Age of Middle Pleistocene fauna and Lower Palaeolithic industries from Kent's Cavern, Devon

Abstract

Kent's Cavern has long been known as potentially among the oldest Palaeolithic sites in the country, with the basal Breccia deposit containing a sparse Lower Palaeolithic industry. The sediment consists of a chaotic clayey conglomerate emplaced as a series of debris flows, which entered the cave via blocked entrances at its southwest end. The Breccia contains a fauna dominated by the bear Ursus deningeri, with lion Felis leo and the voles Arvicola cantiana and Microtus oeconomus, establishing a late Cromerian age for the deposit. The artefacts comprise an industry of crudely manufactured handaxes and flakes, and show damage suggesting that they were brought into the cave by the debris flows, and may thus predate the sediment and fauna. We demonstrate an age of >340 ka for the Breccia using two independant dating methods, consistent with existing models of the age of the British Middle Pleistocene sequence.