Front Cover 1
The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain 4
Copyright Page 5
Contents 6
Contributors 8
Preface 10
Acknowledgements 12
Chapter 1: The Changing Landscapes of the Earliest Human Occupation of Britain and Europe 14
Acknowledgements 21
References 21
Chapter 2: Climates of the early Middle Pleistocene in Britain: Environments of the Earliest Humans in Northern Europe 24
2.1. Introduction 24
2.2. Climate Change During the early Middle Pleistocene 25
2.3. Reconstructing British Climates for the early Middle Pleistocene 26
2.4. Climates and Environments of the British early Middle Pleistocene 27
2.5. Climate Cyclicity During the early Middle Pleistocene 31
2.6. Significance of early Middle Pleistocene Climates to the Earliest Humans in Northern Europe and Britain 32
2.7. Summary 32
Acknowledgements 33
References 33
Chapter 3: Palaeoenvironments of Ancient Humans in Britain: The Application of Oxygenand Carbon Isotopes to the Reconstruction of Pleistocene Environments 36
3.1. Introduction 36
3.2. Oxygen and Carbon Stable Isotopes in Quaternary Studies 37
3.3. Modern Carbonates in Britain 40
3.4. The Oxygen and Carbon Isotopic Record of British Interglacials 42
3.5. Carbonates from the Cromerian Complex 43
3.6. Carbonates from the Hoxnian Interglacial 45
3.7. Summary and Conclusions 47
Acknowledgements 48
References 48
Chapter 4: Mapping the Human Record: Population Change in Britain During the Early Palaeolithic 52
4.1. Introduction 52
4.2. Previous Studies 53
4.3. The Solent River and its Tributaries 54
4.4. The Middle Thames Reconsidered 56
4.5. The early Middle Palaeolithic in Britain 56
4.6. The Palaeogeography of Britain 58
4.7. Conclusions 61
Acknowledgements 61
References 61
Chapter 5: The Emergence, Diversity and Significance of Mode 3 (Prepared Core) Technologies 66
5.1. Introduction 66
5.2. Diversity and Unity in Mode 3 Technologies 67
5.3. Mode 3 Technology in Time and Space 70
5.4. Roots and Developments 71
5.5. Conclusions 75
Acknowledgements 75
References 75
Chapter 6: Technology and Landscape Use in the Early Middle Palaeolithic of the Thames Valley 80
6.1. Introduction 80
6.2. The Upper Thames 81
6.3. The Middle Thames 82
6.4. The Lower Thames 86
6.5. Discussion 95
6.6. Conclusions 99
Acknowledgements 99
References 99
Chapter 7: The Early Middle Palaeolithic: The European Context 104
7.1. Introduction 104
7.2. The Environmental Structure of the Early Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 8-6) 105
7.3. Early Middle Palaeolithic of Northwest Europe 107
7.4. MIS 7 109
7.5. Discussion 113
7.6. Conclusion 121
Acknowledgements 121
References 122
Chapter 8: Continuities and Discontinuities in Neandertal Presence: A Closer Look at Northwestern Europe 126
8.1. Introduction 126
8.2. An Ecological Perspective: Definitions and Comparative Data 128
8.3. Neandertal Ecology 129
8.4. Three Data Sets: Archaeology, Genetics and Comparative Studies 131
8.5. Discussion 132
Acknowledgements 133
References 133
Chapter 9: Testing Human Presence During the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e): A Review of the British Evidence 138
9.1. Introduction 138
9.2. Stratigraphic Frameworks 139
9.3. Geochronology 142
9.4. Biostratigraphy 142
9.5. Testing Human Presence and Absence 145
9.6. Conclusion 149
Acknowledgements 169
References 169
Chapter 10: The Mammal Faunas of the British Late Pleistocene 178
10.1. Introduction 178
10.2. The Beginning of the Late Pleistocene Record 178
Acknowledgements 191
References 191
Chapter 11: The British Earlier Upper Palaeolithic: Settlement and Chronology 194
11.1. Introduction 194
11.2. The British Earlier Upper Palaeolithic: Limitation of the Database and Questions 194
11.3. Leaf-Point Industries 197
11.4. Human Maxilla from Kent's Cavern 202
11.5. Evolved Aurignacian Presence in England and Wales 207
11.6. Context of the Paviland Burin from Kent's Cavern 210
11.7. The 'Red Lady of Paviland' 217
11.8. The Early Gravettian 220
11.9. Bone Pin from Kent's Cavern 224
11.10. Later Gravettian Human Presence in the British Isles 225
11.11. Possible Long Hiatus in the British Sequence? 227
11.12. Conclusions 228
Acknowledgements 229
References 230
Chapter 12: The Later Upper Palaeolithic Recolonisation of Britain: New Results from AMS Radiocarbon Dating 236
12.1. Introduction 236
12.2. Technological Considerations 237
12.3. Localities with Chronological Information About Later Upper Palaeolithic Recolonisation of the British Isles 241
12.4. Concluding Observations 255
Acknowledgements 257
References 257
Chapter 13: New Results from the Examination of Cut-Marks Using Three-Dimensional Imaging 262
13.1. Introduction 262
13.2. Methods 263
13.3. Case Studies 264
13.4. Discussion and Conclusion 272
Acknowledgements 273
References 273
Chapter 14: Pleistocene Hyaena Coprolite Palynology in Britain: Implications for the Environments of Early Humans 276
14.1. Introduction 276
14.2. Hyaenas and Coprolites 277
14.3. Palynological Method 279
14.4. Case Studies 281
14.5. Discussion and Taphonomic Considerations 284
14.6. Conclusions 287
Appendix A. Calcium and Phosphorous Determinations and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) 288
Acknowledgements 289
References 289
Chapter 15: Mammal Associations in the Pleistocene of Britain: Implications ofEcological Niche Modelling and a Method for Reconstructing Palaeoclimate 292
15.1. Introduction 292
15.2. Materials and Methods 293
15.3. Results 296
15.4. Discussion 301
15.5. Conclusions 309
Appendix 311
Acknowledgements 314
References 314
Subject Index 318