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Description

The British Isles, ~400,000 years ago, the interglacial forests of the Middle Pleistocene

A band of hunters (H. neanderthalensis or late erectus/antecessor) search for fallow deer in the alder woods, moving quietly as not to alert any potential prey. They wear dark body paint as to blend in with the dappled shadows. The eldest and most experienced takes lead

The men reach a clearing, at which point the eldest signals for them to halt immediately. In their search for prey, the men have accidentally stumbled a few yards away from a pair of frolicking Deninger's cave bear cubs (Ursus cf. deningeri). This is bad - any hominin worth his flint knows that cubs are to be avoided at all times. Their mother must be nearby, somewhere...

Sciency stuff:

The Hoxnian period, corressponding to the MIS 11 interglacial is a period of the middle Pleistocene dating to about 424-374kya. It succeeded the MIS 12 glacial (Anglian) and gave way to the MIS 10 glacial. Achulean tools have been found in this time period, indicating human presence at the time. It was rather warm at this period, particularly the earlier 11c substage (this piece), though not as much as the Eemian or MIS 9 interglacial. It was bifurcated by a cold 11b substage, with evidence of arctic-like conditions, and which gave way to the temperate 11a substage.

The plant records suggest an increasingly temperate plant community, with a number of deciduous trees essentially replacing the cooler pine and birch forests from earlier on. For a time, alder became a dominant member of the forest community, though eventually other taxa such as oak and elm became commonplace as well. Among the shrubbery, hazel became dominant - hence the hazel pictured. Ferns apparently expanded as well. As well as changing in species composition, forests grew, encroaching on non-tree taxa. Plants are not my forte sadly.

The mammal taxa reflect an interglacial character as well. Stephanorhinus, red deer, fallow deer, boar and Macque indicate warm conditions.

The bears of the time are of interest. They are referrable to U. deningeri, the predecessor of U. spelaeus - less specialised and more brown bear like in diet and build. The available remains (teeth) show strong morphological distinctions from both U. spelaeus and U. deningeri from elsewhere. It is possible that in the preceding glacial they acquired some special adaptations to the cold climate, which is suggested by convergent similarities to the small alpine cave bear populations of the Late Pleistocene.

Whatever they were, they were the last of the cave bears to live in the British Isles, and I can't imagine them to have contributed much to the mainland giants of the late Pleistocene. After the MIS 10 glacial, only the brown bear is to be found in the UK, beginning with the stage 9 interglacial. Mass estimates and dental wear suggests these brown bears were of a similar size and niche to Deninger's bear that preceded them. Indeed, from then on, U. arctos would be he dominant ursid in the UK. Polar bears potentially existed in the north, and idk about Asiatic black bears.

Some texts do talk about some iffy stratigraphy at Tornewton cave in the UK, and suggested a later extirpation of spelaeoids from the UK, but even then, the spelaeoids of the British Isles would have died out well in advance of their mainland cousins, likely well before the Late Pleistocene.

Indeed, with exception to the MIS 5a brown bears, the British Isles seems to have hosted a largely herbivorous, though still large-bodied population of brown bears, likely due to their assumption of the cave bear niche.

We lack human remains from this time in Britain, though the similarly-aged Atapuerca remains in Spain have been identified as Neanderthals, however the tools in Britain at this time are described as Achulean, but who knows what the true taxonomic identity of these people was.

I was kinda inspired by the revenant scene where Glass first sees the cubs and then the mother emerges from the unseen to attack. youtu.be/Ry-K7d8cMoU?t=37

Description

The British Isles, ~400,000 years ago, the interglacial forests of the Middle Pleistocene

A band of hunters (H. neanderthalensis or late erectus/antecessor) search for fallow deer in the alder woods, moving quietly as not to alert any potential prey. They wear dark body paint as to blend in with the dappled shadows. The eldest and most experienced takes lead

The men reach a clearing, at which point the eldest signals for them to halt immediately. In their search for prey, the men have accidentally stumbled a few yards away from a pair of frolicking Deninger's cave bear cubs (Ursus cf. deningeri). This is bad - any hominin worth his flint knows that cubs are to be avoided at all times. Their mother must be nearby, somewhere...

Sciency stuff:

The Hoxnian period, corressponding to the MIS 11 interglacial is a period of the middle Pleistocene dating to about 424-374kya. It succeeded the MIS 12 glacial (Anglian) and gave way to the MIS 10 glacial. Achulean tools have been found in this time period, indicating human presence at the time. It was rather warm at this period, particularly the earlier 11c substage (this piece), though not as much as the Eemian or MIS 9 interglacial. It was bifurcated by a cold 11b substage, with evidence of arctic-like conditions, and which gave way to the temperate 11a substage.

The plant records suggest an increasingly temperate plant community, with a number of deciduous trees essentially replacing the cooler pine and birch forests from earlier on. For a time, alder became a dominant member of the forest community, though eventually other taxa such as oak and elm became commonplace as well. Among the shrubbery, hazel became dominant - hence the hazel pictured. Ferns apparently expanded as well. As well as changing in species composition, forests grew, encroaching on non-tree taxa. Plants are not my forte sadly.

The mammal taxa reflect an interglacial character as well. Stephanorhinus, red deer, fallow deer, boar and Macque indicate warm conditions.

The bears of the time are of interest. They are referrable to U. deningeri, the predecessor of U. spelaeus - less specialised and more brown bear like in diet and build. The available remains (teeth) show strong morphological distinctions from both U. spelaeus and U. deningeri from elsewhere. It is possible that in the preceding glacial they acquired some special adaptations to the cold climate, which is suggested by convergent similarities to the small alpine cave bear populations of the Late Pleistocene.

Whatever they were, they were the last of the cave bears to live in the British Isles, and I can't imagine them to have contributed much to the mainland giants of the late Pleistocene. After the MIS 10 glacial, only the brown bear is to be found in the UK, beginning with the stage 9 interglacial. Mass estimates and dental wear suggests these brown bears were of a similar size and niche to Deninger's bear that preceded them. Indeed, from then on, U. arctos would be he dominant ursid in the UK. Polar bears potentially existed in the north, and idk about Asiatic black bears.

Some texts do talk about some iffy stratigraphy at Tornewton cave in the UK, and suggested a later extirpation of spelaeoids from the UK, but even then, the spelaeoids of the British Isles would have died out well in advance of their mainland cousins, likely well before the Late Pleistocene.

Indeed, with exception to the MIS 5a brown bears, the British Isles seems to have hosted a largely herbivorous, though still large-bodied population of brown bears, likely due to their assumption of the cave bear niche.

We lack human remains from this time in Britain, though the similarly-aged Atapuerca remains in Spain have been identified as Neanderthals, however the tools in Britain at this time are described as Achulean, but who knows what the true taxonomic identity of these people was.

I was kinda inspired by the revenant scene where Glass first sees the cubs and then the mother emerges from the unseen to attack. youtu.be/Ry-K7d8cMoU?t=37