A Middle Devensian woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) from Whitemoor Haye Quarry,Staffordshire (UK): palaeoenvironmental context and significance |
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| Authors: | Danielle Schreve Andy Howard Andrew Currant Stephen Brooks Simon Buteux Russell Coope Barnaby Crocker Michael Field Malcolm Greenwood James Greig Phillip Toms |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK;2. Institute of Archaeology & Antiquity, University of Birmingham, UK;3. Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, London, UK;4. Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum, London, UK;5. School of Geography Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK;6. Faculty of Archeology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands;7. Department of Geography, Loughborough University, UK;8. School of Natural and Social Sciences, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK |
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| Abstract: | This paper reports the discovery of a rare partial skeleton of a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis Blumenbach, 1799) and associated fauna from a low Pleistocene terrace of the River Tame at Whitemoor Haye, Staffordshire, UK. A study of the sedimentary deposits around the rhino skeleton and associated organic‐rich clasts containing pollen, plant and arthropod remains suggests that the animal was rapidly buried on a braided river floodplain surrounded by a predominantly treeless, herb‐rich grassland. Highlights of the study include the oldest British chironomid record published to date and novel analysis of the palaeoflow regime using caddisfly remains. For the first time, comparative calculations of coleopteran and chironomid palaeotemperatures have been made on the same samples, suggesting a mean July temperature of 8–11 °C and a mean December temperature of between ?22 and ?16 °C. Radiocarbon age estimates on skeletal material, supported by optically stimulated luminescence ages from surrounding sediments, indicate that the rhino lived around 41–43 k cal a BP. The combined geochronological, stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental evidence places the assemblage firmly within the Middle Devensian (Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3). This would agree with other regional evidence for the timing of aggradation for the lowest terrace of the Trent and its tributary systems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | Devensian Invertebrates Palaeoenvironments River Trent Woolly rhinoceros |
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