4) The woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach 1803), eventually
succeeded the steppe mammoth. This is probably the commonest fossil elephant
found in Essex. It lived from about 350,000 to 10,000 years ago. Most mammoths
became extinct after this. This species was 11 feet tall and weighed 6 tons and
grazed in the cold arctic tundra-like steppe dry grassland environments. They
survived the cold because of their 3 layered hairy coat and 4 inches of insulating
fat beneath its skin.
Much research is currently being carried out on fossil elephants by workers such as
Adrian Lister, Andrei Sher and Danielle Shreeve. Apparently as the mammoth
evolved the skull and jaw became progressively shorter and higher. The height of the
molar crowns increased, as did the number of enamel plates in the molars, and the
tooth enamel thinned. It is believed these changes occurred because of a change in
diet - from the soft leaves of a wooded habitat to the tougher grasses that sprang up
as the climate became progressively colder during periods of glaciation.
Dating:
Pleistocene deposits are usually correlated with Marine Oxygen Isotope Stages. Some
Essex Pleistocene deposits are as follows:
Table 1. Some dates for some Elephant finds
Oxygen British Years Flephant Sites
Isotope Stage Before
Stage_______________________Present________________________________________________
4-2________Devensian________70-13,000 Bocking, Great Totham_____________________
_5__________Ipswichian________110,000______Chelmsford: East Mersea; Walton-on-the-Naze
1__________Ilfordian__________210,000 Aveley, Ilford. Wrabness____________________
_9_________Hoxnian__________300,000 Copford; Grays; Marks Tey; Purfleet__________
11_________Swanscombe______400,000______Clacton; Cudmore Grove____________________
A Few Locations:
Table 2. Some Essex Elephant finds
Key: E=Elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) ; M=Mammoth (Mammuthus
trogontherii or Mammuthus primigenius). Mast =Mastodon (Anancus arvernensis).
Locality Grid Ref: Type Age Dure Reference
Aveley TQ 551808 E Stage 7 1964 Bridgland 1994 p. 251
Sandy Lane Quarry_________________________M____________________________________________________
Ballingdon________________________________M_____________________1835 Lydekker 1886__________
Barking___________________________________M_____________________1906 Cole 1910 p.30__________
Barling___________________________________M_____________________________Lake 1986 p. 35_________
Bocking TL 759254 M Devensian 1956 Whitaker 1878 p. 72;
Catley l960p. 387;
__________________________________________________________________________Ellison 1986 p. 50_______
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 52, January 2007
11