mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== The Holocene (Post-glacial) Changing Habitats in the Holocene In mainland Britain the Younger Dryas gave way to the Holocene around 10,500-9,900BP. Pre-Boreal Juniper, willow and birch vegetation dominated at the start of the Holocene when Britain was still connected to Europe, and Ireland to mainland Britain. At the end of the Younger Dryas the climate warmed rapidly and all the environmental evidence suggest that by 9,500BP a climate comparable with today?s was reached. The scene was thus set for the recolonisation of Britain by the temperate flora that had survived in southern Europe and in sheltered areas on the Atlantic coastline. The most conspicuous, and potentially dominant, components of this vegetation were the forest trees ? Scots Pine and Silver and Downy Birch at first, and then Sessile and English Oak, Wych Elm, Small-leaved Lime, Alder and other broad-leaved trees. In previous interglacials these forest trees had probably been prevented from forming closed forest by the grazing and browsing pressure of a rich fauna of large herbivores, ranging from elephants and rhinoceros to Aurochs and Horses. Grazing pressure from these and many smaller herbivores is thought to have maintained tracts of open grassland, and open forest with wide grassy clearings, naturally, as a similar (but subtropical) megafauna does today in East Africa. This changed after the Devensian glaciation. In the second half of this glacial period human cultures had developed increasingly sophisticated hunting techniques, now thought to have been responsible for the late Old Stone Age extinctions of most of the temperate and Arctic megafauna, from about 25,000 to 8000 years ago. During the glacial periods in Europe the larger animals could have survived, if at all, only in precarious and fragmented southern refuges, in small numbers, so they were particularly easy to exterminate. As they became rarer, hunting pressure may have increased still further because they became prized as trophy species. The Early Holocene The early Holocene extends from around 10,500BP up to 5,000BP, and was a period in which the climate became warmer and wetter. Sea level started to rise at around 20,000BP as glaciers began to melt. The rise was rapid, at up to 30 mm per year at some sites. Present sea level was typically reached at around 6,000 BP, although wide regional variations in this date exist. During the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) period, about 8500 to 5500 years ago, dense forests probably covered Worcestershire, with open land only on the higher hills. The Mesolithic hunters may have maintained clear areas around their habitation sites (regular camps or even permanent settlements), especially along rivers such as the Severn, but dense, largely continuous mixed forests with oak, elm, lime and Alder and a Hazel understorey would have covered most of the landscape. The Later Holocene Following the thermal optimum at around 9,000 ? 5,500BP and up to around 500BP, there has been progressive deterioration in the climate. This has been marked by cooling in temperate latitudes and drying in the sub-tropics between 6,500BP and 4,500BP, leading to the development and expansion of the Saharan and other deserts. The post-glacial rise in sea level more-or-less reached its maximum around Britain during the Atlantic period (5,500 ? 3,200BC) and was responsible for extensive water-logging of the floodplains along the lower reaches of many rivers near the coast. The climate is also thought to have been more oceanic than in the preceding (Boreal) period, and it is widely believed that this led to the initiation of blanket bog in some upland locations. The Atlantic period is considered to represent the post-glacial thermal maximum. Around 4500BC, Neolithic (New Stone Age) farmers began to clear the forests for crops and pasture, creating landscapes similar to the eastern Steppes, where agriculture was born. The archaeological record of increasing arable weeds and decreasing elm pollen indicates not only a clearance of woodland for field crops but also the introduction of (Dutch) Elm Disease. The world's oldest known managed woodland is attested by the use of coppiced rods and poles used in the Neolithic tracks across southern English bogs, which required many acres of coppice to provide rods of equal thickness and length, grown from the stumps of felled trees. During the Bronze Age (c. 2400-750 BCE), the wildwood began to be cleared from the hills, valleys and heavier topsoils, so that by the early Iron Age, half of England - some estimate up to two-thirds - had ceased to be forested. When the Romans arrived, Britain was not much more wooded than today, but was a familiar landscape of woods and hedged fields dotted with single trees and scattered farmsteads. Within this increasingly controlled cultural landscape, the Celts deemed the