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Quaternary International 271 (2012) 70e83

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Quaternary International

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The earliest occupation of north-west Europe: a coastal perspective

Kim M. Cohen a, Katharine MacDonald b,c,*, Josephine C.A. Joordens b, Wil Roebroeks b, Philip L. Gibbard d

aDept. of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.115, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlandsb Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlandsc Forschungsinstituut Altsteinzeit RGZM, Monrepos, GermanydDept. of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN, United Kingdom

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Available online 10 November 2011

* Corresponding author. Faculty of Archaeology, Lei2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.

E-mail addresses: k.cohen@geo.uu.nl (K.M.leidenuniv.nl (K. MacDonald), j.c.a.joordens@arch.leidroebroeks@arch.leidenuniv.nl (W. Roebroeks), plg1@he

1040-6182/$ e see front matter � 2011 Elsevier Ltd adoi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.11.003

a b s t r a c t

Recent discoveries from Pakefield and Happisburgh (Britain) have provided clear evidence for anunexpectedly early hominin occupation of north-west Europe. The sites, found in the deposits ofinterglacial rivers and estuaries on the southern rim of the ancient North Sea coast, span the older andyounger parts of the ‘Cromerian Complex’ Stage. The older of these sites pre-date w0.5 Ma based on thepresence of a Mimomys micromammal fauna, and may be as old as 0.78e1.0 Ma. On the Europeancontinent, stone artefacts unambiguously as old derive from the Mediterranean. The earliest archaeo-logical evidence that has been discovered inland in Europe north of the Alps is associated with anArvicola fauna (younger than w0.5 Ma), and was deposited in temperate conditions near rivers thatflowed into the North Sea. Only after the ‘Cromerian Complex’ is there evidence for hominin activity incooler conditions, and also in locations east of the Rhine valley. This spatial and temporal pattern in sitedistribution occurs despite the long history of research in north-west Europe and the presence ofdeposits of the same age from both the coast and rivers. This paper explores the idea that the changes insite distribution before and after the ‘Cromerian Complex’ signal that early hominin occupation innorthern Europe during the earlier period was an ‘Atlantic’ phenomenon, i.e. restricted to the mildertemperate climates in the coastal continental regions. Dispersal to more inland habitats originated in thecoastal regions. The conditions explaining preservation of the oldest sites from a geological perspectiveare investigated, providing a geographical, climatological and habitat context for the wider surroundingsof the sites. Because of differences in the potential for preserving archaeology in fluvial and coastalcontexts, poor long-term preservation of coastal depositional contexts and low numbers of sites, it isdifficult to disentangle the influence of hominin habitat preference (or even: tolerance) from habitatpreservation. However, the hypothesis that the earliest hominins in Europe were restricted to thetemperate Atlantic parts of Europe provides a testable framework for evaluating future archaeologicaldiscoveries, and makes it possible to formulate research strategies for locating new hominin occupationsites in Europe, especially its Atlantic regions.

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1. Introduction

1.1. Hominin site distribution in Europe

Palaeolithic archaeology is to a large part a ‘discovery-driven’discipline, with little theory predicting where new finds are to beexpected based on the current distribution of traces of homininpresence (Finlayson, 2004). Recent discoveries on the North Sea

den University, P.O. Box 9515,

Cohen), k.macdonald@arch.enuniv.nl (J.C.A. Joordens), w.rmes.cam.ac.uk (P.L. Gibbard).

nd INQUA. All rights reserved.

coast in East Anglia (Britain) have once more raised questionsregarding the strength of former theories on the earliest occupationof Europe, such as the inferred ‘habitat tracking’ of the earliestoccupants of the mid- and northern latitudes (Roebroeks, 2005).Flint artefacts from the sites of Pakefield and Happisburgh 3 (HSB3)demonstrate that hominins were already present in north-westEurope before 0.5 Ma (Ashton and Lewis, 2012; Parfitt et al.,2005, 2010; Preece and Parfitt, 2012). These artefacts are associ-ated with a Mimomys micromammal fauna of temperate character,with conditions considerably cooler at HSB3 than at Pakefield. Thesites are located in the deposits of low lying rivers that were part ofa coastal plain environment that existed for over a million years(e.g. Cameron et al., 1992; Rose et al., 1999, 2001; Peeters et al.,2009; Hijma et al., in press) until the Anglian glaciation of the

K.M. Cohen et al. / Quaternary International 271 (2012) 70e83 71

area atw0.45 Ma (e.g. Gibbard and Cohen, 2008; Lee et al., in press;Pawley et al., 2008; Peeters et al., 2009). The discoveries from EastAnglia indicate that hominins were present in mid-latitude Europeconsiderably earlier than previously envisaged. Outside this region,stone artefacts associated with a Mimomys fauna appear to berestricted to the Mediterranean (for example, Atapuerca on theIberian Peninsula (Carbonell et al., 1995)) and to areas east of theBlack Sea (Gabunia and Vekua, 1995; Gabunia et al., 2000). Thepresence of such early Palaeolithic artefacts along the south-western rim of the North Sea Basin, so far to the north-west, raisesquestions about the apparently absent or scant archaeologicalrecord of comparable age in adjacent parts of continental northernEurope.

Evaluation of the ages of candidate Lower Palaeolithic sites on theEuropean continent is not simple since dating techniques are limitedin accuracy, and in practical availability: differences in geologicalsettings determine which techniques can and cannot be applied.Several dating techniques are used: micromammal biostratigraphy,palaeomagnetism, tephrochronology, volcanic-event stratigraphy,and numerical dating, particularly using Electron-Spin Resonance(ESR) and combined ESR/U-series techniques (Falguères et al., 2010).Only a few sites have had more than one of these techniquesemployed to provide independent comparisons, so the age modelsfor this time period are not yet as solid as for the last 0.5Ma. The agesattributed to sites are associatedwith inaccuracies of 100 ka, besidespossible systematic errors. As a result, it is often only possible toattribute a site to one of several interglacials, or even to give a rela-tive age. Nevertheless, the Pakefield and HSB3 evidence demon-strates that, during two interglacial cycles between 1.2 and 0.5 Ma,hominins were present on the western European coast far north ofIberia and the Mediterranean. In contrast, the oldest Palaeolithicsites located further east in continental northern Europe are asso-ciated with Arvicola faunas (where small-mammal remains areavailable). This places them in the later part of the Middle Pleisto-cene, fromw0.5 Ma onwards (Bosinski, 1995; von Koenigswald andvan Kolfschoten, 1996; Preece and Parfitt, 2008). Until MIS 11, theRhine valley seems to be the eastern limit of the distribution of sitesnorth of the Alps. In addition, thefirst evidence for homininpresencein relatively cold conditions (based on associated steppic fauna)comes from colluvial loessic deposits at the Middle Rhine site ofKärlich level H (Bosinski, 1995), and is assigned an agewithinMIS 12based on Eifel volcanics and the longer loess sequence at the site.Further west, refitting archaeology from the Eartham Formation atBoxgrove (England) also indicates that hominins remained presentfor some time after the climate began to deteriorate at theMIS 13-12climatic transition (Roberts and Parfitt, 1999). Archaeology from theSomme river terrace deposits, laid down at the beginning and end ofa substantial cold-climate event, is dated to the MIS 12-11 glacial-interglacial cycle (Antoine et al., 2010). The spatial distribution andpalaeoenvironments of unambiguous and well-dated early sitessuggest that until the second half of the Pleistocene early homininoccupation in mid-latitude Europe was an ‘Atlantic’, westernphenomenon.

1.2. An Atlantic coastal perspective

Stewart et al. (2010) point out that the oceanic-continental axisis often eunjustlye ignored when considering a species’ responseto glacial-interglacial cyclicity. Near the coast the interglacialtemperate climate is relatively humid and mild with less seasonalvariation compared to the drier continental interior, which ischaracterised by large differences between summer and wintertemperatures. During glacial-interglacial climate cycles, this mostlylongitudinal gradient will exert its influence on species distributionin tandem with the latitudinal gradient causing the traditionally

recognised northern and southern refugia (Stewart et al., 2010).Based on analogy with the Holocene situation, the Atlantic climaticgradient reaches at least some tens of kilometres inland, and insome situations up to 100e200 km or more, depending on conti-nental physiography and sea-level stand. Both the Eemian andHolsteinian interglacial, for example, were characterised by far-reaching oceanic influence in western as well as in CentralEurope. This is indicated by the frequent occurrence of both ivy(Hedera) and holly (Ilex) in pollen sequences in western Russia, farto the east of their present-day distribution (e.g. Zagwijn, 1996).

