The Prehistoric Deer of the East Anglian Crag Deposits

THE PREHISTORIC DEER OF THE EAST ANGLIAN CRAG DEPOSITS by

HAROLD E .

P.

SPENCER,

F.G.S.

THE earliest remains of members of the cervidae are to be found in the Basements of the Coralline Crag, and represent fossils of animals which lived on a Continental land surface of an earlier P L I O C E N E epoch before the incursion of the sea in which the Coralline Crag was deposited. Shed antler bases are the only remains by which these deer may be determined and these constitute the great number of fossils in collections. There are some teeth and a few fragmentary limb bones, also specimens of the astragalus (the ankle bone) ; none of these can be referred to any species. To judge by the number of specimens in the unrivalled Ipswich Museum collection an extinct species of Axis deer (Axis pardinensis Croizet and Joubert), was the most abundant.

Only one other species has been named, Cervus suttonensis Dawkins. As only Dawkins' name has been published in this country, most specimens in collections have been labelled as C. suttonensis erroneously. The Axis antler bases may easily be recognised by the V-like angle made by the brow-tine which diverges from the beam immediately above the burr, and the beam has a marked curve. In C. suttonensis the beam is straight and the brow-tine diverges at a much wider angle and is more like the letter L. The Basement Bed contains an assemblage of fossils and rocks concentrated from deposits destroyed by the Coralline Crag Sea as East Suffolk was submerged beneath it. Amongst the mixture are teeth of Mastodon, Tapir, Hipparion, Rhinoceros, Walrus, Seal and various cetacea of an age about 15,000,000 years before our time.

The exploitation of the Crag deposits for the phosphatic nodules was due to the Rev. Professor J. S. Henslow (a former President of Ipswich Museum) who recognised the value of the nodules and so initiated the artificial fertiliser industry locally at no profit to himself. In 1848* he stated it was the softer less mineralised fossils which were the remains of animals which had lived during the Red Crag Sea period. These bones, etc., were found in the Basement Bed of the Red Crag and the bulk of the mixture dug out by the " Coprolite diggers " was derived from older deposits destroyed by the Pleistocene Red Crag Sea, a repetition of events in the preceding Pliocene period. This undoubtedly contributed to the erroneous view that the Red Crag was also Pliocene held until the revision of the Plio-Pleistocene boundary at the International Geological Congress in London during 1948. The fossil bones of the mammalian fauna of the Red Crag period occur •Report.

British Assn. for 1847 (1848).

PREHISTORIC DEER

263

at various levels in the deposit, and a notable percentage lack mineralization in varying degrees. In this respect a notable instance is the Foxhall human jaw which is the oldest fossil of Man ever found in Britain, which was taken to the U.S.A. and lost. Wm. Whitaker noted, in the 1885 Ipswich Memoir of the Geological Survey, two classes of fossil bones which he designated A and B, analyses of these are given on page 103, again no study was made of the latter type.

It was not until 1953 that the first account of Crag and Cromer Forest Bed deer appeared in a Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Vol. 2, No. 1, written by Dr. Augusto Azzaroli on the recommendation of Dr. A. T. Hopwood. Following Dr. Azzaroli's visit to the Ipswich Museum, an effort was made to locate as many fossils of the true Red Crag mammalian fauna as possible and to secure new specimens. This investigation revealed the fact that some Forest Bed species had existed in Britain much earlier than was generally supposed, and the mammalian fauna of the early Pleistocene Red Crag is to be correlated with the Villafranchian of Italy.

The examinations of collections at the British Museum (N.H.) and Geological Survey Museum proved that less material was preserved than had been expected. Some of the best fossils are at Ipswich, having been collected during the investigations by the late J. Reid Moir in his search for evidence of Crag Man. These included an almost complete antler of Euctenoceros (Cervus) falconeri Dawkins, with portions of others*. They were found with a cetacean vertebra at Bramford during the early 1920's.

Other specimens at the British Museum (N.H.) which had gone unrecognised were bases of shed antlers.

Amongst undetermined specimens discovered in the basement of Ipswich Museum was a skull-cap of Megaceros verticornis Dawkins, which was obviously a Crag specimen.

During 1953 a fortunate discovery was made in a trench at Felixstowe, of a fragment of skull and badly damaged antler base of a young Megaceros verticornis together with a calcaneum which evidently belonged to the same animal. This implies more remains of this deer might have been secured had a competent observer been present at the time this trench was opened. These fossils are presumed to have come from about ten feet deep in shelly Red Crag. A well-preserved base of a shed antler of a slightly older animal was found in the collection of the late Henry G. Willis of Trimley. This was discovered in the pit behind Trimley Churches *Since this paper was written a new study of a basal portion of an undetermined shed antler f r o m Bramford shows it to be more like Euctenoceris (C) sedgwicki than any other species. It belonged to an immature animal.

264

PREHISTORIC DEER

and has been given to the Ipswich Museum by Miss J. C. N. Willis.

Subsequently a larger example from the same site turned up at the British Museum (N.H.) where its significance appears to have been unrecognised as it does not seem to have been shown to Dr. Azzaroli. These fossils constitute the earliest evidence of the existence of a representative of the group of Giant deer in this country which have hitherto been regarded as exclusively Forest Bed genera.

