Palaeoloxodon Antiquus Research Articles

Origin and taxonomy of the fossil elephants of the island of Crete (Greece): problems and perspectives

Despite the fact that during the last century more than 30 studies have been published referring to the fossil elephants of the island of Crete (Greece), there are still many questions that remain unanswered. These questions concern their geographic and phylogenetic origin, how and when they reached the island, the number of valid species, how, when and why each species became extinct and, finally, the possible effect of the phenomenon of dwarfism on each species. (Dwarfism is characteristic of large mammals in insular faunas.) In addition to the available data, which we have reviewed, cross-checked and updated, we describe new fossil elephant material found in the interior of the island, at an altitude of 1000 m above sea level. Using this revised data set, we propose to (1) retain the separate taxonomic status of the dwarf elephant Mammuthus creticus; and (2) join all the described specimens of larger size under the new subspecies name Elephas antiquus creutzburgi. Moreover, in the light of the new approaches that have been attempted for the fossil elephants in other localities of the Mediterranean region, we try to solve and at least explore the mentioned problems and identify the remaining gaps in our knowledge which need to be filled in order to obtain a complete picture of the natural history of the elephants on Crete.

The mammalian faunas of Pakefield/Kessingland and Corton, Suffolk, UK: evidence for a new temperate episode in the British early Middle Pleistocene

It has been recognised for some time that early Middle Pleistocene mammal faunas in Britain can be divided into an earlier group with Mimomys savini (e.g. West Runton Freshwater Bed—WRFB), and a later group with Arvicola terrestris cantiana (Boxgrove, Westbury, Ostend), representing two or more temperate/interglacial stages. On the basis of the available early Middle Pleistocene non-marine molluscan faunas, Meijer and Preece (in: C. Turner (Ed.), The Early Middle Pleistocene in Europe, Balkema: Rotterdam, 1996, pp. 53–82.) and Preece (Quaternary Science Reviews 20 (2001)) recognised three biostratigraphic groups, representing at least three temperate stages. These are largely compatible with the vertebrate faunas, but new evidence presented here strongly indicates that Pakefield/Kessingland represents an additional, hitherto unrecognised temperate stage with Mimomys savini, younger than the WRFB but older than Little Oakley, Boxgrove and Westbury.New exposures and finds from the Cromer Forest-bed Formation at Pakefield, Suffolk have prompted a fresh look at the palaeontology of Pakefield/Kessingland and also Corton, which has a similar lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic sequence. The large-mammal fauna (at least in part pollen substage II) includes Hippopotamus sp., Palaeoloxodon antiquus, and Megaloceros dawkinsi—none of which has so far been found in the WRFB—strongly suggesting that the Suffolk sites represent a distinct stage. Further, no records of ‘southern’ European plant, invertebrate or vertebrate taxa have been found in the WRFB, whereas the plants Trapa natans and Salvinia natans—indicating summers warmer than now—are known from Pakefield/Kessingland and Corton, providing corroborative evidence for a stage distinct from the Cromerian s. s.

The Mikulino (= Eemian) mammal faunas of the Russian Plain and Crimea

Abstract During the last decades a considerable amount of data on mammals from Mikulino (=Eemian) deposits of the central and southern parts of the Russian Plain has been produced. Mammuthus primigenius (the early type), Palaeoloxodon antiquus (the advanced form), Arvicola ex gr. terrestris, Eolagurus cf. luteus and Lagurus cf. lagurus characterize this period. The so-called ‘Shkurlatian mammal assemblage’ was distinguished on the basis of a number of Eemian faunas. The age of the mammal localities was established by using various geological and palaeontological evidence, together with the results of palaeomagnetic studies and absolute dating. The evolutionary level of the diagnostic species allows correlations between localities from different parts of the Russian Plain that have varying taphonomical conditions. The mammal- and malacofauna of the Mikulino Interglacial can also be used as a basis for correlations between the Karangat marine strata of the Black Sea and the continental deposits (alluvial sediments of the second terrace of the Sudost’ River and the Salyn phase of the Mezin fossil pedocomplex (see Dodonov et al., this volume). Forest, forest-steppe and steppe zone landscapes have been reconstructed for the central and southern parts of the Russian Plain on the basis of the Eemian faunas.

