1 Middle Pleistocene climate and hydrological environment at the Boxgrove 2 hominin site (West Sussex, UK) from ostracod records 3 4 Jonathan A. Holmes1, Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of 5 Geography, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK 6 7 Tim Atkinson, Bloomsbury Environmental Isotope Facility, Department of Chemistry, 8 University College London, London, WC1H 0AJ, UK 9 10 D. P. Fiona Darbyshire, NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, Kingsley Dunham 11 Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK 12 13 David J. Horne, Department of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, 14 London E1 4NS, UK, and Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, 15 Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK 16 17 José Joordens, Department of Sedimentology and Marine Geology, Vrije Universiteit 18 Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085,1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands 19 20 Mark B. Roberts, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, 21 WC1H 0PY, UK 22 23 Katharine J. Sinka, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East 24 Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK 25 26 John E. Whittaker, Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, 27 Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK 28 29 1. Corresponding author; telephone +44 207 679 0559 email
[email protected] 30 31 Abstract 32 The sediments of the Slindon Formation at the junction of the Chalk South Downs 33 and the West Sussex Coastal Plain, as revealed and studied at Boxgrove, contain 34 evidence for early Middle Pleistocene environments in southern England around half 35 a million years ago. The archaeological importance of the deposits is attested to by 36 the recovery of stone and organic tools, butchered fauna and fossil hominin remains.