Megaceros savini. A New Suffolk Crag Deer

MEGACEROS SAVINI A NEW SUFFOLK CRAG DEER HAROLD E . P .

SPENCER

D Ăœ R I N G 1953, shortly after the discovery at Felixstowe of bones determined as parts of the skeleton of a young Megaceros verticornis in a trench where Coronation Drive was later constructed, several bones of deer were found near the corner of Phillip Avenue. The fossil condition of the new specimens was quite unlike that of those previously found which unquestionably came from the Shelly Red Crag into which deposit the trench had been cut. Two of these bones are metapodials of deer about the size of a large Red Deer and as they were not in a similar State of preservation no detailed examination was made of them at the time. With these bones was the basal part of an antler with the pedicle and a fragment of the frontal bone of the skull. No attempt was made at the time to discover the identity of this deer which was recognised as unlike anything previously found in any Crag deposit and it was assumed to belong to a later period. Some of these fossils had adhering to them some of the deposit in which they had been buried. This was a calcareous silty material with some bits of Crag shell. The antler fragment did have ferruginous sand like decalcified Crag partly encrusting it, as did also an antler tine subsequently determined as cf. Euctenoceros tetraceros ; which is now established as a member of the Crag fauna.

Subsequently some excavations were carried out under the auspices of the Percy Sladen Trust Fund at Beggar's Hollow, off Clapgate Lane, Ipswich, in an old Crag pit of the former Cobbold estate. Part of the crag section was cut into calcareous silty crag in which much of the fossil shelly material was in partly decomposed condition. It is unfortunate that no fossil bones were found in this section with which the Felixstowe bones could be compared so far as condition is concerned. It does establish that there is a high probability that part of the Felixstowe Crag, owing to the presence of ground water and some peculiarity of local conditions, may be like the Beggar's Hollow site.

Megaceros savini, Dawkins, has long been known as a member of the famous Cromer Forest Bed series to which deposits it was supposed to have been confined. Like most of the Forest Bed fauna it became extinct with the Coming of the Cromerian glaciation over four hundred thousand years ago. A few years ago the basal portion of a shed antler of this species was obtained from the Weybourne Crag at West Runton, near Cromer, by Mr. J. E. Sainty who was long resident at that place. Later from the Norwich Crag, part of a large antler which is thoroughly impregnated with iron Compounds was found at Easton Bavents cliff.

SUFFOLK CRAG DEER

U p p e r aspect of antler of type which is a shed specimen portion represents the fragment an animal of similar age which is about two feet long.

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Megaceros Savini based on Dawkins' from a young beast. T h e shaded basal from Felixstowe Red Crag and is from died bearing its antlers. T h e original

This fragment is peculiarly straight and while not definitely determinable in itself, it cannot be matched with any other species.

Possibly one day a better specimen will enable the existence of this deer to become positively established as a Norwich Crag species.

At the beginning of March there was occasion to move the Felixstowe bones and the resemblance of the antler base to this species was for the first time noted. Advantage was taken of a visit to the British Museum (Natural History) on other business to compare the specimen with the type of M. savini, with the result that Dr. Sutcliffe and the writer agreed it must be referred to this species.

So far nothing has been done about the limb bones but it is intended to compare them with similar bones from the Forest Bed in the near future. Unfortunately no definite determination can be expected since species of deer are differentiated by their antler formation and in the absence of more or less complete skeletons other bones cannot be related to skulls or antlers. It can only be established the metapodials belong to types of deer which existed during the Forest Bed period or earlier.

Most readers are probably unfamiliar with the race of giant deer except perhaps for the erroneously termed " Irish Elk " which is really an overgrown Fallow Deer and was the last representative

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of the Suffolk Naturalists',

Vol. 12, Part 6

of its race. This species survived in England and Ireland until late prehistoric times and their remains occur in the valley gravels of the Waveney, Stour, etc., of the last interglacial.

Apart from this survivor all the Megaceridae were long believed to be confined to the Cromer Forest Bed Series which extends southward into Suffolk as far as Kessingland. T h e first remains of a member of the race of giant deer were discovered in the Crag Pit east of the Trimley churches, one of which (part of an antler) lay forgotten in the British Museum (Natural History) for many years. Hence the fossil was not mentioned in Dr. Azzaroli's account of the Deer of the Crag and Forest Bed, and was not rediscovered until after Miss Willis gave her father's specimen to the Ipswich Museum. Megaceros verticornis appears to have been first recorded as a Crag species in the Transactions of the Suffolk Naturalists Society, Vol X I I I part I I I , pp. 153-5.

Following the grant from the funds of the Nature Conservancy for a survey of the Crag pits which commenced in 1953, fossil remains of this species from Norwich Crag became available for study. T h e total number of known fossils, however, remains limited but it is possible that some unknown specimens exist in collections which have not been inspected. Also brought into consideration were remains of antlers of Sedgwick's Deer, Euctenoceros sedgwicki, discovered in the Norwich Crag of the Southwold area by the brothers D. and P. Long and later determined from the Red Crag of Bramford. This was a large species but belonging to the " comb " antlered race of deer from which the Megaceridae are distinguished by the larger size when fully grown and by the distinctive antlers ; they are differentiated from the Elks by the presence of a brow tine.

Regarding the age of these fossils : they belong to the earliest part of the Pleistocene epoch for which an estimated age of one million years was allowed. After the International Geological Congress in London in 1948, when the Plio-Pleistocene boundary was revised to include all the deposits above the Red Crag inclusive, it became apparent this period is too short a time to permit the evolutionary changes which can now be shown to have occurred.

At present there is no way of determining the true age of the Crag mammalian fossils, some of which antedate the incursion of the Red Crag sea and imply the Pleistocene is older than that deposit. Discoveries in other countries however have led to the opinion that two or even three million years may be nearer the truth.