John E. Whittaker

The earliest record of human activity in northern Europe

The colonization of Eurasia by early humans is a key event after their spread out of Africa, but the nature, timing and ecological context of the earliest human occupation of northwest Europe is uncertain and has been the subject of intense debate. The southern Caucasus was occupied about 1.8 million years (Myr) ago, whereas human remains from Atapuerca-TD6, Spain (more than 780 kyr ago) and Ceprano, Italy (about 800 kyr ago) show that early Homo had dispersed to the Mediterranean hinterland before the Brunhes–Matuyama magnetic polarity reversal (780 kyr ago). Until now, the earliest uncontested artefacts from northern Europe were much younger, suggesting that humans were unable to colonize northern latitudes until about 500 kyr ago. Here we report flint artefacts from the Cromer Forest-bed Formation at Pakefield (52° N), Suffolk, UK, from an interglacial sequence yielding a diverse range of plant and animal fossils. Event and lithostratigraphy, palaeomagnetism, amino acid geochronology and biostratigraphy indicate that the artefacts date to the early part of the Brunhes Chron (about 700 kyr ago) and thus represent the earliest unequivocal evidence for human presence north of the Alps.

Early Pleistocene human occupation at the edge of the boreal zone in northwest Europe

The dispersal of early humans from Africa by 1.75 Myr ago led to a marked expansion of their range, from the island of Flores in the east to the Iberian peninsula in the west. This range encompassed tropical forest, savannah and Mediterranean habitats, but has hitherto not been demonstrated beyond 45° N. Until recently, early colonization in Europe was thought to be confined to the area south of the Pyrenees and Alps. However, evidence from Pakefield (Suffolk, UK) at ∼0.7 Myr indicated that humans occupied northern European latitudes when a Mediterranean-type climate prevailed. This provided the basis for an ‘ebb and flow’ model, where human populations were thought to survive in southern refugia during cold stages, only expanding northwards during fully temperate climates. Here we present new evidence from Happisburgh (Norfolk, UK) demonstrating that Early Pleistocene hominins were present in northern Europe >0.78 Myr ago when they were able to survive at the southern edge of the boreal zone. This has significant implications for our understanding of early human behaviour, adaptation and survival, as well as the tempo and mode of colonization after their first dispersal out of Africa.

The early evolutionary history of planktonic foraminifera

List of Contributors. Preface and Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction M.K. BouDagher-Fadel, et al. 2.The Jurassic Favusellacea, the Earliest Globigerinina M.D. Simmons, et al. 3. The Early Cretaceous Families M.K. BouDagher-Fadel, et al. 4. The Favusellidae-the Cretaceous Acme of the Favusellacea M.K. BouDagher-Fadel, et al. 5. The Practical Taxonomy of the Praehedbergellidae M.K. BouDagher-Fadel, et al. 6. The Earliest Praehedbergellidae-Gorbachikella M.K. BouDagher-Fadel et al. 7. The Flowering of the Praehedbergellidae: Praehedbergella M.K. BouDagher-Fadel, et al. 8. Blefuscuiana, The Longest Ranging and Most Diverse of the Praehedbergellidae M.K. BouDagher-Fadel, et al. 9. The Praehedbergellidae with Elongate Chambers-Lilliputianella, Lilliputianelloides gen.nov. and Wondersella. M.K. BouDagher-Fadel, et al. 10. The Planispiral Schackoinidae (Blowiella, Claviblowiella gen.nov., Globigerinelloides, Leupoldina and Schackoina M.K. BouDagher-Fadel, et al. 11. The Evolution of the Hedbergellidae M.K. BouDagher-Fadel, et al. 12. The Evolution of the Planomalinidae M.K. BouDagher-Fadel, et al. 13. Aspects of the Probable Physiology and Ecology of the Praehedbergellidae, Aided by Studies of Living Globigerinaccea M.K. BouDagher-Fadel, et al. Appendix. References.