In addition to favourable aspects of the climate, coastalecosystems offer rich aquatic resources. Terrestrial omnivorous-carnivorous species typically exploit these when productivity inecosystems on land is low (e.g. Carlton and Hodder, 2003 andreferences therein) or when aquatic foods are seasonally abundant(Hilderbrand et al., 1999; Smith and Partridge, 2004; Darimontet al., 2008). The role of aquatic resources in the hominin diet ewhether harvested from lakes, rivers, or the sea - is an importantissue in human origins (Joordens et al., 2009; Kempf, 2009). Whileunequivocal evidence for Lower Palaeolithic consumption ofaquatic resources is restricted, one should by default assume thathominins could have made use of these resources (Joordens et al.,2009). Braun et al. (2010) have demonstrated that homininsindeed exploited aquatic resources (fish, turtles) as early as 1.95Ma,in addition to terrestrial food sources. Parfitt et al. (2010) describethe HSB3 site as located on an ecotone, with fluvial environments,marsh, saltmarsh, a grassy floodplain and coniferous forest in thevicinity. They suggest that hominin presence under relatively coolconditions at this coastal site was facilitated by the mosaic ofhabitats in the coastal plain, which would have yielded ‘a muchwider range of critically important winter resources such as tubersand rhizomes, shellfish, seaweed and the resident herbivore pop-ulation than the northern forest alone’ (Parfitt et al., 2010). Thispaper highlights the point that, during interglacials, the availabilityof aquatic resources would have been particularly important in themore seasonal environments at middle latitudes in Europe (espe-cially in winter) compared to lower latitudes. However, ‘Windows’on former coastal occupation and resource use are very rare in thePalaeolithic record, because of the complex changes in sea-leveland the resulting burial and erosion histories. Even for the Nean-derthals little is known in this domain, except that where these rarewindows exist, the amount of coastal resources exploited can beimpressive (cf. Zilhao et al., 2011).

This makes it possible to define a ‘coastal’ zone of hominin-hospitable climate and habitat conditions, which was re-establishedwith every interglacial and associated sea-level high stand, and ofwhich Pakefield and HSB3 could be seen as the earliest testimony.Note that the ‘coastal zone’ in this context extends well beyond thearea of saline habitats, to include the freshwater ecotones of theinland coastal plains, the lower reaches of river valleys that feed theseplains and the hill slopes bounding the coastal plains and lowervalleys.

In addition, coastal aquatic resource availability is very constantin terms of species composition and biomass production (e.g. ofaquatic molluscan fauna) along the edge of this Atlantic zone(Quéro and Vayne, 1998), varying less with latitude than resourcesfrom inland, and this was probably also true in the past. Foragingconditions throughout this area would have been similar along theBay of Biscay, the English Channel and the Southern North Sea,facilitating the northward dispersal of omnivorous terrestrialspecies (including hominins) that used coastal aquatic resources intheir diet. Even at low population densities rapid local depletion ofaquatic resources can occur, stimulating mobility along coasts toun-depleted areas and thus driving coastal dispersal (Mannino andThomas, 2002).

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Moreover, it has been suggested that the coastal zone may haveplayed an important role in various hominin and humanmigrationsin other regions and time periods (e.g. Stringer, 2000; Erlandsonet al., 2008; Hetherington and Reid, 2010). In the same vein, theAtlantic coastal zone may have provided a corridor for dispersal, forexample from Iberia to the mid-latitudes (Mithen and Reed, 2002).Coastal zone habitats shift spatially as the sea-level rises and fallsduring glacial-interglacial cycles, without major changes affectingfauna other than climatic change. Whereas lakes can dry up,rivers can become ephemeral and continental wetlands becomegeographically more isolated in relatively dry climates, theconnections between coastal zone habitats remain more or less thesame during high and low sea stands (and can even improve at lowsea stands). In Mediterranean Europe, for example, now submergedlow-stand coastal zones are areas of potential glacial refugia, fromwhich hominins could disperse in each successive interglacial(e.g. Muttoni et al., 2010; Tourloukis, 2010; Sivan et al., 2011),perhaps stimulated by the marine transgression.

The biogeographical concepts described above allow expansionfrom apparently isolated evidence for brief episodes of homininactivity to patterns in hominin dispersal and settlement at a Euro-pean scale over the late Early and early Middle Pleistocene. It ishypothesized that the earliest occupation of mid-latitude Europewas an Atlantic phenomenon, which entailed 1) a habitat prefer-ence for warm-temperate climatic settings, 2) an incorporation ofaquatic and coastal resources in the hominin diet which has hith-erto been neglected by archaeologists, and 3) a northward speciesdispersal from glacial refugia via coastal zones and the near-coastalreaches of rivers, requiring minimal (re)adaptation to new habitatsencountered en route.

1.3. What is the signal from the deposits from which the EastAnglian finds derive?

In the context of the issues raised above, the relevance of thenew British sites for the larger picture of the colonization of Europeis evaluated. In order to do so, the analysis will try to answer a set ofquestions. For instance, do the HSB3 finds testify to ‘adaptation’ tocooler climatic conditions as has been suggested by Parfitt et al.(2010)? Or, alternatively, did hominins persist at HSB3 until latein the interglacial (as the climate began to cool) because of the mildmicroclimate and rich aquatic resources? Or to rephrase this ineven more simple terms: do the Pakefield finds reflect homininpreference, whereas the somewhat cooler conditions at HSB 3indicate their tolerance? Where would similar environments tothose present at Pakefield and HSB3 have been located 0.5 to 1 Ma,were these deposits preserved, and, if so, are they accessible forarchaeological fieldwork? Is this simply the exceptional preserva-tion of a series of large-scale interglacial palaeolandscapes, and isthere little to learn from these new discoveries, except that pres-ervation matters? Formulating and testing the Atlantic occupationhypothesis contributes to answering such questions and to evalu-ating the wider relevance of the Pakefield and HSB3 sites. Hence,this study provides background information on the deposits fromwhich the early East Anglian finds derive (Section 2), and addressesthe particularities of the ‘Cromerian Complex’ coastal plain sedi-mentary archives and how they differ from river valley archives(Section 3). Next, the research history and archaeological record ofnorth-west Europe is reviewed, focusing on the river valleys(Section 4). This allows comparison of the archaeological recordfrom coastal locations with that from further inland. Finally, thesignificance of the inferred spatial and temporal patterns isassessed, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the Atlanticadaptation hypothesis, given the observed distribution of sites(Section 5).

2. Palaeogeographical setting of the Cromer Forest-bedFormation

All of the East Anglian finds are considered to come fromdeposits which make up part of the Cromerian Forest-bed Forma-tion (West, 1980), contrary to the suggestion by Parfitt andcolleagues (2010) that the find-bearing deposits at HSB3 should beattributed to the new Hill House Formation (for a detailed discus-sion of this question see Gibbard, 2012). These deposits includethose that have historically defined the Cromerian Stage sensustricto (Oakley and Baden-Powell, 1963; West, 1980). In the chro-nostratigraphical scheme for north-west Europe the use of thisterm was extended in the Netherlands (de Jong, 1988) to includefour interglacial and three intervening glacial events (cf. Preece andParfitt, 2012). This ‘Cromerian Complex’ Stage commenced duringthe ‘mid-Pleistocene transition’ during which the 40 kainterglacial-glacial climate cycles of modest amplitude of the EarlyPleistocene changed to the 100 ka cycles of more substantialamplitude of the last million years (e.g. Head and Gibbard, 2005).Thus, although the Cromerian palaeogeographical situationdiffered strongly from that during more recent glacial cycles, thetypical internal structure of glacial-interglacial cycles, and associ-ated sea-level variations, resembled those of the younger Pleisto-cene cycles in duration and magnitude. Both full interglacialconditions and severe glacial conditions prevailed for a restrictedportion of each climate cycle, whilst relatively cool temperateclimate conditions reigned for longer time periods. In this area, thediscovery of Middle Pleistocene coastal plain deposits of differentages at around present mean sea-level (MSL) implies that the netvertical tectonic movement has been minimal over the last 0.5 to1 Ma. The presence of Early Pleistocene marine sediments imme-diately below this indicates that this was also the case in thepreceding million years (contra Westaway, 2009). East Anglia cantherefore be seen as the shoulder or hinge zone of the North SeaBasin.

