The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

Chapter Two
The Lateglacial or Late and Final
Upper Palaeolithic colonization of
Britain
Nicholas Barton
THE FRAMEWORK
The record of human settlement of Britain in the Palaeolithic can be seen as a series of intermittent
episodes, comprising periods of occupation punctuated by intervals when the British peninsula
became substantially depopulated or was abandoned. One of the most recent cycles of
abandonment and colonization occurred towards the end of the last Ice Age, during the Upper
Palaeolithic. In this chapter, evidence for the timing of reoccupation of Britain following the last
glacial maximum about 18,000 BP (uncalibrated radiocarbon years ago) will be reviewed. The
distribution and nature of human settlement patterns in the Lateglacial will also be considered.
The earliest reappearance of hunter-gatherer populations in Britain following the retreat of
the ice sheets of the Dimlington stadial (Table 2.1) seems to have taken place sometime after
13,000 BP (Housley et al. 1997). Claims for earlier recolonization have been made on the basis of
now discredited radiocarbon dates on human remains from Paviland Cave, West Glamorgan (the
so-called ‘Red Lady’), and animal bone from Kent’s Cavern, Devon. In the case of Paviland,
redating of the bone has shown that the male individual was buried some 26,350±550 radiocarbon
years ago, well before the maximum of the last glaciation. The date on brown bear (Ursus arctos)
of 14,275±120 BP from Kent’s Cavern appears to record a natural occurrence unconnected with
human activities (Jacobi 1980). In consequence, there is at present no evidence that Britain was
recolonized before the beginning of Lateglacial interstadial climatic amelioration.
The context for studying early human resettlement patterns in the Lateglacial is provided by
information on the absolute chronology of this period. Traditionally, the dating sequence for the
Lateglacial has been based on pollen chronozones. The interstadial (warm)/stadial (cool) succession
of Oldest Dryas/Middle Weichselian (stadial)—Bølling (interstadial)—Older Dryas (stadial)—
Allerød (interstadial)—Younger Dryas (stadial)—Postglacial (interglacial) is still the most widely
accepted framework used in Europe (Table 2.1). Correlation of these oscillations on a global
scale and even across Europe has, however, proved extremely difficult, due to the varying strengths
of the climatic signal from region to region. For example, in Britain few pollen diagrams contain
evidence for the Older Dryas stadial. This has led to the development of local terms for describing
the Lateglacial succession (Table 2.1).
Alternative means of reconstructing Lateglacial palaeotemperatures are provided by the analysis
of fossil beetle faunas, and these have been especially important in identifying periods of very
rapid climatic change, when the migration of plants was outstripped by insects. More recently, a