HISTORY OF MAMMAL FAUNA DURING IPSWICHIAN-LAST INTERGLACIAL IN ENGLAND

Changes in the mammal fauna, in relation to climatic and vegetational changes, during the Ipswichian interglacial in England were followed using fossil material related to the pollen stratigraphy. The stratigraphy at each site and the climatic, vegetational and archaeological histories of the interglacial are summarized. The faunal records are tabulated. In response to climatic amelioration the tundra-like flora and fauna (e.g., lemmings, mammoth, horse, woolly rhinoceros and reindeer) of the Wolstonian glacial stage gave way to regional mixed oak forest and a temperate fauna (e.g., wood mouse, straight-tusked elephant, hippopotamus and fallow deer) by zone Ip IIb. Locally deforested areas in river valleys, indicated by high herb pollen levels at several sites, in zone Ip IIb probably supported such animals as the rhinoceros Dicerorhinus hemitoechus and giant deer. These areas of herb-dominated vegetation may have resulted largely from the activities of herbivorous mammals. The apparent regional thinning of the forest in zone Ip III was accompanied by the reappearance of mammoth and horse. The occurrence of typically cold stage mammals (e.g., lemmings, woolly rhinoceros and musk ox) together with temperate forms in the Crayford deposits, thought to date from the end of the Ipswichian, appears to be related to generally open vegetational conditions and perhaps a more continental climate. In the succeeding Devensian glacial stage the fauna was similar to that of the Wolstonian. Artifacts sometimes associated with large mammal remains, are recorded at several sites but the possible influence of man on the faunal history is difficult to assess. The taxonomy of Crocidura, voles, rhinoceroses and elephants is discussed. [Species discussed include C. cf. suareolens, Microtus agrestis, M. oeconomus, Microtus sp., Arvicola cantiana, D. hemitoechus, Coelodonta antiquitatus, Palaeoloxodon antiquus and Mammuthus primigenius].