As part of the ‘mid-Pleistocene transition’, glaciations becamemore severe and began to leave direct imprints on the periphery ofScandinavia, on the North Atlantic shelves and in the foothills of theAlps (e.g. Head and Gibbard, 2005). Although these glaciationsappear to have left the central and southern parts of the North Seauncovered, they dramatically affected the Scandinavian uplandsnot too far to the north and Fenno-Baltic areas at a greater distanceeast of the study area. The events in Scandinavia carved featuressuch as the Oslo fjord in the northern North Sea, whereas theFenno-Baltic events destroyed the ‘Eridanos’ (Baltic River) deltasystem in the eastern North Sea (Bijlsma, 1981; Overeem et al.,2002). After this delta ceased functioning, continued basin subsi-dence resulted in the southward migration of the high standshoreline of the North Sea, placing it across the northernNetherlands at the end of the ‘Cromerian Complex’ (Zagwijn, 1986).

Awareness of the palaeogeography of the period and theregional differences in setting is of critical importance in evaluatingPalaeolithic site distributions. During the ‘Cromerian Complex’interglacials, in contrast to the situation during the last 0.45 Ma,East Anglia was part of a combined Thames-Meuse-Rhine coastalplain that marked the southern coast of the North Sea (e.g. Gibbard,1995). It was not yet connected through the Dover Strait to theEnglish Channel (Fleuve Manche) and the French river systems.Instead it was separated from the Channel by a land-barriercomprising Chalk hills and Eocene clay hilly landscape of theWeald-Artois and Flanders-Essex regions respectively (e.g.Busschers et al., 2008; Hijma et al., in press). Defining the end of the‘Cromerian Complex’ interval, the Anglian glaciation of north-westEurope at w0.45 Ma was a major tipping point in the palaeogeo-graphical history of the region (Gibbard, 1988, 1995) with later

K.M. Cohen et al. / Quaternary International 271 (2012) 70e83 73

glaciations completing the isolation of Britain (e.g. Busschers et al.,2008; Hijma et al., in press).

The Cromer Forest-bed Formation owes its preservation toburial under a thick cover of glacial deposits. This cap formed at theinterface of British and Scandinavian North Sea ice cover during theAnglian stage, in the vicinity of the joint ice front, and waspresumably bound by a substantial southern North Sea proglaciallake (Belt, 1874; Gibbard, 1988, 2007; Gupta et al., 2007). Preser-vation of the Cromer Forest-bed Formation is the positivegeographical outcome of this unusual (pro)glacial situation duringthe Anglian glaciation. In contrast, the Anglian glaciation negativelyimpacted the preservation of Atlantic coastal areas in regionsimmediately to the south, i.e. the English Channel. At these lowerlatitudes, the Anglian (pro)glaciation initiated progressive dissec-tion of the landscape, eventually resulting in the opening of theStrait of Dover and connection of the Thames and Scheldt drainagebasins to the FleuveManche. River valleys and coastal plains as theyexisted in ‘Cromerian Complex’ times were therefore not identicalto the valleys as they exist today. In analysing Lower Palaeolithicsite distribution, in formulating hypotheses on hominin dispersalpatterns, and in developing future research strategies to test suchideas, one must not ignore the fact that events during thelast w0.45 Ma, which altered the glacial drainage network andinterglacial coastal configuration, have obscured the geomorpho-logical record for the preceding period.

3. Coastal preservation

Preservation of a widespread complex of coastal plain depositsdating from 0.5 to 1 Ma, as has occurred in East Anglia, is geolog-ically unique. A brief discussion of the factors governing preserva-tion of Middle Pleistocene interglacial deposits from along thenorth-west European coast follows, contrasting the coastalsetting to the more frequently discussed river valley settings. Thispaper divides the interglacial part of the climatic cycle into threeparts: a warming limb, a climax stage and a limb in which coolingcommences. The focus is on the coastal regions during interglacialhigh stands and the deposits that they produce. Not discussed iscoastal preservation for the glacial half of the climatic cycle, forexample during sub-high stands in interstadial periods, affectingareas located seaward of the interglacial coasts. The reasons for thisrestriction are that no submerged glacial coastal archaeologicalsites this old are known from this region and that, in the coastalsettings discussed here, the preservation potential of sub-highstand coastal deposits is strongly reduced. A more circumstantialreason is that at the latitudes of north-west Europe, climaticconditions outside the interglacial half-cycle would have beenunfavourable for hominin occupation in this early period, incontrast to conditions in possible refugia in coastal Iberia and theMediterranean (see sections 1 and 5).

Preservation is considered at two time-scales, because two setsof controls on it are in play. Over a longer time-scale, i.e. onespanning multiple glacial-interglacial cycles, whether and howdeposits are preserved is governed by the tectonic setting and theparticularities of major glaciations and changes in drainageconfiguration. Over a shorter time-scale, i.e. within a full glacial-interglacial cycle, it is the morphodynamic response of rivers andcoasts to climate and sea-level variations (affecting discharge,sediment supply, and upstream vegetation) that determineswhether interglacial deposits make up the larger or the smallerproportion of the sedimentary record. On this time-scale, which isalso relevant to archaeological questions about hominin environ-mental tolerance, the covariance between climate change and sea-level determines what part of interglacial environmental change isrecorded in sequences of coastal deposits. On the north-west

European coastal plains, unlike in other parts of the world, sea-level continues to rise for millennia after the interglacial climax(for a detailed discussion see section 3.2), at least during those sea-level high stands associated with interglacials following so-called‘Terminations’ in the MIS climatostratigraphy. Together, processesoccurring on a longer time-scale (related to the tectonic setting)and on a shorter time-scale (sea-level rise over an extended timeperiod) explain how, in the case of the Cromer Forest-bed Forma-tion, coastal deposits from multiple interglacials of a similarthickness could be preserved at a similar elevation and in a similarposition in relation to the inland edge of the area of distribution ofthe formation (sections 3.1e3.2).

3.1. Interglacial deltas and adjacent coastal plains:depocentre vs. hinge zone preservation

Generally, deltaic deposits accumulate in areas of long-termsubsidence. The North Sea Basin’s southern depocentre, receivingthe river Rhine, is the key example of such a preservational envi-ronment in the study area, neotectonically active since the Oligo-cene (Cloetingh et al., 2006). Such environments also existed in thepossible Mediterranean refugia, notably the Po plain and delta (e.g.Ghielmi et al., 2010;Muttoni et al., 2011).Whether patches of a highstand delta plain are preserved in the depocentre is determined inthe first few glacial-interglacial cycles following this high stand, i.e.over the longer time-scale. Because of lateral shifts in the positionof lowland rivers, in wider basins, patches of delta plain from highstands have a chance of escaping the dissective erosion occurringduring the succeeding periods of falling and lowered sea-level.Furthermore, because of sedimentary processes operating at theshorter time-scales, deltaic successions are heterogenic, with clayand organic strata alternating with sandy successions, whereas theoverlying and underlying low-stand deposits are predominantlysandy. Organic and clayey strata are subject to compaction, whichmakes them consistent and resistant to scour, helping to preserveformer delta plains at depth, especially the transgressed floodplainsfrom the first part of interglacial cycles. Once subsidence has low-ered these patches a few tens of meters below the basin floor, andthey are buried by younger deposits, they are out of reach of dis-sective erosion by typical high stand tidal river mouth and low-stand fluvial channels. Only at this point does their preservationbecome certain (for the lifetime of the tectonic basin). This pres-ervation style applies to the southern North Sea Rhine depocentrein the Early Pleistocene (Westerhoff, 2009) and continues into theMiddle Pleistocene, e.g. the Bavelian (e.g. ‘Linge’ and ‘Leerdam’

levels, Zagwijn and de Jong, 1985; presumed age w1.2 Ma) and the‘Cromerian Complex’. Because of the younger (de)glaciation over-print on basin topography (Busschers et al., 2008), the Holoceneand Last Interglacial deltaic formations feature a different physi-ography and preservation style than the ‘Cromerian Complex’deltaic Rhine deposits located deep in the depocentre, and thusprovide only partial analogues.

A major difference between the preservation of high standdeltas and coastal plains in subsidence depocentres (e.g. theNetherlands) and basin margins (e.g. East Anglia), is that in theformer areas successive levels are vertically separated, whereas inthe latter areas successive high stands of equal height createdeposits in a very similar vertical position. Along the shoulder ofthe basin (e.g. Hijma et al., in press), the margins of the high standcoastal plain have a reasonable chance of escaping dissection bychannel systems during the periods of sea-level fall and low stands;arguably this chance is better than that for equivalent deposits inbasin depocentres and valleys. Over a time period spanningmultiple glacial cycles, however, their position outside the basindepocentre tends to leave old coastal plains unburied by younger

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sediments. As a result, the formations are prone to reworking,which was especially effective in the alternating periglacial andtemperate climate regime of Middle Pleistocene north-westEurope. This means that special circumstances are required toallow long-term preservation of a snapshot of the coastal plain onthe hinge zone, and in the case of East Anglia, the Anglian glaciationprovided these.