On a pelvis of the straight-tusked elephantElephas antiquus (Proboscidea, Mammalia) from Binsfeld near Speyer (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)

This paper documents the discovery and study of an almost complete elephantid pelvis, found in Late Pleistocene deposits in the Upper Rhine valley in the administrative district ‚Im Binsfeld‘ north of Speyer. The paper contains an osteological description and metrical comparison with numerous specimens of the Pleistocene speciesElephas antiquus (Falconer &Cautley),Mammuthus meridionalis (Nesti),M. trogontherii (Pohlig) andM. primigenius (Blumenbach). The systematic discussion, taking account of sex, age and bio- and lithostratigraphy, shows that the specimen probably belongs toElephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus (Falconer &Cautley). It is concluded that the pelvis belonged to an adult female of huge size. In spite of an unimportant injury, it is one of the most complete and best preserved pelves of the straight-tusked elephant.

Geological and pedological aspects of an Early-Paleolithic site: Revadim, Central Coastal Plain, Israel

An Early Paleolithic site was recently discovered within a sequence of paleosols in the Revadim Quarry, central coastal plain of Israel. The section is composed of three superimposed soils in a continuous sequence, but separated by two unconformity surfaces. The uppermost paleosol is a modern Dark Brown Grumusol (Vertisol), the middle is a Quartzic Gray Brown Soil (Haploxeralf), and the lower is a Red Hamra (Rhodoxeralf). Normal magnetic polarity was detected in the two lower soils, indicating that they are younger than the Brunhes–Matuyama boundary (<780 ka). A human occupation bed, enriched in secondary carbonate nodules, forms the lower part of the Quartzic Gray Brown Soil and overlies the Red Hamra. The living floor is located on top of the unconformity surface, separating the Red Hamra from the overlying Quartzic Gray Brown Soil. Middle to Late Acheulian handaxes, choppers, cores, and flake tools, including tools made by the Levallois technique, and man-laid flint pebbles were excavated in the human occupation bed. In addition, two elephant tusks, an elephant pelvis, an elephant tooth (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), tusk splinters, and bones of equid, suid, cervid, bovid, felid, and rodents were also collected. Based on well-documented nearby boreholes and on regional correlation, it appears that the underlying dune sands, the parent materials from which the Red Hamra developed, were deposited probably during a phase of high-stand sea level of Isotope Stage 9. The Red Hamra developed simultaneously with the human occupation of the site, probably during a phase of low-stand sea-level of Isotope Stage 8, before some 300–245 ka. The overlying dune sands, the parent materials from which the Quartzic Gray Brown Soil developed, were deposited probably during a phase of high-stand sea level of Isotope Stage 7. The climate prevailing in the area during Stage 8, as well as during the human habitation, was moist, with a dense vegetation cover of grassland and probably scattered trees. A small lake of trapped fresh water at a junction of two small tributaries of the Soreq River drainage system near the area occupied was available to hominids and animals. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

El elefante fósil de Buelna (Asturias). Nota preliminar

An elephant fossil was found in a cave close to Buelna (Asturias, Spain). It was iden­ tified as Elephas antiquus (Falconer & Cautley). This initial study is based on the morphological and metrical characteristics of a femur and an hemipelvis. These fossil remains belong to a grown-up quite complete animal which is still waiting for its extrac­ tion. According to chronology, we allocate this finding to the last interglacial periodo

L'éléphant antique de Soulac (Gironde, France) [Biometrical and morphological analysis of the Palaeoloxodon antiquus from Soulac (Gironde, France)

The discovery, in april 1994, of skeletal remains of a fossil proboscidian in the Le Gurp pleistocene clays introduces new elements in the understanding of the local stratigraphy. The biometric study of collected elements, fragments of face and post-cranial skeleton, some in a well- preserved state (atlas, triquetrum, tibia and fibula) allows the attribution of these bones to a young Palaeoloxodon antiquus Falconer et Cautley, 1847, even in the absence of dental remains. This determination confirms the review by Prat and Aguirre (oral communication, 1971) in Dubreuilh et al. (1971) of the first remains found a century ago which were attributed to an older species, Mammuthus mendwnalis Nesti (Gassies, 1875).