wild places of bogs, woods, springs, trees and rivers sacred. The deposition of sacrifices and artifacts in the watery places of Northwest Europe reflect their ritual concerns with fertility and regeneration, often artistically symbolised by wild bulls, stags and boars and by recurrent tree imagery, while wood and stone pillars became the focal centres of tribal ritual enclosures. Notable Holocene Faunal Changes Britain?s present fauna is comparatively impoverished when compared with what it could or perhaps should, be. There are two principle reasons for this: · The formation of the English Channel. · The influence of man. The Formation of the English Channel The Straits of Dover are a relatively young feature when compared with the Western Channel and the North Sea. The English Channel was an arm of the Atlantic Ocean throughout most of the Ice-age periods; however, there were times when sea level was considerably lower than it is today. During the Devensian, the sea almost certainly abandoned the whole of the English Channel corresponding to a fall in sea level of least 100m. As a result the shoreline retreated to a position between Cornwall and Brittany, with the temporarily emergent Channel floor being drained to the West by a massive Seine-Solent river system. At times the discharge of this system was probably very great because of periodic inputs of large volumes of water that escaped southwards along the line of the Straits of Dover from extensive pro-glacial lakes dammed up in the southern North Sea Basin in front of the Scandinavian ice sheet. The extremely high discharges achieved by the English Channel drainage system during the Wolstonian and Devensian caused a marked incision. This is reflected in a well-defined palaeo-valley system running down the floor of the Channel with a number of deep enclosed basins. The retreat of the Devensian ice sheets resulted in a marine transgression with the sea level rising by over 100m in the last 14,000 years. The major rise in sea level over this period is generally known as the Flandrian or postglacial transgression. During the early part of the Flandrian transgression sea level change is considered to have been extremely rapid, rising from below ?100m at a 14,000BP to reach about ?20m by 8000BP. As a consequence, the sea advanced quickly up the Channel and through the Straits of Dover by 9600BP achieving the final separation from the Continent in about 8600BP. The Influence of Man Starr Carr in Yorkshire was a typical Mesolithic site in England. Around 9,500BP about 20 hunter-gatherers inhabited the site. They used stone axes and adzes to fell trees, and made a variety of barbed bone and antler spear points. Many other useful tools were made of antler. Hunting was the main activity, with Red Deer, Moose, Aurochs, and Roe Deer being the main prey. Hunters used long wooden arrows tipped with small flint blades that were set in the shaft with tree resin. Dogs assisted in hunting. Hazelnuts were collected in the autumn and perhaps stored. Charred Hazel nuts and sloes from this same period have been recovered from a rock shelter at Symonds Yat, Herefordshire. The Holocene Extinctions A few noteable species that arrived in Britain before it was cut off from Continental Europe subsequently died out during the Holocene. They were lost due to natural habitat changes as the Ice Age gave way to our present milder climate or were exterminate by man?s actions, either through direct persecution or habitat changes. Among the mammals, six large herbivores have been lost since about 10,500BP; the Horse, Wild Boar, Aurochs, Reindeer, Moose and Irish Elk, and three carnivores; the Wolf, Brown Bear and Lynx. The Beaver has also been lost and the distribution of the Wild Cat, Polecat and Pine Marten greatly reduced. Mammals *Irish Elk (/Megaloceros giganteus/)* The Irish Elk is misnamed, for it was neither exclusively Irish nor was it an Elk (or Moose). It was about the size of the modern Elk, weighing over 800kg with a height of around 2.1m at the shoulder, but the males grew the largest antlers of any extinct or extant deer known, in some specimens 3.65m across. The antlers differed from those of the modern Elk, in that the main part was a massive single sheet from which arose a series of pointed projections, or tines. The immense size of its antlers must have prevented it from inhabiting the dense forest. Instead it must have dwelt on heath-clad hills, there, armed with the most powerful weapons of self-defence, against the assaults of any single aggressor. Despite its common name the Irish Elk most likely originated in Siberia and moved west to northwestern Europe. It eventually ranged throughout Europe, northern Asia and northern Africa, and a related form is known from China. The name "Irish" has stuck because excellent, well-preserved fossils of the giant deer are especially common in lake sediments and peat bogs in Ireland. Several