It appears that these two deer were relatively common in Red Crag times at least a million years ago. Less common, perhaps, is Euctenoceros sedgwicki Falconer, of which there is a damaged antler base with a broken pedicle at Ipswich, and a smaller specimen in the Geological Survey Museum, South Kensington. Better examples occur in the Norwich Crag. One tine only from Felixstowe suggests the presence of a fourth species, Euctenoceros (Cervus) tetraceros Dawkins, of which fossils also occur in Norwich Crag where it seems to be more abundant.

These deer were indigenous with the earliest true elephant Elephas (Archidiskodon) meridionalis, Equus robustus (a large zebra), Equus caballus and beaver, all of which lived on a land surface destroyed by the Crag Sea into which their remains were probably swept by floods, similar to that of 30th January, 1953, when the body of a horse was stranded on Runton beach near Cromer and partly buried in sand at the foot of the cliff.

North of Aldeburgh the Crag is known as Norwich Crag, and it differs from much of the Red Crag in being less consistently shelly and more deserving of the name " Mammaliferous Crag " which was once proposed for it. More mammaliferous sites are known in Suffolk of this deposit ; Dunwich, Easton Bavents cliff, and Holton have yielded most fossil bones. At Dunwich and Holton the Norwich Crag passes up into the Westleton marine shingle beds, the molluscan fauna of which is comparable but extremely rare. Remains of elephant, rhinoceros, horse and deer have been recorded from Dunwich, but the fossils mentioned in the older Geological Survey have not been traced. In more recent years, (during the 1930's) new discoveries were made at the Minsmere end of the shore after a storm. These consisted of well mineralized portions of deer antlers, and included a fine base of a shed antler of E.(C.) sedgwicki, parts of at least two antlers of E.(C.) falconeri, and two shed antler bases of undetermined species. They are preserved in the British Museum and were formerly in the Grubbe collection at Southwold.

Easton Bavents cliff, which has suffered constant attacks by the sea for centuries, yields bones and teeth of animals, many of which are lost because there is no conscientious local observer.

PREHISTORIC DEER

265

Remains of Elephas (A) meridionalis are not uncommon. Bv far the finest remains yet found in Britain of Equus robustus are from this locality ; they are in the Ipswich Museum. A very fine antler base of Sedgwick's deer was found by the brothers D. and P. Long of Lowestoft (who have donated several finds to Ipswich Museum). M. verticornis is respresented by a tooth and part of the palmation of an antler, and bases of shed antlers of E.(C.) falconeri also occur.

Holton is possibly the most important site for Crag mammalian fossils in Suffolk. Teeth and bones of the Zebra (Equus robustus) occur with remains of various species of deer. These include Dama nesti nesti (the first record for the Norwich Crag of Suffolk) and Libralces gallicus (also a new record), Megaceros verticornis, E.{C.) falconeri, two or three so far undetermined forms and odd tines from antlers of E.(C.) sedgwicki.

The recent discoveries at Holton date from 1953 when the search for stones for modern concrete structures led to the extraction of the Norwich Crag from below the water table. At Holton the passage downward of the Westleton beach gravels into Norwich Crag proper is obvious. Cetacean remains—the much decayed scapula and a vertebra—were found in the Westleton beds and also occur less commonly than the remains of terrestrial animals in the Crag below. The fossil bones are raised from beds below the water table and one horizon is largely cemented with pyriteous matter which encrusts the bones in it. In a higher Stratum the iron Compounds have been converted to Limonite (hydrated oxide of iron) and fossils have a light rusty brown colour. There are also black stony bones which resemble the black bones of the Antwerp Crag on the eastern side of the North Sea and are presumably from another level. The quarry is worked to a depth of about 50 feet above the water table and perhaps 20-30 below. An interesting feature is the quantity of fossil wood and erratics of coal in the Crag.

Fragmentary bones of elephant appear most frequently but one large limb bone would yield many fragments. Incomplete teeth of E.(A.) meridionalis, mainly of immature animals, have been collected. Teeth and bones of horses and /or zebras, are well represented. Cervid remains are, however, by far the most mteresting if only because of the larger number of species represented, some of which are not so far determined. M. verticornis is present but is apparently rare, E.(C.) falconeri seems to be less common than in the Red Crag and E.(C.) tetraceros is not well represented.

The most interesting products of this site are species hitherto unrecorded among Suffolk Crag fauna, and of these Dama nesti

266

PREHISTORIC

DEER

nesti is most frequent. Four fragments of one antler which was broken by the excavator constitutes the best example which came from the pyrites zone. Only one skull fragment with the attached antler base, restored from fragments, represents Libralces gallicus another genus not previously known to occur earlier than the Weybourne Crag or Cromer Forest Bed Series. In addition antler bases, pedicles and other fragments represent unknown species which are undetermined because of the lack of comparable material in this country. At least four genera and six species are known with certainty, and possibly another four names will be added to the Suffolk Crag mammalian fauna if and when determinations are made. E.(C.) sedgwicki is also represented.

DĂźring trenching in the village of Wangford some mammalian remains were thrown out from under about fifteen feet of shelly crag near the south end of the main street. Identifiable bones included a well preserved cetacean vertebra and two portions of an antler of Euctenoceros tetraceros. The ends of the fragments were freshly broken which implies the fossil was much more complete before it was disturbed ; the pieces when joined form most of the bez tine and about ten inches of the beam which constitutes the finest specimen of this species from the Crag.

It is of interest to note the series of molluscan fossils here are similar to those from the Rifle Range pit at Sizewell.

It is desired to record the thanks which are due to the owners of sites which produce fossil bones, and particularly to the workers who preserve fossils which they chance to see in the course of their duties. Palaeontological science is greatly indebted to them.