Über die komplexe Genese mittelpleistozäner archäologischer Fundstellen am Beispiel des Platzes Kärlich-Seeufer (Mittelrhein)

Abstract. The Middle Pleistocene site Kärlich-Seeufer is the youngest archaeological site in the Kärlich clay pit which, since the beginning of this century, has been the most important exposure for Quaternary stratigraphy in the Central Rhineland. The site was discovered in 1980 and excavated during the following years. Together with an Acheulean lithic assemblage and faunal remains, numerous macroscopic plant remains were recovered in an outstanding state of preservation. Wood of Abies and Quercus dominates the botanical assemblage in the form of trunks and branches. The faunal assemblage comprises: Panthera leo ssp., Elephas antiquus, Equus sp., Sus scrofa, Cervus elaphus, Rangifer sp. as well as Bos vel Bison. Elephas antiquus dominates the faunal assemblage and the molars of this species show a certain robustness in comparison to teeth of other Middle- and Upper Pleistocene Elephas antiquus populations. The results of the palynological analysis show that the sediments containing the archaeological assemblage were deposited during the second half of an interglacial phase, the Kärlich Interglacial. Moreover, these results allow detailed reconstruction of palaeoecological conditions during the Middle Pleistocene. Analysis of site formation processes, taking into account the sedimentology of the archaeological layers, the lithic and faunal assemblages and the numerous macroscopic palaeobotanical remains, shows that the Seeufer site functioned as a sediment trap in which evidence for hominid activity has been re-bedded together with wood and faunal remains. At Kärlich-Seeufer, as at other European Lower Palaeolithic sites, claims for hominid activity are very difficult to assess and can only be demonstrated for the lithic assemblage. The contribution of hominids to the presence of other categories of finds remains obscure.

Les grands Mammifèresdu Pléistocène supérieur du Portugal. Essai de synthèse

This study presents a review of the large-sized mammals from the Upper Pleistocene of Portugal, excluding Mustelids. Following the study of the materials kept in the Serviços Geológicos de Portugal and from other Institutions, as well as from sites presently under exploration, we studied materials collected by ourselves, namely at one of the most important sites known, the Figueira Brava cave, at the Arrabida coast. The studied sites presented unequal interest. As for as the older excavations, no elements concerning stratigraphy are known, except for the Furninha and Casa da Moura caves, explored by J.F. Nery Delgado in the second half of the XIX century. In the chapter concerning Paleontology, 26 taxa are described. 10 of these taxa are referred for the first time in Portugal, one of them — Equus caballus antunesi — described in 1989. Finally, the paleontological information, together with the faunistic associations allow us to made an essay of paleoclimatic evolution during the Upper Pleistocene. Until the Late Würmthe climate was essentially humid and temperate to warm; some taxa, as Canis lupus lunellensis, Hyaena hyaena prisca and Elephas antiquus survived here until the last glaciation, the latter even during the Late Würmlater than is known elsewhere in Europe. Climate amenity extended out to Late Würmwas interrupted by short periods of moderate but humid cold, that justify the occurrence of species like Capra pyrenaica and Rupicapra rupicapra and, probably, Mammuthus primigenius..