earlier species of Megaloceros are known. The Irish Elk is thought to have disappeared from most of the British Isles around 11,000BP, during the Younger Dryas. Recently however remains from Southwest Scotland and the Isle of Man have been dated to 9,400 and 9,200 years ago respectively. Perhaps these areas offered the creatures a moderate climate at the time, or perhaps the species was still relatively widespread but remains unrecorded. These latter dated animals were smaller than their predecessors, indicating that climatic and environmental changes were affecting them. These changes, rather than hunting by man probably lead to their extinction in the UK soon after 9,000 BP. Some authors claim that it is possible that the Irish Elk survived as late as 700 or even 500BC in continental Europe, but such claims are based on potentially erroneous interpretations of stylized pictorial representations of deer. *Elk (/Alces alces/)* The Elk (or Moose as it is known in North America) was once a native of Britain. It is a creature of open forests and wetlands and will have occurred along the Severn Valley and in the lower lying marshy areas. Early man hunted the Elk in Britain. The almost complete skeleton of an Elk, killed by pursing hunters and dating to 12,500 BP was discovered in Lancashire. Hunting and fishing spears were still embedded in the leg bones, the earliest evidence for man living so far north in the UK. The remains were in the silted up bed of a prehistoric pool, into which the hapless animal had been pursued, but from which the hunters were unable to extract it. Some 3,000 years later Elk also featured in the diet of hunter-gathers at Starr Carr in North Yorkshire. The last confirmed UK date for Elk is 3,925BP, in the Bronze Age. *Reindeer (/Rangifer tarandus/)* As the final ice sheets retreated across the British landscape, the tundra living Reindeer followed closely behind. They were however on the limits of their range in most of lowland Britain, for reindeer in Britain were smaller than their counterparts in Europe, probably due to food-stress during the summer and early autumn periods of the year. Reindeer were important human food items. Their bones are often common in cave deposits. In Kitley Caves, Yealmpton, Devon, a Reindeer bone from the breccia has been dated to 9670 BP. The last confirmed date for Reindeer in Britain is 8,300 BP, after which they died out, probably due to habitat change associated with the warming post-glacial climate. There were failed reintroduction attempts in 18th century at Dunkeld, in Orkney and the Forest of Mar. Successfully reintroduced between 1952 and 1961 in the Cairngorms, three herds now total 70-80 individuals. *Aurochs (/Bos primigenius/)* Aurochs are the ancestors of present-day domestic cattle. After the ice age Aurochs were spread across Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. They lived on the plains and at the forest's edge. Their populations were gradually reduced as people hunted them and civilization destroyed their habitats. Recently a site at Fengate, Peterborough has yielded part of the skull of an Aurochs dating to around 2500BC; the Neolithic period. The skull was buried in a large, deep pit. Part of the skull had been removed but the horns were left attached. This might have been a deliberate act, probably as some kind of ceremony or ritual. It is well known that hunter-gatherer societies revered and even worshipped the animals they hunted. Evidence supporting this lie in the fact that the front part of the skull had been removed before burial but the horns were left attached. Although finds of this kind are rare, those that have been previously unearthed support this view. The Aurochs were probably already rare by the time of the burial at Fengate, so the killing of such a magnificent creature was likely to have been of great significance to the Neolithic inhabitants of the area. At a site in Uxbridge the skeleton of an almost complete Aurochs, buried in about 1800BC, was excavated. Upon examination it was discovered that the flint arrowheads, which would have been used to hunt the animal, had been left in the carcass, again was this a ritual killing, and the missing leg bones and horns kept as trophies? Shifting beach deposits Porlock Bay in North Somerset have yielded the partial remains of a Aurochs. The bones date to approximately 1500 BC and are thought to be from a bull. He was probably at least 10 years old, but could have been much older. During his life the Aurochs suffered from a number of injuries, the results of which can be seen on some of his bones. There is however no evidence on the bones to suggest that this animal was killed or butchered by Bronze Age farming people living in the area at the time. It is probable that the last British Aurochs was killed or died during the Roman period, however they may have survived in places like Caithness until the 9 th or 10 