A pre-Late Devensian pollen site from Camp Fauld, Buchan, north-east Scotland

Recent investigations at Camp Fauld in Buchan, Scotland have yielded two peat deposits of pre-Late Devensian age. Percentage pollen diagrams are presented. One peat is radiocarbon-dated to 34-39 ka DP, which prompts correlation with the Hengelo-Denekamp sequence of NW continental Europe, but the pollen evidence, revealing the presence of a birch-pine woodland, suggests an earlier stage. The second peat deposit records an open shrub-tundra in which Bruckenthalia spiculifolia is present. The peat yielded a radiocarbon date of 40-51 ka BP, but is suspected of having been contaminated by younger carbon. That suspicion and the presence of Bruckenthalia suggest that a correlation, based on the radiocarbon date, with the Glinde interstadial, identified in NW Germany, would be incorrect. Correlation with other Scottish pre-Late Devensian sites has proved to be difficult.