Molluscan and ostracod successions from Dierden's Pit, Swanscombe: insights into the fluvial history, sea-level record and human occupation of the Hoxnian Thames

Swanscombe, Kent, is an internationally renowned hominin site located on the south bank of the River Thames, east of London. The Swanscombe sequence has been reconstructed from exposures at several localities from which important archaeological and palaeontological assemblages have been recovered. The most important of these is Barnfield Pit, where two stone-tool industries (Clactonian and Acheulian) have been recorded in superposition, together with three refitting pieces of a hominin skull associated with the Acheulian. Dierden's Pit (=Ingress Vale), ∼0.5 km to the north of Barnfield Pit, has also yielded Palaeolithic artefacts but is best known as a source of abundant non-marine molluscs and as the type locality for the water vole Arvicola cantiana. This paper describes the molluscan and ostracod successions through the Dierden's Pit sequence, which shed light on important aspects of the fluvial, sea-level and archaeological histories of the Thames during MIS 11. A dramatic change occurs in the molluscan record at Swanscombe, marked by the appearance of the 'Rhenish suite' of freshwater molluscs, which has previously been used to suggest confluence of the Thames and Rhine systems. The 'Rhenish suite' occurs in the Middle Gravels at Barnfield Pit and throughout the Shell bed at Dierden's Pit, where the component species did not appear simultaneously but colonized the Thames in an ordered sequence. The occurrence of the 'Rhenish suite' provides a secure basis for correlation of important archaeological horizons at Swanscombe, which have previously been mis-correlated on the basis of artefact typology. Moreover, it enables correlation with other MIS 11 sequences, some of which (Clacton and East Hyde) can be directly linked to the pollen stratigraphy of the Hoxnian. The ostracod succession at Dierden's Pit provides the first clear evidence of increasing brackish influence at Swanscombe and has formed the basis for palaeoclimatic reconstructions using the Mutual Ostracod Temperature Range (MOTR) method.