Intertidal Mangrove Foraminifera From The Central Great Barrier Reef Shelf, Australia: Implications for Sea-Level Reconstruction

Contemporary foraminiferal samples and environmental information were collected from three fringing mangrove environments (Sandfly Creek Transect 1 and 2, and Cocoa Creek) in Cleveland Bay, and an estuarine mangrove environment (Saunders Creek) in Halifax Bay, on the central Great Barrier Reef (GBR) coastline, Australia, to elucidate the relationship of the foraminiferal assemblages with the environment. The data support the vertical zonation concept, which suggests that the distribution of foraminifera in the intertidal zone is usually a direct function of elevation, with the duration and frequency of subaerial exposure as the most important factor. An agglutinated foraminiferal assemblage dominated by Miliammina fusca, Trochammina inflata, Ammotium directum and Haplophragmoides sp. exists at the landward edge of the field sites, in a zone between just above Mean Low Water of Neap Tides to Highest Astronomical Tide level (a vertical range of 1.8 m). In addition, a foraminiferal assemblage dominated by Ammonia aoteana is found at all sites, existing between just below Mean Low Water of Neap Tides and Mean High Water of Neap Tides (a vertical range of 0.8 m). These assemblages may be used to reconstruct sea level from fossil cores from the area.

Contemporary foraminiferal distributions of a mangrove environment, Great Barrier Reef coastline, Australia: implications for sea-level reconstructions

Abstract Contemporary foraminiferal samples and associated environmental information were collected from Cocoa Creek, a mesotidal fringing mangrove environment on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) coastline, Australia, to elucidate the relationship of the foraminiferal assemblages with elevation and environment. There is a strong and highly significant relationship between elevation and the foraminiferal assemblages, supporting the intertidal vertical zonation concept, which suggests that the distribution of foraminifera in the intertidal zone is usually a direct function of elevation, with the most important controlling factors being the duration and frequency of subaerial exposure. Multivariate analyses separate the intertidal foraminiferal assemblages into three elevational zones, with Zone I the highest and Zone III the lowest: Zones I and II are dominated by agglutinated species Trochammina inflata and Miliammina fusca , respectively; and Zone III is dominated by calcareous species, notably Ammonia tepida and Elphidium discoidale multiloculum . These assemblage zones are similar to those found in both tropical and temperate intertidal environments. A predictive transfer function has been developed to allow reconstruction of former sea levels for tropical environments, based upon the relationship between foraminiferal assemblage and elevation. Results suggest that a precision of ±0.07 m should be attainable, superior to most similar studies from temperate, mid latitude environments. Our work has produced the first foraminifera-based transfer function for environmental interpretations for tropical Australia, and allows the potential development of a new generation of high-resolution sea-level reconstructions for the post-glacial sequences of the GBR shelf.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MODERN FORAMINIFERAL DATA SET FOR SEA-LEVEL RECONSTRUCTIONS, WAKATOBI MARINE NATIONAL PARK, SOUTHEAST SULAWESI, INDONESIA

We collected modern foraminiferal samples to characterize the foraminiferal environments and investigate the role that temporal and spatial variability may play in controlling the nature and significance of foraminiferal assemblages of the mangroves of Kaledupa, Wakatobi Marine National Park, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. The study of foraminiferal live and dead assemblages indicates that dead assemblages are least prone to vary in time and space, and furthermore, they accurately represent the subsurface assemblages that are the focus of paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Further analyses of the dead assemblages indicate a vertical zonation of foraminifera within the intertidal zone. Zone D-Ia is dominated by agglutinated foraminifera Arenoparrella mexicana, Miliammina fusca , M. obliqua and Trochammina inflata . Zone D-Ib has mixed agglutinated/calcareous assemblages with species such as T. inflata and Ammonia tepida. Zone D-II is dominated by numerous calcareous species including A. tepida , Discorbinella bertheloti, Elphidium advenum and Quinqueloculina spp. Zone D-Ia is found to be the most accurate sea-level indicator and its assemblages are omnipresent world-wide. Zones D-Ib and D-II are subject to both spatial and temporal variations which must be included in any sea-level reconstructions.