The focus here is on shorter-term processes, governing theinternal stratigraphic accumulation of the interglacial units withinthe Cromer Forest-bed Formation. The sites at Pakefield and HSB3are generally regarded as representing subunits of the CromerianForest-Bed Formation produced during high stands, and overlain bydeposits from similar environments produced during later highstands. A presumed final transgression flooded the area at the endof the ‘Cromerian Complex’. This is the transgression overlying theWest Runton Freshwater Bed at West Runton: the so-called MyaBed and overlying grey laminated silts and associated sands (beda/b of West, 1980: p. 18.). The West Runton Freshwater Bed yieldedMimomys savini. The sequence overlying the West Runton Fresh-water Bed has been correlated to the deposits at Ostend, SE ofCromer, which yielded the later vole, Arvicola (Stuart and West,1976). In the vicinity of HSB3, the site of Happisburgh 1 (Ashtonand Lewis, 2012; Ashton et al., 2008) contains a transgressionthat might correlate to that represented in deposits overlying theFreshwater Bed atWest Runton. Multistage coastal aggradationwasinterrupted by periods of boreal and periglacial climate and low-ered sea-level. During these periods, the coastal plainwas dissectedand fluvial subunits were deposited. Lag deposits and sheets ofgravel and sand are sandwiched within the formation, and are justas spatially discontinuous in preservation as the patches of inter-glacial strata.

This situation is without counterpart from the last few inter-glacial cycles around the North Sea, during which the southernNorth Sea coastline appears to have reconfigured to a very differentposition in every cycle (e.g. Streif, 2004) without forming polycycliccoastal plain formations on the basin shoulder. The differencemight be explained by the severe proglacial (de)glaciation erosion

Fig. 1. ‘Far field’ and ‘near field’ sea-level rise for a hypothetical Middle Pleistocene interglaciUnlike tropical coasts, north-west Europe’s stable coasts, outside deglaciated regions, experiecoastal archaeology in the Lower Palaeolithic, at least in eastern England.

that the south-west North Sea experienced from the Anglian glacialcycle onwards (Section 2). This process was not yet in play in thestudy area during the ‘Cromerian Complex’, which explains why itwas possible for a similar coastline to form and a compositeformation to build up over various glacial-interglacial cycles.

3.2. Structure of marine transgression in a typical Cromerianinterglacial event

To understand the Palaeolithic archaeological potential of suchcomplex interglacial coastal aggradations, it is of particular interestto link sea-level driven coastal plain aggradations to the phasing ofinterglacial half-cycles (as introduced in section 3). Glacial-interglacial sea-level oscillations are more or less in phase withoscillations in climate, but not exactly so and with importantgeographical variations. For the Last Glacial to Holocene period, thishas become evident from comparing sea-level records world-wide,and has been explained in geophysical terms. In Fig. 1, theseinsights are summarised in a simplified form, for a syntheticinterglacial cycle, which represents a termination in theMIS record.Up to five such terminations, each immediately following ‘100-ka’glacial minima, occurred in the ‘Cromerian Complex’ and anotherfive occurred after w0.45 Ma, the last one being the Holocene. Attropical latitudes, climatic optima equate broadly to the glacio-eustatic high stand. At the latitude of north-west Europe,however, sea-level continues to rise (by a fewmetres) for millennialonger into the interglacial than in tropical regions (where sea-leveldrops gently during those millennia). It illustrates that at northernlatitudes the transgression extends further into the interglacialcycle and the high stand occurs after the global climatic optimum.This effect is very evident in global comparisons of the Holocenesea-level transgression (Smith et al., 2011), and is increasinglyconfirmed by similar comparisons for past interglacials (Lambecket al., 2006; Siddall et al., 2007). It is physically explained as theresult of siphoning (Mitrovica and Peltier, 1991) of water from thetropical oceans into the North Atlantic in response to continuedslow glacio-isostatic adjustment in the latter area, with this

al, as would be observed at hinge zone localities (with no tectonic uplift or subsidence).nce a long slow transgression due to ocean siphoning. This favoured the preservation of

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adjustment lasting millennia longer than the melting of the NorthAmerican ice mass. In simple terms, as areas from below the formerice mass on North America continue to rebound during the inter-glacial, viscousmantle flow occurs from below the North Atlantic tobelow that continent, causing deepening of the ocean. This in turncauses reorganisation of the global distribution of ocean watermass, pulling water towards the North Atlantic, and causing sea-levels elsewhere to drop, with some additional global-scaleprocesses adding to this effect e.g. continental levering (Mitrovicaand Milne, 2002).

The structure of interglacial sea-level fluctuation differs stronglybetween interglacials (as is evident from reef stratigraphies in thetropics) and is not resolved for each ‘Cromerian Complex’ inter-glacial. In addition, the degree to which the high stand around theNorth Atlantic lags behind that in the rest of the world differsbetween interglacials, because of differences in deglaciationhistories (for example, between the Holocene and the Last Inter-glacial). However, the general effect is in play following each majorglacial termination.

In north-west Europe, the effects described above are super-imposed on more regional glacio-isostatic vertical adjustmentscausedbynearby Scandinavian andBritish icemass centres (e.g. TothandWoods, 1989). The impact of regional glacio-isostasy on relativesea-level rise is strong during the warming limb of the interglacial,whereas the global ocean mass reorganisation effect takes overtowards the climax of the interglacial. In addition, the former effectvaries differentially along the north-west European coast (section3.3), whereas the latter is comparatively uniform. As a result of bothof these effects: (1) transgression of the high stand coastal zonecommences relatively late in the interglacial and (2) relative sea-level rise tails off slowly, being operational throughout the inter-glacial. The latter aspect greatly affects the style of aggradation of thecoastal plain. Fast and short transgressions would lead to narrowcoastal plains and aggradations restricted to drowned-valley situa-tions only, which are not likely to be preserved and only recorda snapshot of interglacial time. Long and slow transgressions allowwider coastal plains to build up, that evenly record the greater part ofthe interglacial. This was the situation when the Cromer Forest-bedFormation was deposited, and explains how relatively widespread,modestly-progradational coastal plains formed. The vertical aggra-dation is comparable for the middle and the later part of the inter-glacial, with equal chances for capturing andpreserving evidence forhuman presence and preservation even during the initial climaticdeterioration (as is arguably recorded at HSB3).

Following each ‘Cromerian Complex’ glacial, the study area’sinterglacial coasts were located in a peripheral glacio-isostaticsubsidence zone, south of the rebound zone of the Scandinavianand British ice-mass centres. As far as is known, the extent of‘Cromerian Complex’ glaciations was well within the limits of theAnglian and the Saalian glaciation. The coastal zones discussed herewould therefore have experienced peripheral glacio-isostatic upliftduring the glacials and glacio-isostatic subsidence in the beginningof the interglacials, comparable to the Last Glacial-Holocene situ-ation (Busschers et al., 2007; Vink et al., 2007). The resulting glacio-isostatic effects would have further differentiated the sea-levelsignal between, for example, the Bay of Biscay, the EnglishChannel and the southern North Sea sub-regions. The latter regionwas the last to drown (because it hosted the peripheral forebulgecrest) but was still transgressed at a considerable rate (because ofthe extra subsidence due to forebulge collapse), recording a welldeveloped coastal plain throughout the climax and early coolingstages of the interglacial. Nevertheless, all the regions experiencedthe tailing out of sea-level rise resulting from the ocean siphoningprocess (Fig.1) on top of themore regional glacio-isostatic sea-levelrise signal.

3.3. Interglacial raised beaches

So far, the focus has been on coastal sequence preservation forsubsiding basins and their hinge zone areas. In the rest of the studyarea, over a considerable length of coast, raised-beach sedimentaccumulations are present, indicating that uplift occurred afterdeposition. Bates et al. (2003) present an overview of the raisedbeach series along the English Channel. Key examples occur on theCotentin Peninsula, in Brittany (Coutard et al., 2006) and on theopposite side of the Channel on the Sussex coastal plain. In manycases south of the Channel the raised beach series are loess covered.Typically, the highest levels of the series date back to ‘CromerianComplex’ times, and are possibly older. The raised beaches occupysmaller and larger (former) pockets along cliffed coasts: forexample, excavations at Boxgrove, Southern England, uncoveredpart of a buried land surface which extends over 10 km, as well asa fossil cliffline (Bates et al., 1997). Palaeolithic artefacts have beenrecovered from raised-beach deposits at several places, includingartefacts from deposits dating to the earlier Middle Pleistocene(Roberts and Parfitt, 1999; Wymer, 1999; 152), as well as the laterMiddle Pleistocene (Tuffreau and Antoine, 1995). Gravel-sized flintwas always available in these contexts, for local river systemsoperating during low stands as well as for hominin tool-makers.The oldest beaches with Palaeolithic finds are associated withArvicola and generally regarded as dating from last interglacial ofthe ‘Cromerian Complex’ (e.g. at Boxgrove and Bembridge: Preeceet al., 1990).