&lt;i&gt;Elephas antiquus&lt;/i&gt; (Proboscidea, Mammalia) en el Pleistoceno medio de Ciempozuelos (Madrid)

Se identifica como Elephas antiquus una mandibula juvenil de elefante encontrada en Ciempozuelos (Madrid). Las correlaciones con otros yacimientos de la cuenca de Madrid que han proporcionado el mismo taxon permiten precisar que la nueva localidad pertenece al Pleistoceno medio final (Riss-Wurm)

Mammoth Extinction: Two Continents and Wrangel Island

A harvest of 300 radiocarbon dates on extinct elephants (Proboscidea) from the northern parts of the New and Old Worlds has revealed a striking difference. While catastrophic in North America, elephant extinction was gradual in Eurasia (Stuart 1991), where straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) vanished 50 millennia or more before woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius). The range of the woolly mammoths started shrinking before 20 ka ago (Vartanyan et al. 1995). By 12 ka bp, the beasts were very scarce or absent in western Europe. Until the dating of Wrangel Island tusks and teeth (Vartanyan, Garrutt and Sher 1993), mammoths appeared to make their last stand on the Arctic coast of Siberia ca. 10 ka bp. The Wrangel Island find of dwarf mammoths by Sergy Vartanyan, V. E. Garrut and Andrei Sher (1993) stretched the extinction chronology of mammoths another 6 ka, into the time of the pharaohs.

Insularity of the British Isles 250 000–30 000 years ago: the mammalian, including human, evidence

Abstract During the Middle-Late Quaternary the British Isles have alternately been part of the Continent of Europe and separated from it by the sea. Comparison of mammalian faunas from sites on both sides of the present English Channel can contribute to the reconstruction of Britain’s island history. The most suitable chronological framework for this study is discussed. Attention is drawn to problems of applying the 1973 scheme of the Geological Society of London, which is used here only in conjunction with the more straightforward chronology of the deep-sea oxygen isotope record. Special attention is directed to events during the period of time c. 250 000 to 30 000 years bp . The chalk land-bridge that had previously joined the British Isles to the Continent of Europe had by this time been breached, and any further changes in the land connection are likely to have been the result of eustatic changes of sea-level, associated with glacial-interglacial fluctuations of climate. Whether the British Isles became isolated from the Continent during the high sea-level phase that occurred during isotope stage 7 is uncertain from the mammalian evidence. The occurrence of human artefacts and remains of pond tortoise Emys orbicularis , which is unlikely to have tolerated salt-water, in deposits representing the earliest part of this stage, suggests a land connection then or not very long previously. Human presence continues into isotope stage 6, characterized also by the arrival of steppe rodents from eastern Europe; evidence of a further episode of low sea-level. During the Last Interglacial, oxygen isotope stage 5e, sea-level rose once more, isolating the British Isles from the Continent. Remarkably, humans, horses and the mollusc Corbicula fluminalis , so common previously, fail to reappear, a consequence, perhaps, of being cut off by rapidly rising sea-level at the end of stage 6. A very characteristic fauna, including hippopotamus, straight-tusked elephant, narrow-nosed rhinoceros, fallow deer and abundant carnivores, did nevertheless manage to become established throughout England and Wales at this time, some as far north as Durham. Falling sea-level associated with the Devensian (isotope stages 5d-2) re-established the land connection. Hippopotamus had by this time disappeared and been replaced with a fauna including woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros and reindeer. Humans and horses returned once more. It was not until sea-level rose again during the Holocene that the British Isles became finally isolated from the Continent, as they are today.

On the Pleistocene occurrence of Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus in the Tuscan Archipelago, northern Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy)

Riassunto Sul ritrovamento pleistocenico di Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus nell'Arcipelago Toscano, Mar Tirreno settentrionale (Italia) - I1 recente ritrovamento sull'isola del Giglio (Arcipelago Toscano) di un frammento di molare riferito ad elefante delle foreste pone alcuni interrogativi sulla presenza nell'isola del Proboscidato e sulla via percorsa per raggiungere l'ambiente insulare.

