Great Pan Farm: a refined chronology for Late Middle Palaeolithic re-occupation in Britain

Grant, Michael J. and Marshall, Peter (2025) Great Pan Farm: a refined chronology for Late Middle Palaeolithic re-occupation in Britain. Quaternary International, [110033]. (doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2025.110033).

Record type: Letter

Abstract

Site investigations at Great Pan Farm on the Isle of Wight, Britain, have revealed evidence for Late Middle Palaeolithic (LMP) occupation during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, as reported by Shaw et al. (2025). This significantly pre-dates the accepted chronology which suggests that re-occupation of Britain occurred during late MIS 4/3. In addition to this early LMP activity, two further LMP occupations are recorded from the overlying deposits. The chronology of the site is determined by luminescence dating. However, the dates were presented with little critical analysis and no attempts to utilise chronological modelling to confirm and constrain the age of these occupation levels. We demonstrate how chronological modelling provides a more robust estimate of the age of this site, suggesting that LMP occupation occurred in late MIS 5 followed by a possible period of abandonment during MIS 4, with reoccupation of the site during late MIS 4/3c. The revised chronology suggests alignment of Great Pan Farm with the LMP record of hominin occupation in NW Europe during MIS 5 to 3.

Text

GreatPanFarmChronologyRevision_20251027 - Accepted Manuscript

Restricted to Repository staff only until 8 November 2026.

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