mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== Cromerian Interglacial The arctic climate of the early Pleistocene gave way to milder conditions which favoured the growth of pine and birch then more temperate species such as oak, lime, elm and hazel forest. The fauna included two species of mole, Russian Desman, two species of beaver (/Trogontherium cuvieri/ and /Castor fibia/), Common Hamster, Hazel Dormouse, Spotted Hyaena, Ancestral Wolf (/Canis mosbachensis/), Archaic Cave Bear (/Ursus deningeri/), Macaque, European Jaguar (/Panthera gombaszoegensis/), European Hunting Dog (/Xenocyon lycanoides/), Mink, Badger, Lion and Red, Roe and Fallow deer, the extinct deer /Megaloceras verticornis/ & /Alces latifrons/, Wild Boar, Aurochs, an extinct Bison (/Bison schoetensacki/), Etruscan Rhinoceros (/Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis/) and a Horse. As the climate cooled at the end of the Cromerian two lemmings appeared. One particular site, Boxgrove, near Chichester, West Sussex, has yielded a large bone assemblage, including 45 species of mammal. There were 11 now extinct species and 12 species that are no longer extant in the UK. The species included 2 shrews (/Sorex runtonensis, S. savini/), Mountain Hare, 3 voles (/Pliomys episcopalis, Microtus gregalis/ and /Arvicola terrestris cantiana/), a mouse (/Apodemus maastrichteinsis/), Ancestral Wolf, 2 deer (/Megaloceras verticornis/ and /M. dawkinsi/), Etruscan Rhinoceros, horse and Archaic Cave Bear, Fish and amphibians, such as the Common Frog, Flounder and Salmon were present as were large birds, such as the Great Auk, goose and Tawny Owl, and smaller birds, like the Robin, Starling and Grey Partridge. In addition to the mammalian fauna evidence was found of human artifacts and butchery, and ?Boxgrove Man? (/Homo heidelbergensis/), the oldest human in UK. The fauna found at Boxgrove, at the level of the hominid finds, are consistent with a warm interglacial climate. Boxgrove Man lived at the end of the Cromerian, between 480,000 and 426,000 years ago (although recent evidence points to nearer 400,000 year ago i.e. at the end of the Hoxnian Interglacial). His remains consist of a leg bone, gnawed at both ends by a carnivore, and two teeth. They are evidence for an extraordinarily tall and robust adult male. Cut marks on associated horse, rhino and bear bones from Boxgrove were made by flint tools, and show that Boxgrove Man?s contemporaries were skinning, disarticulating and defleshing carcasses at the site, prior to the bones being smashed open to extract their marrow. Some of the bones and deer antler were subsequently modified and used as tools to work flint. Waverley Wood Farm quarry pit, near Bubbenhall in Warwickshire has produced handaxes and broadly contemporary with those from Boxgrove. Among the finds in the quarry were teeth and bones of straight-tusked Elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus). *Site Home Page* * E-mail *