New results on deer from swanscombe,and the stratigraphical significance of deer in the middle and upper pleistocene of Europe

The value and limitations of mammalian fossils as biostratigraphic indicators in the Pleistocene are discussed. Aspects of a species' history which are of potential biostratigraphic value are its overall stratigraphic range, shifts in geographical distribution, evolutionary transitions, and changing abundance in the fauna. These form a complex pattern which must be established in some detail before a species can be used in dating a “new” locality. The major features of stratigraphic range, distributional history, and evolution of each of the nine species of cervid from Britain and mainland Europe during the Middle and Upper Pleistocene are outlined, with notes on their possible biostratigraphic value. Some new results on the deer remains from Swanscombe are presented. Fallow deer can be referred to subspecies Dama dama clactoniana only in the Basal and Lower Gravels and Lower Loam. There is no evidence of change in its body size within the sequence. An idiosyncrasy in the lower dentition of Swanscombe fallow is described. The red deer was the “coronate” form, and was of small body size. The giant deer was of small body size, and may have shared the broad brow tines of the Steinheim population. Roe is rare and elk is absent. The Swanscombe deer suggest a post-Cromerian, interglacial dating of all faunal levels at the site. They are consistent with a wholly Hoxnian age, but precise contemporaneity with Hoxne Bed 1 is unlikely, and the possibility of additional stages being represented cannot be excluded.