Late Middle Pleistocene deposits at Norton Farm on the West Sussex coastal plain, southern England

The coastal plain of West Sussex, southern England, is internationally important because of the sequence of discrete high-sea-level events preserved at Various elevations across it. New evidence is presented from a site at Norton Farm, near Chichester, on the Lower Coastal Plain, where Pleistocene marine sands, fining upwards into silts, occur between 5.3 m and 9.1 m OD. The sequence reflects a regressive tendency at the transition from an interglacial to a cold stage. The marine sands have yielded foraminifera, ostracods and molluscs that indicate a declining marine influence through the sequence, culminating in a tidal mudflat, strongly weathered in places. Cool-climate foraminifera (including Elphidium clavatum, Cassidulina reniformis and Elphidium albiumbilicatum) and ostracods have been recovered from the marine sands. Some species with an apparent preference for warmer water conditions, however, are also present. Freshwater taxa washed into the terminal marine sediments include some cold climate indicators, such as Pisidium stewarti and P. obtusale lapponicum. Additional evidence for cool climatic conditions during the deposition of the upper part of the marine sequence is provided by the lack of tree taxa in the pollen record and by features of the micromorphology. The marine sediments probably began accumulating during OIS 7, a conclusion based on their elevation, on amino acid ratios from shells, but especially on vertebrate evidence, particularly the presence of a small form of horse, together with a large, distinctive, form of northern vole (Microtus oeconomus). The occurrence of cool climate indicators in these marine sediments may demonstrate a lag between the climatic deterioration and the expected glacio-eustatic fall in relative sea-level. This evidence appears to support the conclusions drawn from the study of coral terraces in Barbados. Such a scenario would provide the conditions necessary for the emplacement of the large erratic boulders reported from the Lower Coastal Plain of West Sussex. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Planktonic foraminifera from the Pliocene Coralline Crag of Suffolk, Eastern England

Nine species of planktonic foraminifera have recently been identified from the Coralline Crag of Suffolk, Eastern England. Stratigraphically important species include Globorotalia puncticulata (Deshayes) and Neogloboquadrina atlantica (Berggren) whose joint ranges, based on evidence from the North Atlantic, indicate an age for the deposit of between c. 4.2 and 2.3 Ma; other published evidence suggests that it may not be younger than c. 3.4 Ma. The low planktonic foraminiferal species diversity is interpreted as being due to a combination of factors, including the shallow water nature of the Coralline Crag, which would preclude deeper water species of planktonic foraminifera, and the possibility that the source of the fauna was from relatively high latitudes of the North Atlantic via the northern entrance to the North Sea. The planktonic foraminifera recorded indicate that the water temperature of the sea was within the range 10–18°C. The Coralline Crag contains very rich Lusitanian faunas of gastropod and bivalve molluscs, bryozoans, ostracods and benthic foraminifera.

Ostracods and the Holocene palaeolimnology of Lake Qarun, with special reference to past human-environment interactions in the Faiyum (Egypt).

We present an ostracod record covering the past two millennia from an 8.25-m core taken from Lake Qarun, in the Faiyum Depression of Egypt. The occurrence of ostracod species in the lake is controlled primarily by variations in solute composition, which are in turn related to shifts in catchment land use. At times when the Faiyum Depression supported thriving agriculture, lake water contained Na+–Cl− brine, and Cyprideis torosa dominated the ostracod assemblage. When the Faiyum Depression experienced periods of environmental and economic decline, lake water contained Na+–HCO3− brine, and Limnocythere inopinata dominated. The relative abundance of other ostracod species provides additional information about past conditions in Lake Qarun including salinity and lake level changes. Overall, the ostracod assemblages provide evidence for human influences in the Faiyum, which extend back before instrumental or detailed observational records began.

Middle Pleistocene molluscan and ostracod faunas from Allhallows, Kent, UK

Although known from the nineteenth century, the terraces of the Medway have been far less frequently described in the literature than those of the Thames. In particular, the well known fossiliferous occurrences of such sites as Swanscombe, Purfleet and Aveley have no counterpart in the Medway, despite the two rivers forming part of the same basin. Here we describe molluscan and ostracod faunas of Middle Pleistocene age from Allhallows, Kent close to the modern confluence of the two rivers, which begin to allow correlation of the Medway terraces with the better known Thames succession.