A key difference between these raised beaches and the coastalplains is the absence of a substantial zone of low land between theopen sea and upland in the former. The raised beach areas thereforeformed different habitats for hominins compared with the coastaland delta plains envisaged along the southern North Sea. Anotherkey difference is that in the raised-beach series, aggradationsderived from individual interglacials are vertically and spatiallyseparated, whereas in the Cromer Forest-bed Formation, trans-gressions from multiple interglacials are stacked, nested, andamalgamated at one shared elevation. The development of north-west Europe’s raised beaches from key interglacial high stands,i.e. those following the deepest glacial maxima of the ‘Cromerian’,profited from north-west Europe’s sea-level rise structure (Fig. 1).The tail of the sea-level rise during the climatic optimum wouldapproach the rate of tectonic uplift, so that these would cancel eachother out, creating semi-stable relative sea-level for a large part ofeach interglacial, with awell-developed cliff-foot beach ridge as theresult.

A ‘Cromerian Complex’ coastal zone is not preserved in thenorth-east of the English Channel, nor in its counterpart region, theSouthern Bight (e.g. Gibbard and Lautridou, 2003). Beaches in frontof chalk cliffs, interrupted by mouths of rivers such as the Arun,Somme and Seine were probably present in this area in the earlyMiddle Pleistocene, but from Anglian ‘proglaciation’ times onwardsthis has been an area of vertical erosion and lateral cliff retreat (seesection 2). The progressive coastline retreat in this sector of theEnglish Channel is also evident in the longitudinal gradient of theterrace flights of the Seine and Somme (Antoine et al., 2003). Northof the ‘Cromerian Complex’ coastal zone that connected France andBritain through the eastern English Channel, a terrestrial landscapeof structurally controlled geomorphology, similar to today’s chalkhill landscape of Artois and the Weald, has fallen prey to the sameerosion.

3.4. Interglacial fluvial terrace deposits

Sequences of fluvial terrace deposits, like the raised beaches,occur in regions of modest and stronger tectonic uplift, with

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downstream extensions into hinge zone areas. Besides the back-ground tectonic uplift rate, the valley incision patterns appear to beoverprinted by isostatic feedback effects arising from increasingrates of terrestrial sediment production and fluvial erosion in thelast w3 Ma (Maddy and Bridgland, 2000; Gibbard and Lewin,2009). In addition, the oscillating upward and downward move-ment of glacio- and hydro-isostasy, in response to the waxing andwaning ice masses on nearby Scotland and Scandinavia, can beconsidered a periodic force favouring incision (Maddy andBridgland, 2000; Lambeck et al., 2006). Moreover, the dischargeregime of rivers at Europe’s latitude switched from rain-fed tosnowmelt-fed and back through each glacial cycle, and much oftheir catchment area changed from forested to open steppe toforested with the same cyclicity. This affected peak discharge andsediment yield, and caused upstream parts of the network toaccumulate clastic debris carried by the rivers. This caused largerrivers further downstream in the network to widen, shift andcontract themselves in the valleys e over time leading to terraceformation. Consequently, virtually all long-lived river valleys innorth-west Europe have terrace flights, and many of them holdlevels of terrace deposits of Cromerian age, some tens of metresabove present floodplain level e the archaeological record fromthese terrace flights is discussed in the following section 4.

Along many of these rivers, the rate of valley incision appears tohave increased during ‘Cromerian Complex’ times, when theclimate oscillations became more severe (e.g. Gibbard and Lewin,2009), demonstrating terrace formation across north-west Europeto be the result of climate-tectonic interplay. In general, it isimportant to note that deposits from ‘along the edge’ of rivervalleys are preserved beneath terraces. The patches of terracedeposits are typically narrow. Their preservation was helped bycolluvial accumulations from hill slopes that buried these deposits,in addition to local alluvial aggradations from smaller tributaries.Rivers at a European latitude, located upstream of high standdeltaic or estuarine reaches, tend to widen their floodplains duringglacials and contract them at glacial-interglacial transitions(Busschers et al., 2007; Lewin and Gibbard, 2010). As a result,deposits formed by smaller rivers in the middle and later part of theinterglacial are likely to be eroded when the rivers expand in thesubsequent glaciation. In the wider valleys there may therefore bea tendency to preserve most fluvial deposits and associatedarchaeology from the beginning of an interglacial. Rivers aretherefore different from the coastal plains. In smaller valleys, wherelateral migration could shift channels between two sides of a valleyduring an interglacial, this may be less common. Hominins, ofcourse, may have lived on terraces above the active floodplain aswell as on it, and may have used gravel not only from active bars,but also from ancient terrace bodies, for example where a tributarydissected and exposed them. It is beyond the scope of this paper toreview all the geological evidence from rivers, or the variousmechanisms that explain the evidence, on which subject there arestrong differences in opinion. Instead, the next section reviews theriver valley evidence with their archaeological record as the entrypoint.

4. Early Palaeolithic archaeological records upstreamfrom coasts

The presence of stone artifacts associated with aMimomys faunain the Cromer Forest-bed Formation is unique in northern Europe,and it is notable that archaeology is present from several of theinterglacial periods represented in these extensive deposits. Thissection summarises the research history and available archaeo-logical records from ‘Cromerian Complex’-age deposits in severalriver valleys north of the Alps and Pyrenees. The focus is on the

river valleys of central and eastern England, the Rhine and Meuse,and the English Channel region. In these regions researchhas occurred over a particularly long period. In addition, similarclimatic and vegetational conditions probably prevailedthroughout north-west Europe, and hominins would have passedthrough other parts of this region to reach East Anglia. These aretherefore regions in which archaeological evidence contemporarywith that from Happisburgh sites 3 and 1, Pakefield, and Boxgrovewould be expected. In addition, these river valleys provide anopportunity to compare the archaeological record from coastalsituations (including the lower parts of each river valley, as well asthe Cromer Forest-bed Formation itself) with areas inland, andtherefore to assess the role of preservation and hominin preferencein shaping this pattern.

4.1. Thames, Medway and other rivers of central-eastern England

During ‘Cromerian Complex’ times, the Thames had its ownmouth in the North Sea during interglacial high stands, and joinedthe Rhine-Meuse system further north in times of lowered sea-level. The Thames valley is marked by gravel deposits known asthe Kesgrave Formation, and occupied a position inland of theSuffolk coastline, north of the present Thames Estuary. The highstand delta plain of the Thames merged with that of its right-handtributary, the Medway, and with local rivers of the coastal plain tothe north. Towards the east the coastal lowlandmergedwith that ofthe contemporary Scheldt, Meuse and Rhine rivers.

Many deposits of the Kesgrave Formation are buried underAnglian till; in locations where these gravels crop out, only a fewsurface finds of single handaxes have been reported (Wymer,1999; 132). The scarcity of artifacts is especially surprising giventhe large area covered by this group of deposits (Wymer, 1999;McNabb, 2007; 132). No artifacts have been recovered from fine-grained deposits at the Little Oakley interglacial site, which isplaced near the Mimomys-Arvicola transition (Bridgland et al.,1990). Artifacts are almost entirely absent in pre-Angliandeposits of the Medway (Wymer, 1999), although a single flakehas been recovered from Medway deposits attributed to c. 0.6 Ma(Wenban-Smith et al., 2007). Evidence for pre-Anglian occupationis similarly scarce in the Middle Thames valley and areas to thewest of it, despite detailed survey (Wymer, 1999; 44). This may,however, be due to poor preservation of pre-Anglian deposits inthe upper Middle Thames (McNabb, 2007), and to the fact that theLower Thames valley initiated itself after the Cromerian, resultingin major incision, dissection and erosion. A number of localitieswithin the Middle Thames have provided artifacts from soliflucteddeposits and high-level gravels, but it is currently unclear whetherthe former really come from pre-Anglian surfaces and whether thelatter are really associated with the high deposits (Wymer, 1999;52; McNabb, 2007; 120). Currently, the earliest secure evidenceindicates hominin presence in this area before the end of theAnglian, although it is not possible to say how long before(Wymer, 1999).

