| Abstract: | Deer species provide a valuable biostratigraphical tool through Cromer Forest-bed times, due particularly to species turnover between the Early and early Middle Pleistocene. This study is based on the reidentification of 348 fossil antlers. The provenance of most large mammal fossils from the CF-bF, collected over 150 years, was recorded only by the nearest coastal village. None the less, analysis of the cervid taxa by these ‘localities’ reveals interesting patterns. The fauna of the West Runton Freshwater Bed is of early Middle Pleistocene complexion, and that from the foreshore at East Runton is of Early Pleistocene. Pure or nearly pure early Middle Pleistocene assemblages also occur at Kessingland-Pakefield and at Trimingham. At Overstrand, Sidestrand, Mundesley, Bacton and Happisburgh, there is a mixture of Early and early Middle Pleistocene elements. Analysis of Savin's data shows that fossils of earlier species were generally found further down the beach than those of later ones. Late nineteenth century geological surveys, made when bone collecting was at its peak, give additional information about fossil horizons, which in several cases can be related to modern stratigraphical units. Most Early Pleistocene large-mammal bones came from Pastonian conglomerates, in contrast to small-mammal and molluscan assemblages mostly extracted from Pre-Pastonian Crag. However, the diversity of Early Pleistocene CF-bF cervid species in comparison with continental faunas, and their pattern of distribution between sites, suggests they may span more than one chronostratigraphic stage. Early Middle Pleistocene assemblages came from strata now referred to the Cromerian, and the differing proportions of taxa between sites provide limited evidence of time-transgression. |