th century AD. The last Aurochs died in 1627 in a Polish game preserve, but primitive races of cattle still live in the Scottish Highlands. There are also herds of ?wild? white cattle in places such as Chillingham in Northumberland. *Horse (/Equus ferus/caballus/)* The wild horses of Ice Age Europe were similar to Przewalski Horse, a species that until recently roamed the steppes of central Asia. Horses were the most abundant faunal remain recovered from Gough's Cave, indicating that these animals were an important food item for the inhabitants of the site. Based on the archaeological record it appears that the majority of the late Ice-age hunters food must have come from animal matter, with Horse meat being the most common item of consumption, although Reindeer, Mammoth, hares and birds also contributed to their diet. An engraving of a Horse on a fragment of rib found at Creswell Crags is the only piece of such artwork known in Britain. It is about 12,500 years old. Similar works of art are known from Late Magdalenian sites in the Paris Basin, France. Hunters tracking animals may have brought this object to Creswell Crags during the Late Upper Palaeolithic. A group of four broken cheek teeth from Horse, from Creswell Crags, provide direct evidence of butchery by people. The teeth are about 12,000 years old. At this time all Horses were wild animals hunted for food and raw materials such as their skin and bones, as well as sinews and tendons which could be used to make string. Although it is often claimed that the ?wild? horses of Exmoor or other remote areas are descended from truly wild post-glacial Horses, there is little evidence to support this assertion. Indeed there appears to be a gap in the fossil record of Horses in Britain between about 9770BP and the Neolithic (4170BP). *Wild Boar (/Sus scrofa/)* Whilst Wild Boar remains are commonly encountered in post-glacial deposits there is ample evidence of the existence of the Wild Boar in Britain in historic times. The Wild Boar existed in Britain long after the Roman occupation. In the 9th century representations of hunting scenes exist. At the time of the Norman Conquest very severe laws were passed against any one who would kill a deer or a Wild Boar, except in legitimate chase. Rude stone monuments and ancient documents show by illustration that this animal was hunted in a wild state throughout the British Islands. From laws passed for his preservation and for regulating the hunting season, it would appear that this species of sport was carried on down to the 11th century, and some documents would bring the date down to the 16th century. Lydekker, in his "British Mammals" in Allan's Naturalists' Library, says:"Between the years 1153 and 1165 we find Robert de Avenel, when granting to the monks of Melrose Abbey the right of pasturage over the lands of Eskdale, especially reserving to himself the right of hunting Wild Boar and deer. There is actual evidence of a Boar hunt taking place at this very time in the same district." The same author says that there is documentary evidence that Wild Boar existed in England in 1573 in Chartley Park, Staffordshire. An absolute date of 1683 has been suggested as the time when the Wild Boar finally became extinct in Britain. Following the escape of animals from Wild Boar farms, after the 1987 hurricane ripped up fencing, free-living and expanding populations have become established in Kent, East Sussex and Dorset. There have also been regular sightings in Scotland and Humberside. *Lynx (/Lynx lynx/)* The Lynx was once a native of the greater part of Britain, but died out, or was exterminated, by Roman times. Records for Lynx in the Creswell Crags area of Derbyshire have come from Robin Hood Cave, Langwith Basset Cave, Steetley Cave and Yew Tree Cave. All of these specimens are undated. However the precise radiocarbon date for a specimen from Dog Hole Fissure is 9,570 ± 60 years ago. This latter record provides an indication of how quickly forest conditions had become re-established in the Creswell area after the end of the Last Ice Age. In Kitley Caves, Yealmpton, Devon, a Lynx bone from the cave earth has been dated to 8930 +/- 90 radiocarbon years. Lynx bones found at Allt nan Uamh near Inchnadamph, Sutherlandshire, in deposits containing blackened and burnt hearthstones of Neolithic fires, vouch for its relatively late presence in Scotland, but there is no written evidence of it. *Brown Bear (/Ursus arctos/)* The Brown Bear is thought to have become extinct in Britain around AD 900. Its elimination was caused by loss of habitat (it requires a very large area of undisturbed woodland) but was also related to its highly territorial habit; Brown Bears return repeatedly to fruits and berries within their home territory, making them an easy prey for hunters. *Wolf (/Canis lupus/) * In the British Isles Wolves were numerous when the Romans arrived, although it was not known