A Middle Devensian woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) from Whitemoor Haye Quarry, Staffordshire (UK): palaeoenvironmental context and significance

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.

The use of uplift modelling in the reconstruction of drainage development and landscape evolution in the repeatedly glaciated Trent catchment, English Midlands, UK

“…These 'Lower Sands' yielded two OSL dates that Schreve et al (2013) considered reliable, which are 24±4 and 22±3 ka when calculated using standard corrections for moisture saturation (and thus comparable with the TVPP OSL dates reported above); the overlying 'Upper Gravels' likewise yielded two more apparently reliable OSL dates, of 15±2 and 11±2 ka. However, Schreve et al (2013) argued that these sediments had probably been water-saturated since deposition, requiring larger corrections for this effect, increasing the four calculated numerical ages to 39±6, 37±6, 28±4 and 19±3 ka, respectively. Furthermore, the two OSL dates for the 'Upper Gravels' are not in stratigraphic order; combining them gives weighted means (each plus-or-minus twice the standard error) of 13.0±2.8 ka or 22.2±3.4 ka, depending on choice of correction for water-saturation (Fig.…”

“…Given the stratigraphic complexity and the uncertainties in the available dating it is indeed possible that the fossiliferous sediments at Whitemoor Haye (and, potentially, also at Coleshill and Quorn) might be exhumed remnants of the Beeston Sand and Gravel or its counterparts, potentially also dating from the 'Denekamp Interstadial'; such an age would indeed be consistent with the older alternative age span for the OSL dates from the 'Lower Sands at Whitemoor Haye (Fig. 6), although Schreve et al (2013) favoured their radiocarbon dates over this interpretation of the OSL dating and thus assigned the C. antiquitatis occurrence at Whitemoor Haye earlier, to GI 12 (equivalent to the Hengelo Interstadial), which they placed at ~47 ka using Greenland ice core data. Pending resolution of the precise cause of the evident mismatches between radiocarbon and OSL dates, and any associated uncertainties in the stratigraphy, we adopt nominal ages of 25 ka and 21 ka for the phases of development of the Trent system depicted in Fig.…”

“…Schreve et al (2013) reported calibrated radiocarbon dates from these bones in the range 44.5-47.8 ka as well as OSL dates from the basal Pleistocene sediments (their 'Lower Sands'), possibly from a higher stratigraphic level than that from which the rhinoceros bone was recovered. These 'Lower Sands' yielded two OSL dates that Schreve et al (2013) considered reliable, which are 24±4 and 22±3 ka when calculated using standard corrections for moisture saturation (and thus comparable with the TVPP OSL dates reported above); the overlying 'Upper Gravels' likewise yielded two more apparently reliable OSL dates, of 15±2 and 11±2 ka. However, Schreve et al (2013) argued that these sediments had probably been water-saturated since deposition, requiring larger corrections for this effect, increasing the four calculated numerical ages to 39±6, 37±6, 28±4 and 19±3 ka, respectively.…”

“…Another instance of relatively old sediments at the expected level of the Holme Pierrepont Sand and Gravel is at Whitemoor Haye Quarry (SK173127) near the Tame-Trent confluence, where sediments beneath the First Terrace of the Upper Trent have yielded palaeoenvironmental data indicative of MIS 3 and well preserved (but not recovered in situ) skeletal remains of the woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis (Schreve et al, 2013). Schreve et al (2013) reported calibrated radiocarbon dates from these bones in the range 44.5-47.8 ka as well as OSL dates from the basal Pleistocene sediments (their 'Lower Sands'), possibly from a higher stratigraphic level than that from which the rhinoceros bone was recovered.…”

Quaternary fluvial archives and landscape evolution: a global synthesis

“…The only technique that can be used to measure the age of minerogenic (clastic) fluvial sediment directly is luminescence dating; variants of this technique have undergone many refinements in recent years and have been very widely used for dating the last exposure to daylight of sand grains in fluvial sediments (e.g., Murray and Wintle, 2000;Schokker et al, 2005;Briant et al, 2006;Briant and Bateman, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 2009; Pawley et al, 2010;Schreve et al, 2013). Its range is dependant on natural radiation doses; in low-dose situations it can provide dates for quartz grains approaching 0.5 Ma (e.g., Pawley et al, 2010), with a promise of longer ranges from feldspar in the future (cf.…”