Elephant and molluscan remains from the basal levels of the Baginton-Lillington Gravels at Snitterfield, Warwickshire

Quarrying for aggregate at Snitterfield, Warwickshire during 1987 revealed numerous sections in the Baginton-Lillington Gravels. At the base of one of these sections an unusually complete skull of Palaeoloxodon antiquus was discovered, together with associated molluscan remains. The molluscan fauna is the first to be described from the Baginton-Lillington Gravels, and the straight-tusked elephant skull provides important corroboration for the occurrence of this species in the deposit. Analysis of the fossil assemblage provides evidence on the environment of deposition of the Baginton-Lillington Gravels, and allows comparison with tentatively correlated fossiliferous sites in the area.

APhA Update

The stylohyoideum is part of the hyoid apparatus, which is situated deep in the throat of extant and extinct proboscideans, and has been regarded as a key structure in their evolution. This delicate bone has rarely been found or collected, and the stylohyoidea of the European straight-tusked elephants are little known and have been reported from very few sites. Recent findings of a quite rich sample of stylohyoidea in the Pleistocene (MIS 7 or MIS 5e) deposits of Neumark-Nord 1 (northern margin of Geiseltal, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany) provide outstanding information on the morphology and variability of this bone. The comparison with the stylohyoideum from the late Middle Pleistocene (MIS 9) site of La Polledrara di Cecanibbio (Rome, central Italy) highlights the morphological variability of this bone in straight-tusked elephants. The shape of superior ramus ranges from very short and stout, to moderately elongated and slender. The inferior ramus, albeit generally slender, gently curved backwards, is differently angled with respect to both the superior and posterior ramus. The posterior ramus, although shorter than the inferior, is proportionally longer in the Neumark-Nord 1 specimens than in the stylohyoideum from La Polledrara. Conversely to the Japanese palaeoloxodonts, stylohyoidea of European straight-tusked elephants, including dwarf species, lack the depression on the superior-posterior rami, which appears to be exclusive to Palaeoloxodon naumanni. Despite some intra-population variability, the styloihyoidea from Neumark-Nord 1 show advanced features not only with respect to the La Polledrara specimen, but also in comparison with extant elephants and Mammuthus representatives. The variability observed in stylohyoidea of Palaeoloxodon and Mammuthus, suggests that, although the stylohyoid bone can be regarded as a key structure in the evolution of proboscideans, its taxonomical value within the Elephantini tribe needs to be more deeply scrutinized.

