TY - JOUR
T1 - Pleistocene environments, climate, and human activity in Britain during Marine Isotope Stage 7: insights from Oak Tree Fields, Cerney Wick, Gloucestershire
AU - Hogue, Joshua
AU - Wilkinson, Keith
AU - Allison, Enid
AU - Hill, Thomas
AU - Knul, Monika Vlasta
AU - Law, Matthew
AU - Perez-Fernandez, Marta
AU - Russ, Hannah
AU - Schreve, Danielle
AU - Sherriff, Jennifer
AU - Toms, Philip
AU - Young, Daniel
AU - Westcott-Wilkins, Lisa
AU - Wilkins, Brendon
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to Neville and Sally Hollingworth for their passion, enthusiasm and support throughout, and for allowing the study of collections they have amassed. We would also like to thank the Chief Executive of Hill Group Ltd, Michael Hill; Group Director, Peter Andrew, as well as Ollie Thompson and ‘Digger Driver’ Ben of Hill's Cerney Wick Quarry for providing access and logistical assistance for the investigation of the site. Phil Buckland kindly ran the Oak Tree Fields insect data on the BugsCEP program to provide the MCR data. Adrian Lister and Kate Scott offered advice on the vertebrate remains. Excavations were undertaken by DigVentures staff and students of the University of Winchester. This project has been supported by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to Neville and Sally Hollingworth for their passion, enthusiasm and support throughout, and for allowing the study of collections they have amassed. We would also like to thank the Chief Executive of Hill Group Ltd, Michael Hill; Group Director, Peter Andrew, as well as Ollie Thompson and ‘Digger Driver’ Ben of Hill's Cerney Wick Quarry for providing access and logistical assistance for the investigation of the site. Phil Buckland kindly ran the Oak Tree Fields insect data on the BugsCEP program to provide the MCR data. Adrian Lister and Kate Scott offered advice on the vertebrate remains. Excavations were undertaken by DigVentures staff and students of the University of Winchester. This project has been supported by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors Journal of Quaternary Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2023/3/7
Y1 - 2023/3/7
N2 - Investigations at Oak Tree Fields, Cerney Wick, Gloucestershire, in western England have revealed a sequence of fluvial deposits dating from Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 to 5. At the base of the sequence, a series of gravel and sand facies were deposited, initially as part of a meandering river. Reductions in flow energy of the latter and avulsion led to the development of short-lived channels and episodic backwater environments, the deposits of which are recorded as Facies Associations 1–3. Poorly sorted, probably colluvial deposits formed beyond the limit of the channel (Facies Association 4). Mollusca, Coleoptera, plant macrofossils, pollen and vertebrates recovered from the channel facies indicate broadly similar climatic conditions throughout accretion. Temperature ranges derived from mutual climatic range analysis of the Coleoptera almost completely overlap with those of Cerney Wick at the present day, albeit that winters may have been cooler when the channel was active. Further, the floral and faunal data suggest that the meandering river flowed through an open grassland environment, the latter heavily grazed by large vertebrates, most notably mammoth. Most of the botanical and faunal remains, together with four optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) age estimates ranging from 225 ± 23 to 187 ± 19 ka, suggest correlation of the channel deposits with MIS 7. The basal deposits (Facies Association 1) yielded the majority of vertebrate remains and all the lithic artefacts, most of which seem likely to have travelled only a short distance. Although only a few artefacts were recovered, they add to the relatively limited evidence of human activity from the upper Thames. The channel deposits are overlain by sheet gravels (Facies Association 5) which are attributed to the Northmoor Member of the Upper Thames Formation. These were likely to have been deposited as bedload in a braided stream environment, while two OSL age estimates of 129 ± 14 and 112 ± 11 ka suggest accumulation during MIS 5.
AB - Investigations at Oak Tree Fields, Cerney Wick, Gloucestershire, in western England have revealed a sequence of fluvial deposits dating from Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 to 5. At the base of the sequence, a series of gravel and sand facies were deposited, initially as part of a meandering river. Reductions in flow energy of the latter and avulsion led to the development of short-lived channels and episodic backwater environments, the deposits of which are recorded as Facies Associations 1–3. Poorly sorted, probably colluvial deposits formed beyond the limit of the channel (Facies Association 4). Mollusca, Coleoptera, plant macrofossils, pollen and vertebrates recovered from the channel facies indicate broadly similar climatic conditions throughout accretion. Temperature ranges derived from mutual climatic range analysis of the Coleoptera almost completely overlap with those of Cerney Wick at the present day, albeit that winters may have been cooler when the channel was active. Further, the floral and faunal data suggest that the meandering river flowed through an open grassland environment, the latter heavily grazed by large vertebrates, most notably mammoth. Most of the botanical and faunal remains, together with four optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) age estimates ranging from 225 ± 23 to 187 ± 19 ka, suggest correlation of the channel deposits with MIS 7. The basal deposits (Facies Association 1) yielded the majority of vertebrate remains and all the lithic artefacts, most of which seem likely to have travelled only a short distance. Although only a few artefacts were recovered, they add to the relatively limited evidence of human activity from the upper Thames. The channel deposits are overlain by sheet gravels (Facies Association 5) which are attributed to the Northmoor Member of the Upper Thames Formation. These were likely to have been deposited as bedload in a braided stream environment, while two OSL age estimates of 129 ± 14 and 112 ± 11 ka suggest accumulation during MIS 5.
KW - Early Middle Palaeolithic
KW - handaxe
KW - mammoth
KW - Middle Pleistocene
KW - River Thames
KW - Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
KW - Paleontology
KW - Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85150362269&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/4ca8ab40-7c47-3578-9212-b42bbab8a4a9/
U2 - 10.1002/jqs.3512
DO - 10.1002/jqs.3512
M3 - Article
VL - 38
SP - 840
EP - 865
JO - Journal of Quaternary Science
JF - Journal of Quaternary Science
SN - 0267-8179
IS - 6
ER -