Monument record 557/0/1 - Palaeolithic mammal fossils and possible water hole, Little Houghton

A collection of large mammal bones was found at the base of terrace gravels during gravel extraction. The fauna was probably associated with a watering hole as part of a warm, dry and marshy, or pond-dominated, floodplain. The fauna includes straight-tusked elephant, and an Ipswichian date is possible.

{1} Observation of gravel extraction revealed a depression in the bedrock which contained weathered and organic-rich Blue Lias mudstone clay. A large number of fragmented, unrolled bones, tusks and teeth of megaherbivores were found buried within, and impressed into, the weathered Blue Lias mudstone clay around the perimeter of the depression. The bones included the lower jawbone and teeth of an immature straight-tusked elephant. Also identified were mammoth, wolly rhinocerous and a possible warm-stage bison.

{2} The fauna was, in all probability, associated with a watering hole as part of a warm, dry and marshy, or pond-dominated, floodplain. An Ipswichian date (Oxygen Isotope Stage 5e) is possible for this deposit in a period where Britain was abandonned by hominines.

<1> Smith, K A, 1995, Mammal Fossils and a Possible Water Hole and Pathway from the Nene Valley, Northampton (Article). SNN112222.

<2> Knight, D.; Vyner, B. & Allen, C., 2012, East Midlands Heritage: An Updated Research Agenda and Strategy for the Historic Environment of the East Midlands (Policy Document). SNN108202.

Record last edited

Feb 20 2025 4:10PM