Fontana Ranuccio: Italy's Earliest Middle Pleistocene Hominid Site

by ALDO SEGRE and ANTONIO ASCENZI Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana, Piazza Mincio 2, I-00198 RomelDepartment of Biopathology, "La Sapienza" University of Rome, Policlinico Umberto I, Viale Regina Elena 324, I-00161 Rome, Italy. 9 x 83 After preliminary surveys, investigations have been carried out along the whole of the Sacco-Liri Valley in southern Latium (fig. 1) by the Italian Institute of Human Palaeontology (Biddittu and Cassoli 1968; Biddittu 1972, 1974a, b; Biddittu and Segre 1978). One form this work has taken is that of studying the material made available by the excavation of quarries for the extraction of pozzolana. Such excavation has resulted in a cross-sectioning of the Pleistocene deposits at a higher level. Whole hills have been removed in this way, and field research has had to be adapted to this situation. The supervision and monitoring of excavation has been particularly thorough in the district of Anagni, in the province of Frosinone, where a succession of new cross-sections at close intervals has made possible a three-dimensional stratigraphic reconstruction. In Frosinone, the valley of the Sacco and Liri Rivers displays a succession of buried palaeomorphological basins of pre-Villafranchian eotectonic origin caused and further depressed by transversal fault systems. This graben valley is delimited by Mesozoic to Helvetian limestone horsts 1,500-2,000 m high; by pressing inward against the graben valley, the horsts have produced longitudinal folds which have made the depressed basins more complicated. Seven fluvial or lake basins situated between Anagni and Cassino (Segre, Piperno, and Biddittu 1980)-some of them connected and some isolated-are now filled by Middle Pleistocene sedimentation (Settepassi and Verdel 1965, Segre and Biddittu 1981). Intercalated with these deposits, but only in the Anagni Basin, are peripheric pyroclastic products of the Latian volcano, transported up to 28 km from their source. Especially in the other basins, lying farther southeast, the pyroclastic products of the little fissure volcanoes called the Ernici that lie along the faults in the longitudinal system of the valley are locally incorp'orated into these deposits. The Fontana Ranuccio deposit-the subject of this reportis the upper part of the series of Pleistocene basins farthest northwest of Anagni (Biddittu et al. 1979, Segre 1982a). It is divided by the conjunction of two valleys and is surrounded by hills made up of Helvetian-Tortonian sandstones (fig. 2). The base of the Pleistocene deposit consists of freshwater clays containing Pisidium and Middle Villafranchian yellow sands (v) with a rich variety of fauna, including Anancus arvernensis, Archidiskodon meridionalis, Equus stenonis, Dicerorhinus etruscus, Leptobos sp., Croyzetoceros ramosus, Eucladoceros sp., Cervus philisi, Gazella borbonica, Gazella torticornis, Hyaena sp., Canis etruscus, Canis cf. alopecoides, Macairodontidae sp., and Testudo sp. (Cassoli and Segre Naldini 1982).Above this layer there is a series (m) containing calcareous clay and travertine (below) and limnotufites (above); the latter are the result of the earliest volcanic activity and are associated with silicified conifer remains. Archaic stone pebble artefacts are found in a prevolcanic lime-clay layer (Biddittu and Segre 1980a, Biddittu 1982). In the depressed valleys left by an erosional cycle which cut into formation m, pozzolana (an incandescent pyroclastic flow of nonwelded small scoria and lava fragments) from the Latian volcano (p), was deposited to a depth of about 20 m, levelling much of the previous morphology. The earliest and latest K-Ar datings for the pozzolana (Layers 12 and 13), giving a range of 528,000-487,000 years b.p., were carried out on minute leucites in the form of intercalated thin lenses deposited by direct eruption fall-a characteristic which virtually guarantees the contemporaneity of the leucites with the layer containing them (table 1). The Fontana Ranuccio series (r) was laid down in the shallow basins in which the pozzolana was modelled, and its composition is as follows: 11, palaeosol; 10, tufitic urrent bedded sands; 9, iron duricrusts; 8, clayey limnosol; 7, tephra, a volcanic cinder dust layer from the Ernici volcanoes, with Buxus and Zelkova flora and Cyclostoma elegans; 6, palaeosol archaeological ayer, with a K-Ar dating of 458,000 years b.p.; 5, solifluction and cryoturbated horizon; 4, lapillitephra with a K-Ar dating of 366,000 years b.p.; 3, tufo litoide, a kind of welded ash-flow tuff acies; 2, pedogenized layer; 1, terra rossa palaeosol mostly due to oxidation of pyroclastic piroxenes. The fossil faunal remains, which are very fragmentary (Cassoli and Segre Naldini 1982), lie scattered within Layer 6. The species discovered so far are Macaca florentinus, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, Rhinoceros sp., Hippopotamus cf. anfibius, Sus scrofaferus, Bos primigenius, Bison sp., Equus cf. mosbachensis, Cervidae of Verticornis group, Cervus elaphus, Dama clactoniana, Ursus deningeri, Cuon cf. alpinus, Castorfiber,

A NEW REVISION OF THE PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIAN FAUNA OF KIRKDALE CAVE, YORKSHIRE

SUMMARY Kirkdale Cave, discovered in 1821, has a special place in British palaeontology, as William Buckland’s first, and classic, fossil hyaena den. Since Buckland’s time there has been no comprehensive re-examination of all the surviving mammalian fossils from this important site. Hitherto the Kirkdale species list has apparently shown puzzling anomalies, including a mixture of cold (glacial) and warm (interglacial) species within a single thin cave-earth. All of the surviving Kirkdale Cave material that could be traced has now been re-examined, and a revised faunal list is given. Eighteen species are identified, four more species are doubtfully recorded, and twenty-seven rejected as erroneous or synonyms. The latter include Homo sapiens, Ursus spelaeus, Mammuthus primigenius, Rangifer tarandus and Coelodonta antiquitatis, The material is indicative of a single, homogenous faunal assemblage, which includes Vulpes vulpes, ‘Panthera’ cf. leo, Crocuta crocuta spelea, Elephas antiquus, Hippopotamus amphibius, Bison cf.priscus and the interglacial rhinoceros, Dicerorhinus hemitoechus. The assemblage is attributed to the climatic optimum (Zone II) of the Ipswichian interglacial.