A number of sites located inland in central and eastern Englandhave been interpreted as of ‘Cromerian Complex’ age. At HighLodge, western East Anglia, stone tools in primary context havebeen recovered from ice-rafted fine-grained fluvial deposits(Ashton et al., 1992). The argument for a ‘Cromerian Complex’ age isbased on attribution of the glacial activity to the Anglian, as well asthe presence of a tooth of Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis which isunknown after the Cromerian (Stuart, 1992). In the same region,stone tools have been recovered from gravel deposits at a numberof locations, the largest assemblage being from Warren Hill(Bridgland et al., 1995). A ‘Cromerian Complex’ age for these siteshas been suggested based on attribution of the gravels to a large

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river, the Bytham, which disappeared after the Anglian glaciation(Rose, 1994). However, a recent reanalysis suggests that both thesegravels and the glacial deposits at High Lodge can be attributed toa younger glaciation which occurred w160 ka ago (Gibbard et al.,2009). Consequently, the age of the archaeology at High Lodgeand Warren Hill is debated (as it has been since its discovery), andthere is no unambiguous ‘Cromerian Complex’ archaeology in thisarea. At Waverley Wood, to the north-east of the sites discussedabove, a series of artefacts including handaxes have been recoveredfrom fluvial deposits in three channels (Shotton et al., 1993; Keenet al., 2006). The presence of Arvicola in the channel depositsindicates an age no earlier than the late ‘Cromerian Complex’, whilerecent amino acid racemization results are consistent with a late‘Cromerian Complex’ age (Penkman et al., 2010). This probablyprovides the best candidate for a site of late ‘Cromerian Complex’age located inland in Britain.

4.2. Rhine and Meuse rivers

The largest river system delivering sediment to the southernNorth Sea in ‘Cromerian Complex’ times was the river Rhine. A goodconnection between the Rhine foreland and the Alps and its Swiss(Aare) and South German foreland formed earlier in the Pleistocene(Boenigk and Frechen, 2006). The majority of its discharge wasgathered via the tributary catchments of the Moselle, Main, andNeckar, north of the Alps. The Middle Rhine contains flights of riverterraces and the Lower Rhine Embayment a more complex amal-gamation of terraced and buried fluvial deposits (e.g. Boenigk andFrechen, 2006). Multiple levels exist from within the ‘CromerianComplex’ Stage, the identification and downstream correlation ofwhich is greatly aided by Eifel volcanism, specifically magmachange during the major Riedener eruption(s), dated to w450 ka(Van den Boogaard and Schmincke, 1990; Schmincke, 2004). In theNetherlands’ lithostratigraphical scheme the mineralogical over-print of these eruptions is used to distinguish the pre-450 kaSterksel Formation (including deposits formed during the ‘Cro-merian Complex’ and outcropping in the south and southeastNetherlands) from the younger Urk Formation. The Upper RhineGraben, the central German tributary valleys and the Meuse valleylack this chronostratigraphical control. The distribution of the UrkFormation relative to the Sterksel Formation shows that majorreconfigurations of drainage into and out off the North Sea Basin(specifically the northwards diversion of the Rhine (Zagwijn andZonneveld, 1956; Zagwijn, 1986)) post-date the ‘CromerianComplex’ (Gibbard,1988; Busschers et al., 2008), andwere probablysynchronous with the previously mentioned southward diversionof the Thames (Gibbard, 1979) and caused by the same unusualproglacial circumstances associated with the Anglian glaciation.

The Rhine drainage basin has seen much interest in its earliestoccupation, as in many areas both by amateurs and by professionalresearchers. One of these amateurs published inferred flint artifactssaid to testify to a Plio-Pleistocene presence of hominins in theLower Rhine Embayment (Itermann, 1970). More recent claims foran Early Pleistocene hominin occurrence come from the site ofDorn-Dürkheim 3, in the north-east of the Upper Rhine Graben, butalso in this case the artefactual character of the quartzite and quartzartefacts is debatable (Baales et al., 2000). The 1980s and 1990switnessed a significant investment in the study of the earliestoccupation of the Neuwied Basin, along the Middle Rhine, wherethe river traverses the Eifel/Rhenish Massif (Bosinski, 2008).Despite all the fieldwork attention paid to deposits from the‘Mimomys-Zone’, especially in the exposures at Kärlich (Bosinski,2008), no unambiguous stone artefacts could be uncovered thatpre-date the appearance of Arvicola faunas in this area (Roebroeksand van Kolfschoten, 1994; Baales et al., 2000). The earliest

archaeological evidence from this region comes from Kärlich levelG and Miesenheim 1, in both cases associated with Arvicola. Themolluscan and small-mammal fauna from Miesenheim 1 indicatefully interglacial conditions with a climate more continental thantoday (Bosinski, 1995). The Mauer mandible, type specimen ofHomo heidelbergensis, was discovered in deposits of the RiverNeckar, in the north-east of the Upper Rhine Graben (Schoetensack,1908). The presence of Arvicola and other chronostratigraphicindicators suggest a late ‘Cromerian Complex’ age, and recentradiometric dates favour attribution toMIS 15 (Wagner et al., 2010).

Pleistocene Rhine deposits continue into the North Sea Basin,buried under the Holocene delta. In the basin, deposition and dis-sective reworking occurred in times of high, low and intermediatesea-level. The Lower Rhine in the Cromerian should be consideredan axial river, following the graben structure from the Lower RhineEmbayment towards the North Sea Basin depocentre, with therivers Meuse, Thames and smaller local rivers functioning as left-hand tributaries. In the ‘Cromerian Complex’ and preceding Pleis-tocene stages, the axial Rhine system had also shifted laterally, butstayed within the structurally controlled zone of the Roer ValleyRift System. This allowed the left-hand tributaries to build out theirown deposits, at times when the Rhine had shifted to the right-hand side of the graben (e.g. Cameron et al., 1992; Westerhoff,2009). In the Netherlands, early Middle Palaeolithic archaeologyhas been discovered in the post-‘Cromerian Complex’-age UrkFormation, from lowland fluvial sediments (Stapert, 1987) locatedin the former Rhine-Meuse confluence area (e.g. Busschers et al.,2008). These sites were encountered in quarries along the Saalianice limit, where post-‘Cromerian Complex’ deposits were upwardlydisplaced by glacier activity at 150 ka, duringMIS 6. No archaeologyhas been recovered from the Sterksel Formation, the grabendepocentres of which were out of reach of younger glaciationlimits, and which are presently buried between 30 and 50 m belowthe surface (Busschers et al., 2008; Westerhoff, 2009).

Meuse deposits, much richer in flint than Rhine deposits andexposed as terrace flights to the south of the North Sea Basin, havereceived considerable attention from a range of amateur-collectorsand professional geologists and archaeologists who publishedassumed artifacts from Meuse High Terrace gravels over the years(Thisse-Derouette, 1950; De Heinzelin, 1977). However, their arte-factual character is unclear. The same applies to the finds from theextensive karstic system at La Belle Roche, Sprimont, which hasyielded an early Middle Pleistocene fauna and some ’primitive‘stone artifacts, which have been heavily debated and interpreted asgeofacts (Roebroeks, 1986; Stapert, 1986); however see (Draily andCordy, 1997). The earliest unambiguous finds from the Meuse areaconsist of a few flint flakes retrieved from coarse gravels underlyingthe full interglacial river deposits at Maastricht-Belvédère (VanKolfschoten, 1990; van Kolfschoten et al., 1993). These finds coulddate to MIS 8 or, if the AAR dates on molluscs from the interglacialdeposits are correct (Meijer and Cleveringa, 2009), to the precedingcold stage, MIS 10. The small assemblage recovered in a primarycontext at Kesselt e Op de Schans (Belgium) is said to date to theMIS 8/MIS 9 transition, but the dating is thus far based on loess-stratigraphy only (van Baelen et al., 2008).

4.3. Seine, Somme and southern English rivers

South-west of the Dover landbridge, the English Channel existedas a marine embayment during all Early Pleistocene high stands,while during periods of low sea-level, down-cutting and depositiontook place by rivers including the Somme, Seine in France andSolent and Arun in England (Bates et al., 2003; Gibbard andLautridou, 2003). Both the Seine and Somme enter a large palaeo-valley extending for as much as 100 km beneath the present-day

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Channel (Antoine et al., 2003). Offshore, the highest bathymetricplatforms possibly represent river valley floors of ‘CromerianComplex’ age. Inland, ‘Cromerian Complex’-age levels are presenthigher up in the terrace flights of the rivers Somme and Seine (e.g.Antoine et al., 2003).

