MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE CAVE BEARS FROM KENT'S CAVERN, ENGLAND

The rich paleontological deposits of Kents' Cavern, England, have been known since extensive excavations were undertaken at the site between 1865 and 1880. These excavations have left exposed as much as 4m of stratigraphy. The most important deposit is a basal debris flow that contains abundant remains of the cave bears (Ursus deningeri – U. spelaeus) together with flint artifacts. Cave bears, which survived in continental Europe until the late Wisconsinan (Ursus spelaeus), have a much more constrained tenure in Britain. They are known from a few other sites dated to MIS 11, but are believed to have been extirpated in MIS 10 after which they did not recolonize the British Isles and were replaced by the Brown bear (U. arctos). Examination of dental remains indicate that the Kent's Cavern cave bears were of primitive grade in the U. deningeri-U. spelaeus sequence. Moreover, Uranium-Thorium disequilibrium dating analyses of more than 40 samples of associated speleothem deposits have provided the first reliable radiometric framework for the interpretation of the Kent's Cavern cave bears and human artifact record, placing the depositional event at MIS 12.