ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the archaeology of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 9 in Britain, used as shorthand to include all warm and cold substages as well as the warming/cooling transitions from/to MIS 10 and MIS 8. MIS 9 spans the period 328–301ka and consists of three pronounced warm peaks, MIS 9e, MIS 9c and MIS 9a, separated by two cold troughs, MIS 9d and MIS 9b. Current consensus holds that four interglacials are represented in the British post-Anglian terrestrial record, including two events previously unrecognised on land but registered in the isotopic record as MIS 9 and MIS 7. The MIS 9 occupation of Britain is clear and rich when compared with many parts of Europe, probably reflecting a lack of recognition that continental sites actually belong to MIS 9 rather than an absence of evidence. The same is true of older sites such as MIS 11 Swanscombe and MIS 13 Boxgrove.