Explicit attention has been paid in the Somme valley to fluvialdeposits older than the ’classic‘ Acheulean sites from this areas, e.g.those around Cagny (Tuffreau and Antoine, 1995). As mentioned byAntoine et al. (2010), large-scale exposures of older river depositshave been studied in the context of the construction of major roads,but no unambiguous finds older than MIS 12 (i.e. Anglian/Elsterian;w450 ka) have been recovered thus far. Given the intensity withwhich the fluvial deposits of the Grâce Autoroute formation (c. 1Ma) were studied, Antoine et al. (2010) state explicitly that these‘are absolutely sterile in Palaeolithic artifacts’ (2010: 459). Thestratigraphic provenance of the Acheulean artefacts uncovered atAbbeville Carpentier quarry is still unresolved (Tuffreau et al.,2008): these could have come from fluvial deposits now ESR-dated to 600 ka, but also from overlying younger deposits(Antoine et al., 2010; Tuffreau and Lamotte, 2010). The oldest in situhuman occupations in the Somme are dated to at a maximum450e500 ka (i.e. early MIS 12) (Antoine et al., 2010). In the Seinebasin the oldest in situ Acheulean archaeological occurrence hasbeen documented at the site of La Celle, within a tufa sequenceattributed to MIS 11 (Limondin Lozouet et al., 2010).

In Southern England, the Solent was the major drainage channelof the Hampshire basin during the Pleistocene and flowed east-west, joining the Channel river east of what is now the Isle ofWhite (Allen and Gibbard, 1993). The scale of deposition of theSolent River is similar to that of the Thames and Seine, and it islikely to extend back to the Early Pleistocene (Allen and Gibbard,1993). The Solent presents chronological problems becausedifferent terrace schemes have developed for the different tributaryrivers, and because, due to a scarcity of faunal remains, bio-chronological evidence is limited. A small number of artefacts havebeen recovered from relatively high terraces, some of which can beconfidently assumed to derive from the gravels (see Ashton andHosfield, 2010 for a recent review). While there are no reliabledates for these older terraces, OSL dates for a younger terrace andthe number of intervening terraces suggest that these date to MIS13 at the latest (Briant et al., 2006; Ashton and Hosfield, 2010).

5. Discussion

The Introduction asked whether East Anglia showed theexceptional preservation of a series of large-scale interglacialpalaeolandscapes, with the implication that there is little to learnfrom the new discoveries at Happisburgh and Pakefield, other thanthat preservation matters. Analysis has now shown that conditionsin the Cromer Forest-bed Formation of coastal lowland East Angliawere unusually favourable for the preservation and discovery ofarchaeology, because these deposits 1) cover a relatively large area,2) were laid down during the early, full and later phases of theinterglacial, 3) include a series of interglacials, and 4) happened tobe preserved and re-exposed allowing archaeological investigation.‘Cromerian Complex’ raised beaches and associated sediments alsocontain deposits from the rarely preserved full interglacial context(for single interglacials). Along some coastal areas such as the areaaround Boxgrove these were preserved over greater distances,along other coasts (such as the Cotentin peninsula) they were onlypreserved in small pockets. In contrast, along the edge of north-west European river valleys, it is primarily the channels andfloodplain surfaces from the first part of interglacials that arepreserved. In the long run, more records from these fluvial envi-ronments were preserved than from coastal areas, with the coastal

plains of East Anglia being the exception to this ‘rule’. The CromerForest-bed Formation example is consistent with a general pattern:the preservation of coastal records only occurs under exceptionalcircumstances (Bailey et al., 2008).

In general, coastal plains in Europe produce depositional recordsthat can trap the archaeological record better than inland valleyenvironments of the same time period. This is due to the fact thatfavourable circumstances of prolonged sea-level rise continue wellinto the interglacial. In north-west Europe, the ancient coastal plainpreserved as the Cromer Forest-bed Formation exemplifies this, asdo submerged Holocene North Sea coastal plains (i.e. theMesolithicof the North Sea Basin), but for the Palaeolithic in between, furtherexamples are lacking due to the relatively poor preservation ofcoastal deposits. The absence of well-dated younger (<0.45 Ma)coastal plain deposits means that the importance of coastal habitatsfor hominins in later time periods cannot be evaluated using onlyobservation-based approaches (’inductive confirmation’ cf. Smith,1977). Nevertheless, taking a broader spatial and temporalperspective, some patterns can tentatively be inferred. The earlyPalaeolithic evidence from Atlantic north-west Europe suggeststhat hominins had a preference for coastal plains and the connectedlower parts of river valleys during times of interglacial climate.

5.1. Coastal dispersal and Palaeolithic site distribution pre w0.5 Ma

Fig. 2 shows the occurrence of European archaeological sites inthe time period under study. The micromammalMimomys-Arvicolatransition is used as a well-documented biochronological marker,allowing comparison of the distribution of older and youngerarchaeological sites in this time period. The Mimomys-Arvicolafaunal replacement occurred in the MIS 15-14-13 interval, i.e.between w0.6 and w0.5 Ma ago (Bosinski, 1995; von Koenigswaldand van Kolfschoten,1996; Preece and Parfitt, 2008). TheMimomys-associated sites are situatedmainly in Iberia and theMediterraneanarea, as well as in the coastal areas of Britain. Sites of ‘CromerianComplex’ age associated with Arvicola have been identified atMauer, Miesenheim 1 and Kärlich level G, and are all characterisedby benign interglacial climatic conditions. Acheulean sites from theLoire valley may overlap in age with the group associated withMimomys or Arvicola. In contrast, evidence for hominin activity incolder conditions and east of the Rhine River is only present in sitespost-dating the ‘Cromerian Complex’, from MIS 12-11 onwards.

To explain this pattern, it is hypothesized that beforew0.5e0.6 Ma hominins could only thrive in areas and periods withwarm-temperate conditions. Similarly, Hopkinson (2007) arguesthat high levels of seasonality formed a major barrier to LowerPalaeolithic colonization of Central Europe. In glacials this wouldrestrict them to southern Europe, and in interglacials it would allowthem to disperse northward along the interglacial Atlantic coastallowland zone (Fig. 2). The eastern extent of hominin distributionprobably changed over time, because the area with a favourableoceanic climate varied between interglacials, influenced by thechanging configuration of different marine bodies (Zagwijn, 1996).The Atlantic coastal plains provided rich resources year round,which may have allowed groups of hominins to survive the winter,cooler years, and even the cooling phase at the end of an inter-glacial and beginning of the subsequent cold period in parts ofnorth-west Europe. Moreover, it is inferred that this coastal climaticzone provided a dispersal ‘corridor’ or ‘filter route’ for northwarddispersal of hominin populations from southern Europe. However,this suggested route is not strictly constrained to coastal plains.Given that hominins are freshwater dependent, terrestrial, tool-making species, over-land dispersal, along river valleys andbetween coastal plains, is likely to have occurred where the inter-coast distances were relatively small. These near-coastal river

Fig. 2. North-west Europe’s Atlantic climate coastal zones and river networks as Lower Palaeolithic hominin dispersal pathways.

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valleys provided the necessary resources and a similar climate tothat on the coastal plains.

For example, in order to reach locations such as Pakefield andHappisburgh on the western edge of the southern North Sea basin,hominins must have crossed a land area of at least 100 km betweenthe English Channel and southern North Sea coasts (Fig. 2).A number of flint-carrying river systems drained south towards theEnglish Channel (Arun, Ouse, Rother) and other river systemsdrained north towards the North Sea (Medway, Kentish Stour). Inaddition, similar -now lost- former rivers drained the land area thatis the Dover Strait today. In ‘Cromerian Complex’ times, the rivers ofthe Weald-Artois area would have formed the shortest routebetween the English Channel and the southern North Sea coasts, inaddition to the now removed landbridge of the Dover region.Besides the availability of flint and the relatively open landscapes ofriver valleys, the favourable microclimate of slopes in chalk bedrock(caused by reflection of the sun’s rays) in some of these river valleysmade them appealing inland dispersal routes. Short land crossingsvia rivers are thus consistent with the coastal Atlantic dispersalhypothesis. Furthermore, during benign climatic conditions, occa-sional dispersals into interior Europe upriver from the coast (e.g. upthe Rhine to Mauer and Miesenheim, and up the Loire river to itstributaries) may have been possible.

