYAMA.The material was lain under overturned position in fine-gained sandstone which was assignable to the upper part of the Yabu formation of Upper Pleistocene. Immediately above the location of the fossil skull, about 20cm high, there was overlying fossil enclosure composed of abundant molluscan fossils which belong to the Lower part of the Narita formation of the younger. The details of the paleontological and the paleoecological studies are keeping up now.