Pleistocene Rhine-Thames landscapes - a geological background for hominin occupation patterns in the southern North Sea

Abstract

The relatively shallow southern North Sea is one of the most productive Pleistocene fossils bearing localities. Perhaps the most spectacular find thus far is a fragment of a Neanderthal skull. Unfortunately, it lacked a stratigraphical context and that applies to most of the finds retrieved. The North Sea Neanderthal project was therefore started with the aim to provide a better stratigraphical context for archaeological and palaeontological finds. Northwestern Europe was at the edge of the living range of hominins during major parts of the Pleistocene and establishing the pattern of hominin absence/presence is crucial to understand range shifts. We constructed a litho-morphogenetic framework explaining the stratigraphy and the spatial and temporal distribution of the Pleistocene deposits in the southern North Sea. This poster focuses on the largescale palaeogeographical changes in the drainage network that occurred during the Pleistocene. These changes result in a threefold division of the Pleistocene: 1.before the breaching of the Chalk bridge (pre-Anglian/Elsterian), the English Channel and the North Sea were separated; 2.After the Anglian/Elsterian and before MIS 6, the waters of the North Sea and English Channel were still separated, now by a smaller landbridge consisting of massive Paleogene clays, separating the Thames from the Rhine. It is hypothesised that breaching of the land bridge formed by the massive Paleogene clays occurred during MIS 6; 3.From MIS 5 to present, the final situation evolved with a highstand sea strait and a lowstand gorge in the Dover Strait. Besides directly impacting migration routes of animals and hominins, the changes also resulted in a larger availability of raw flint material (breach of Strait of Dover), but also in favourable conditions for extensive loess accumulation in northern France and Belgium which enabled preservation of Middle Palaeolithic sites, in contrast to Britain where thick loess blankets are rare.