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The Vectis Formation was deposited in a restricted lagoonal environment that periodically dried up, as indicated by the presence of desiccation surfaces. The fauna indicates that salinities fluctuated significantly during deposition, from fresh to brackish-marine. Pre-burial berthierine-rich clay replaced faecal pellets in the sediment, infilling desiccation cracks, during re-flooding of the lagoon. Concretions formed by early pyrite and apatite cementation during initial burial in lake sediment, with organic debris of fish and wood, acting as nuclei and a trigger for cementation. With subsequent partial or complete exhumation oxidation of the pyrite occurred, prior to cementation by Mn siderite. All further concretion cementation occurred within the oxic to sub-oxic diagenetic zones. Textural relationships indicate that commonly occurring baryte formed after pyrite oxidation and represents the last diagenetic mineral phase. Geological background The Vectis Formation in the Isle of Wight comprises up to 65 m of dark silty clays and subordinate sandstones, and rests with a sharply defined surface upon the pedogenically modified, mottled, slits and clays of the underlying Wessex Formation (White, 1921; Daley and Stewart, 1979; Insole et al., 1998; Radley and Allen, 2012), (Figs. 2-4). Together, the Wessex and Vectis Formations make up the Wealden Group as exposed on the Isle of Wight. The formation is divided into three members; the lowest, the Cowleaze Chine Member (7-10 m), comprises dark silty clays containing bivalves (Filosina) in the lower part. The middle member, the Barnes High Member, is a sandstone (2-7m), which has been interpreted by Stewart (1981) as a delta built into the Vectis lagoon. The uppermost Shepherd's Chine Member (35m) is made up of clays containing thin shelly limestones (Stewart 1981; Radley et al. 1997). The Vectis Formation does not yield age-diagnostic fossils, but magnetostratigraphy (Kerth and Hailwood 1988) can be interpreted as recording the Barremian-Aptian (M0) boundary at the level of the Barnes High Member. The Cowleaze Chine Member is therefore of late Barremian age.

The island of Cyprus has a long history of human impacts, including the introduction of more than 250 plant species. One of these introduced species is Juglans regia (walnut), which is considered a naturalised non-native (introduced in last 500 years). Here we report the earliest occurrence of Juglans regia pollen grains from a sedimentary deposit on Cyprus. The pollen recovered from the Akrotiri Marsh provides an earliest introduction date of 3,100-3,000 cal yr bp. This Bronze Age occurrence of Juglans regia is sporadic. However, by 2,000 cal yr bp the pollen signal becomes more persistent and indicates that introduction or expansion of Juglans regia was highly likely in the Roman period. We integrate our new results with younger pollen occurrences of Juglans regia on Cyprus, the archaeobotanical record and documentary evidence to provide an overview of this archaeophyte. Our findings show that, following the conventions of the Flora of Cyprus, Juglans regia should be reclassified from naturalised non-native to indigenous.