A formal mammalian biostratigraphy for the Late Pleistocene of Britain

Abstract

A series of distinctive mammalian assemblages spanning much of the British Late Pleistocene is defined on the basis of type localities and a formal biozonation proposed. The Joint Mitnor Cave mammal assemblage-zone includes the famous ''Hippopotamus fauna'' of the early part of the Last Interglacial complex (Oxygen Isotope Substage 5e). This is succeeded by the Bacon Hole mammal assemblage-zone in which hippopotamus is no longer present and species like mammoth, roe deer and northern vole re-enter the British region. This assemblage-zone appears to represent the later substages of OIS 5. A faunal grouping dominated by bison and reindeer is named the Banwell Bone Cave mammal assemblage-zone and is believed to correlate closely with the Early Devensian (OIS 4). The Pin Hole mammal assemblage-zone includes the familiar mammoth-steppe faunas of the Middle Devensian (OIS 3) dominated by horse, woolly rhinoceros and mammoth. The Lateglacial Interstadial is characterized by the Gough's Cave mammal assemblage-zone in which horse, red deer and humans are well represented (part of OIS 2). No definitive evidence for human activity can be found for a period spanning the Last Interglacial complex (OIS 5) and the Early Devensian (OIS 4). Human populations return to Britain with the Pin Hole mammal assemblage-zone fauna during the Middle Devensian (OIS 3) and reappear after the Dimlington Stadial during the Late Devensian (OIS 2) but in a different faunal association. r

AMS radiocarbon dating of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic bone in the British Isles: improved reliability using ultrafiltration

“…On the south side of the entrance chamber it was possible to demonstrate that the cave-earth overlay water-laid sands and gravels with a mammal fauna whose composition is consistent with attribution to the Banwell Bone Cave MAZ (Currant and Jacobi, 2001). There was no evidence for a human presence (Jacobi and Hawkes, 1993;Currant and Jacobi, 2004).…”

“…Clearly, this will have introduced imprecision where the passage widened to form the inner and outer chambers. The material which defines the Pin Hole mammal assemblage-zone (MAZ: Currant and Jacobi, 2001) is the fauna from that part of the profile with only Middle Palaeolithic artefacts. This would appear to have been the lower cave-earth.…”

Patterns of diet and body mass of large ungulates from the Pleistocene of Western Europe, and their relation to vegetation

“…The particularly large mean body masses of C. elaphus in the last glacial populations at Villa Seckendorff (considered early Weichselian, possibly MIS 5d-a), Kent's Cavern (the cave earth fauna, considered MIS 3 in age) and Gough's Cave (Bølling interstadial) are significantly higher than those of the preceding (last interglacial) and succeeding (Holocene) populations, which are generally associated within more temperate, low NAP environments. The largest Adam (1954), Lister (1984), Ziegler (1996), Schreve (1997), van Kolfschoten (2000 and Currant and Jacobi (2001). mean size of this species occurs at Gough's Cave, which pertains to a warm interstadial but with open environment.…”

The taphonomy of a Middle Devensian (MIS 3) vertebrate assemblage from Lynford, Norfolk, UK, and its implications for Middle Palaeolithic subsistence strategies

“…These yielded age estimates of 53 700 AE 3100 BP (OxA-11571) and >49 700 BP (OxA-11572) (Schreve, in Boismier, in press), indicating an age for the site in excess of 50 000 yr. Two optically stimulated luminescence ages of 64 000 AE 5000 and 67 000 AE 5000 yr BP (Boismier, 2003) place the deposition of the channel sediments at the transition from Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 to 3. In terms of its species composition, the Lynford mammalian assemblage compares closely with the Pin Hole Mammal Assemblage-Zone of Currant and Jacobi (2001), correlated with MIS 3.…”