This paper presents the first comprehensive Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating programme from a sequence of Pleistocene river terraces in the Avon valley (Wiltshire-Hampshire-Dorset), southern Britain. These results offer the most complete chronometric framework for Pleistocene landscape evolution and Palaeolithic occupation in the Avon valley, allowing for the first time: (1) an assessment of the timing of terrace formation and landscape evolution, (2) the dating of hominin presence in the area, and (3) an investigation of the relationship between terrace formation and Quaternary climatic change. Analysis of 25 samples collected from terraces 10 and 7 to 4 show that the middle Avon terraces formed in response to the main Pleistocene climatic oscillations (Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 10, 8, 6) and that fluvial mechanisms changed through time, resulting in three different types of terrace architecture. The highest and oldest deposits are compound terraces deposited during the Early Pleistocene before the Mid Pleistocene Transition. The middle reach of the valley is characterised by well-developed strath terraces overlain with thick fluvial deposits, reflecting the greater degree of incision in response to the increased amplitude of climate cycles in the Middle Pleistocene. The youngest deposits in the confined modern floodplain represent cut-and-fill terraces deposited after MIS5e. The results indicate that the two main Palaeolithic sites in the area, Milford Hill and Woodgreen, date to between at least MIS 10 and 8 with a pre-MIS 10 human occupation at a third main site at Bemerton. This is significant because the sites date to a period previously associated with a decline in hominin presence in Britain. The dating of the Avon valley terrace sequence highlights the complex nature of terrace formation during the Pleistocene and the need to critically reassess the chronological understanding of these fluvial archives in southern Britain. This research demonstrates that with a detailed and multidisciplinary approach shifts in hominin landscape use can be discovered, providing new information on hominin behavioural change during the Pleistocene.

本文介绍了英国南部埃文河谷（Wiltshire-Hampshire-Dorset）的更新世河流阶地序列中的第一个全面的光激发发光测年程序。这些结果为雅芳河谷的更新世景观演化和旧石器时代占领提供了最完整的计时框架，这首次实现了：（1）阶地形成和景观演化的时间评估，（2）人类存在的时间（3）研究阶地形成与第四纪气候变化之间的关系。对从阶地10和阶地7到阶4收集的25个样本进行的分析表明，中层雅芳阶地是响应主要更新世气候振荡（海洋同位素阶段（MIS）10、8、6）而形成的，并且河流机制会随着时间而变化，导致三种不同类型的露台建筑。最高和最古老的沉积物是在更新世中期之前的更新世早期沉积的复合阶地。山谷的中游特征是发育良好的斯特拉阶阶地上覆盖着厚厚的河流沉积物，这反映了随着中更新世气候周期幅度的增加，切口的程度也增加了。密闭的现代洪泛区中最年轻的沉积物代表了MIS5e之后沉积的填空阶地。结果表明，该地区的两个主要旧石器时代遗址，米尔福德山和伍德格林，至少在MIS 10到8之间，而在Bemerton的第三个主要地点中有MIS 10之前的人类占领。这很重要，因为这些地点的历史可追溯到以前与英国人乳蛋白含量下降有关的时期。雅芳河谷阶地层序的日期强调了更新世阶地形成的复杂性，并且有必要严格地重新评估对英国南部这些河流档案的年代学认识。这项研究表明，通过详细和多学科的方法，可以发现人均景观的使用发生变化，从而提供有关更新世期间人均行为变化的新信息。