5.2. Extension of Palaeolithic occupation to the continentalinterior, after w0.5 Ma

After 0.5 Ma, archaeological sites also appear in interior Europe,e.g. Schöningen and Bilzingsleben, both in Germany. From then on,sites also begin to show hominin presence during the relatively cool

periods (e.g Kärlich level H), before and after full interglacialconditions were established. This suggests that by that time hom-inins had adaptations that allowed them to disperse more effi-ciently from southerly (and easterly) glacial refugia, and were lessdependent on mild coastal Atlantic climate conditions. Afterw0.5 Ma hominins became more adept at dealing with coldtemperatures and/or seasonal scarcity of resources. This isreasonable given the paucity of archaeological evidence for keysurvival strategies, such as hunting and the use of fire, from the‘Cromerian Complex’ period. The earliest evidence for use of firedates to w300e400 ka (Roebroeks and Villa, 2011). This observa-tion may support an argument that control of fire played a role inhominin occupation of cooler and more continental conditionsfrom MIS 12 onwards. In addition, changes in the carnivore guildand the expansion of the distinctive ‘mammoth steppe’ faunaoccurred which may have added to the food resources available forhominins (Turner, 1992; Kahlke et al., 2011), making it possible tooccupy areas with a continental climate and survive in coolerclimatic phases.

The substantial increase in encephalization in Middle Pleisto-cene hominins (Ruff et al., 1997; Rightmire, 2004, 2008; Robson andWood, 2008) can also be interpreted in the light of the develop-ments sketched here. Although it is difficult to interpret braingrowth directly as growing cognitive ability, the increase could beassociated with increased capacity to deal with problems posed byliving in colder environments in novel ways, from the end of the‘Cromerian Complex’ onwards. In addition, when evaluating themerits of this hypothesis, alternative scenarios for the evolution ofEuropean hominins are relevant. If, as Hublin (2009) proposes, theNeandertal and H. sapiens populations diverged between 500 and

K.M. Cohen et al. / Quaternary International 271 (2012) 70e8380

400 ka, this would suggest that from MIS 11 or slightly earlieronwards, hominin populations in Europe were permanent resi-dents, able to cope with a wide range of conditions in e at leastsome areas within e this region, and isolated from populations inother regions. This would support the argument that afterw0.5 Mahominins became more adapted to colder conditions.

5.3. Future research strategies

A number of caveats should be made with regard to thehypothesis, and especially further testing of it in the future. Asdiscussed above, research history, methodological restrictions ondating and differences in preservation obscure the spatio-temporaldistribution of sites in Europe. For now, it is a fact that all of the‘Cromerian Complex’ sites are associated with interglacial s.l.conditions, and that the first evidence for hominin presence ininterior Europe dates to w0.5 Ma or later. That site inventory, andcomparison with subsequent site distribution, provides strongsupport for the hypothesis.

Here, a research strategy is formulated, focusing on interglacialCromerian (s.l.) deposits in the palaeo-coastal zone that may haveserved as a corridor for hominin dispersal between Iberia andBritain (Fig. 2). Based on the hypothesis, these are the areas inwhich archaeology is most likely to be preserved and in whichhominins are likely to have been present. The recovery of archae-ology from these areas would not provide an unambiguous test forthe hypothesis, because of the issue of disentangling preservationfrom preference. Locating more sites from this zone is of inherentvalue given the scarcity of ‘Cromerian Complex’ sites. In addition tothe Cromer Forest-bed Formation itself, a number of potentiallocalities are highlighted here:

� Atlantic river mouths, particularly those with relatively abun-dant flint, such as the Thames/Medway andMeuse in the north,and the Seine and Loire and Gironde towards the south. This isbecause such delta plains represent an ecotone in whichdiverse resources are present. In addition, the presence of flint,besides other rock types, in river and beach bars would providestone raw materials for tool production and increase the visi-bility of sites for archaeologists. Note that shells also formpotential tool material, in freshwater and marine shorelinesettings alike (Toth and Woods, 1989; Claassen, 1998; Douka,2010).

� Lower valleys of Atlantic rivers between Britain and Iberia. TheLoire river of central France provides an example of this. In itsMiddle and Lower reaches the Loire is joined by severaltributaries which are strongly affected by an Atlantic climate:the rivers Loir, Cher and Creuse. ESR-dating of opticallybleached quartz from the stepped terraces of these riverssuggests that ‘Cromerian Complex’-age deposits are present(Despriée et al., 2010; Voinchet et al., 2010). Central Francecurrently has an exceptional microclimate, ‘le climat ligérien’,which should be noted in this context, as it seems probable thatthis would not have been much different in Middle Pleistoceneinterglacials (see also introduction). Putative quartz artifactshave been found in the highest terrace levels (ESR-datedto w1.1 Ma) and more convincing Acheulean artifacts derivefrom a series of younger terrace deposits spanning the timeperiod from 700 to 600 ka to 400 ka (Despriée et al., 2010). Thisregion seems to be a valuable target for further investigation,based on assessment of the chronology by comparison withalternative methods of dating, and assessment of the archae-ological nature of the early finds.

� Raised beaches along the Atlantic coast. The coasts of Brittany,Normandy and Southern England along the English Channel

provide examples of these. Loess, dating from glacial periods ofsea-level low-stand, covers the raised beaches of this area(especially those in Brittany and Normandy) and acts asa protective cap over interglacial beaches. Because most of theloess cover post-dates Cromerian times (associated with theevolution of the Channel River, e.g. Gibbard and Lautridou,2003), those older deposits that are preserved along theEnglish Channel coast are relatively scattered, with localpreservation factors dominant. The raised beach series forwhich Boxgrove and like-aged sites are representative of thehighest/oldest level are exceptional in that they are preservedon a regional scale, and this was helpful in establishing the ageof this site. The challenge is to establish the ages of raisedbeaches that are preserved in more isolated situations, ofwhich some could date to the early part of the ‘CromerianComplex’ and may potentially bear archaeology.

At this stage of research, Atlantic habitat preference is aninference backed up by a few observations: ideally, it should bepossible to falsify this hypothesis, for instance by the discovery ofa pre-MIS 13 site in Central Europe (for example in Poland). Inaddition to further investigating the areas identified above, therecommended research strategy would be to seekmore evidence totest the existence of a west-east gradient in site age at the scale ofcontinental Europe. This could include further investigation ofareas far into the interior of Europe: deposits of the relevant age arepreserved outside the area of former glaciation and have beeninvestigated for archaeological evidence (Kukla, 1977; Valoch,1995). Further assessment of the role of preservation, addressingfor example the implications of variation between different rivervalleys, also demands a large study area. Review of biogeographicalrelationships between hominins and other mammals could provideadditional data and arguments, explaining why the Atlantic coastalregion allowed faster dispersal and more successful homininoccupation than continental regions, or contradicting that idea.

6. Conclusions

This paper provides an Atlantic coastal perspective on the earlyPalaeolithic occupation of Europe. The introduction to this articleposed a number of questions related to the early coastal plain sitesof Pakefield and HSB3. Do the HSB3 finds testify to an ‘adaptation’to cooler climatic conditions, as has been suggested by Parfitt et al.(2010)? Or were hominins present on the relatively cool HSB3 coastin Britain because they could disperse and survive there thanks tothe specific Atlantic coastal circumstances even when climateconditions were not as warm as in Pakefield times? Or werehominins also present during the HSB3 time period onwhat is nowthe continent further to the east in Europe where materials werenot preserved, or preserved but not accessible? The answers are No,Yes and No, respectively, based on the observed site distributionand preservation patterns, and on the inferred advantages ofcoastal occupation for early hominin survival and dispersal. It isdifficult to unambiguously disentangle the role of preference andpreservation in shaping the pattern of site distribution on theAtlantic coasts and rivers of north-west Europe. However, the factthat all evidence for occupation outside interglacials or east of theRhine post-dates the ‘Cromerian Complex’ provides support for thehypothesis that before w0. 5 Ma hominins could only thrive inareas and periods with warm-temperate conditions. Homininoccupation of more inland and colder areas (as seen in depositsyounger than 0. 5 Ma) may reflect novel hominin adaptation,possibly related to increased encephalization and control of fire.

On a more abstract level, the hypothesis provides a theoreticalunderpinning for connecting the seemingly isolated Palaeolithic

K.M. Cohen et al. / Quaternary International 271 (2012) 70e83 81

sites in East Anglia to the early Palaeolithic of the rest of Europe,and helps to develop theory regarding changes in the adaptationsof the Early and Middle Pleistocene hominins of western Eurasia.

Acknowledgments

This is a contribution to Cost Action TD0902 SPLASHCOSSubmerged Prehistoric Archaeology and Landscapes of the Conti-nental Shelf.

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