how widespread they were during Anglo-Saxon time. However, records of Wolf presence in medieval Britain are clearer, with descriptions of numbers mainly being confined to the Welsh border counties and the north. In the 10th century King Edgar of England imposed an annual tribute of 300 Wolves on the Welsh King Lundwall. Subsequent records clearly indicate its presence in England at least until the 14th century where encounters with humans (i.e. hunting) became more rare, habitat loss in the form of deforestation being the main cause in its decline. The last Wolf south of the Scottish border was believed to have been killed sometime in the 1480's. However there is a story that in the 1540s the young Lady Jane Grey, future Queen of England, was confronted by a frenzied Wolf whilst walking home to Bradgate House in Leicestershire. The animal had already attacked a child, and Jane and her female companion, armed only with a small hunting knife and a stick, had to struggle hard to kill it. In Scotland during the 15th century under James I, the Wolf was still perceived as a pest reaching its peak during the reign of Queen Mary Stuart, where laws were passed forcing all Scottish men to participate in Wolf hunting three times a year. Records were frequent in the 1600's although there was an increased difficulty in obtaining their skins. The various methods of hunting them had not exterminated the creature, so more extreme measures were taken. There are stories of the forests of Rannoch and Lochaber being deliberately burned in order to destroy the Wolf's dens and deny them cover. In the Highlands this trend was reflected in the once vast Caledonian Pine Forest (originally 1.5 million ha) that started to dwindle and by 1600 was down to 10% of its original state (170,000 ha). The last positive record of Wolf presence was in Sutherland in 1691, where the very large sum of £6.13s was paid for the animal. Since that time there has been a barrage of supposed 'last Wolf' sightings which concluded in 1743 at Tomatin in the Findhorn Valley, where a Wolf was shot after allegedly devouring two children. It was only after the Wolf's extinction that the now traditional system of day and night grazing was established as the tending of cattle became unnecessary. *Beaver (/Castor fibor/)* Beaver bones of various ages are found throughout Britain. The femur of an immature Beaver was excavated from Dog Hole Fissure, Cresswell Crags, in 1978. Although not directly dated, this individual is likely to date to the Mesolithic (c.10,000 years BP) judging from the total fauna excavated. It is unknown how the bone came to be introduced into the fissure. People may have been responsible. Recently Beaver bones, dating back six to eight thousand years, have been unearthed along Chesil Beach. Beavers were hunted to extinction because of the value of castoreum (a glandualar sectretion), their pelts and their tails which were commonly eaten in the Middle Ages. The last record of a Beaver in England was made in 1526. The presence of Beavers in to historic times is born out by the presence of place names appertaining to the presence of these distinctive and commercially important animals. Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire was originally called Beverlac, the place or lake of beavers, with which animals the neighbouring river Hull abounded. Nearer to home in the context of this essay is Bevere Island on the Severn at Grimley. Bevere is a direct derivation of ?Beaver Island?. Birds Several bird species were lost before the more general late twentieth century declines in bird numbers due to changing agricultural practices. These early losses were exclusively large species that required extensive tracts of suitable habitat or were particularly vulnerable to over hunting. Bone finds indicate that the Dalmatian Pelican, formerly bred near the Iron Age lake village at what is now Glastonbury. It may still have occurred as a winter vagrant in early Anglo-Saxon England. The Griffon Vulture or the Egyptian Vulture are possible Anglo-Saxon species. The Eagle Owl recorded in England prior to 1930, and named in Old Latin to Old English glossaries from the 8th century could have occurred in the extensive Anglo-Saxon forests. The Great Bustard bred in England until 1832. The Great Auk, extinct in Britain by 1840 and world wide by 1844, would have been known in many coastal areas. Some of the Anglo-Saxon breeding birds such as the Crane and Spoonbill are now only rare breeders or vagrants. Species such as the White-tailed Sea Eagle, Osprey and Red Kite that were, until very recently, extinct or very rare in the UK, bred widely in Anglo-Saxon England, the Kite in considerable numbers. All are recovering their numbers due to strict legal protection and re-introduction campaigns. *Previous Chapter* *Next Chapter* * * *Natural History Home Page * * * *Local History Home Page* * * *Site Home Page* * E-mail *