What is found:
Probably the most common finds are isolated teeth or tusk fragments. Elephant and
mammoth teeth are, on average about the size of a house brick and easily spotted. Tusks
can be two or so metres in length, but are usually very fragmentary. Less common are
mandibles and limb and foot bones. Skulls arc exceptionally rare. The mammoth skull
from Ilford found in 1864 (Lydekker 1886 p. 175) was unique until a further specimen
was found in a gravel pit in the Cotswolds in 2004. Very occasionally associated bones
may be found. Partial elephant or mammoth skeletons have been found al several Essex
locations including Aveley. Grays. Ilford, Mersea, Walton and Wrabness. Specialised
conservation is necessary to preserve fragile bones and teeth.
Why are they found in Essex?
Elephant remains are commonly found in Essex for two main reasons. Firstly the county
has an unparalleled sequence of superficial Pleistocene river terrace deposits related to
the early Thames and later Medway. These range in date from the Anglian to the
Devensian. Secondly, these deposits are daily being exposed by temporary road excava-
tions, footings for new buildings, mineral extraction and the action of the tide on cliffs
and the foreshore of the extensive Essex coastline. Elephant bones are quite large. For
example elephant teeth, which are the size of house bricks, or tusks, which may be
several metres in length, would be noticed by labourers or bulldozer drivers in quarries
or on building sites. Casual walkers may possibly observe large bones or teeth sticking
out of a cliff or beach foreshore due to coastal erosion. Small invertebrate and verte-
brate fossils, such as shells or vole teeth, are far more abundant but are less likely to be
noticed by the casual observer.
Species:
There are basically 4 species of fossil Proboscideans found in Essex.
1) The mastodont Anancus arvernensis (Croizet and Jobert) which is the oldest Essex
Proboscidean. It is found in the Pliocene Red Crag, about 2 million years old, of
Harwich. The Mastodon was not a mammoth it was shorter, stockier and about 8-
10' tall. Its teeth had pointed ridges and cones. This mastodont was a browser and
ate branches, twigs, leaves and roots.
2) The straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon antiquus (Falconer and Cautley
1857) is the oldest elephant species. It is found in interglacial deposits dated to
approximately 700,000 to 200,000. This species was about 13' tall and lived in
warmer interglacial forest environments. It died out as climates cooled.
3) The oldest species of mammoth is the steppe mammoth Mammuthus trogontherii
(Pohlig 1888). Very roughly this roamed between about 700,000 to 200,000 years
ago.
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Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 52, January 2007