A PRE-LATE DEVENSIAN POLLEN SITE FROM CAMP FAULD, BUCHAN, NORTHEAST SCOTLAND

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