The history of the mammal fauna during the Ipswichian/last interglacial in England

Changes in the mammal fauna, in relation to climatic and vegetational changes, during the Ipswichian interglacial in England have been followed by using fossil material which has been related to the pollen stratigraphy. The stratigraphy at each site and the climatic, vegetational and archaeological histories of the interglacial are summarized. The faunal records are tabulated. In response to climatic amelioration the tundra-like flora and fauna (e.g. lemmings, mammoth, horse, woolly rhinoceros, reindeer) of the Wolstonian glacial stage gave way to regional mixed oak forest and a temperate fauna (e.g. wood mouse, straight-tusked elephant, hippotamus, fallow deer) by zone Ip II b. Locally deforested areas in river valleys, indicated by high herb pollen levels at several sites, in zone Ip II b probably supported such animals as the rhinoceros Dicerorhinus hemitoechus and giant deer. These areas of herb-dominated vegetation may have resulted largely from the activities of herbivorous mammals. The apparent regional thinning of the forest in zone Ip III was accompanied by the reappearance of mammoth and horse. The occurrence of typically cold stage mammals (e.g. lemmings, woolly rhinoceros, musk ox) in company with temperate forms in the Crayford deposits, which are thought to date from the end of the Ipswichian, appears to be related to generally open vegetational conditions and perhaps a more continental climate. In the succeeding Devensian glacial stage the fauna was similar to that of the Wolstonian. Artefacts, sometimes associated with large mammal remains, are recorded at several sites but the possible influence of man on the faunal history is difficult to assess. The taxonomy of Crocidura , voles, rhinoceroses and elephants is discussed.

THE PLEISTOCENE CONTEXT OF FAUNAL REMAINS AND ARTEFACTS DISCOVERED AT WELTON-LE-WOLD, LINCOLNSHIRE

SUMMARY Quarry sections at Welton-le-Wold, Lincolnshire, reveal up to 13 m of glacial tills overlying some 8 m of silts, sands and flint gravels. The gravels are the source of a sparse fauna of straight-tusked elephant, deer and horse, and of four Acheulean handaxes. The sub-till deposits, here designated the Welton Gravels, display two divisions. The upper was deposited by periglacial aeolian and niveo-fluvial processes, whilst the lower contains more water-bedded sands. Derived Lower Cretaceous materials are common. The youngest of the overlying tills is of Devensian age, while the Galcethorpe Till and the Welton Till (newly designated) are probably Wolstonian and form part of the Older Drift of the Lincolnshire Wolds. The faunal and artefact assemblages of the Welton Gravels have a Hoxnian affinity, and therefore the gravels were emplaced as valley-floor sediments during early Wolstonian or late Hoxnian times. They confirm the pre-Wolstonian existence of a valley draining eastwards through the Welton-le-Wold area from a head located in the eastern Wolds and possibly on Lower Cretaceous rocks.

A mammalian fauna from the Stretton Sand at Stretton-on-Fosse, South Warwickshire

SummaryA small fauna of mammals, which includes Elephas antiquus, has been obtained from the Stretton Sand. This, the oldest member of the Pleistocene succession north of Moreton-in-Marsh, has previously been interpreted as glacial outwash from a Severn Valley source and usually ascribed to an early phase of the Wolstonian Glaciation. It is now ascribed to the Hoxnian interglacial, with its rare erratics of presumed Welsh provenance derived from erosion of an earlier Anglian glaciation.