Early Pleistocene sediments bearing gastropod shells and pollen flora were found during coring at Jawornik (South Poland) at a depth interval of 54.30–39.00 m, beneath the oldest till of the Carpathians. Thirteen land-snail taxa identified in 55 samples of the core formed two molluscan assemblages. In the bottom part, typical cold-loving snails were found (e.g. Vallonia tenuilabris, Pupilla loessica, Vertigo genesii, Columella columella), whereas in the upper part only Semilimax kotulae was present. The succession of molluscan assemblages may suggest that at the site of deposition, after a phase of tundra, steppe-tundra or forest-steppe landscape with patches of wet habitats in cold climate, the climate became slightly milder but still cool, favourable to the spreading of boreal (coniferous) woodlands. Pollen analysis was performed only for the upper part of the profile. The pollen spectra, besides the Tertiary (Miocene) elements, contained sporomorphs common to the Tertiary and Quaternary floras. Among them, the highest percentages were noted for Pinus haploxylon t., P. diploxylon t., Picea, Quercus, Ericaceae, Betula, and Ulmus. The fact that the sediments with organic remains underlie the oldest Scandinavian till suggests that they are older than the oldest glacial unit of the South-Polish Complex (Narevian = Menapian, ~ 1.2 Ma).

The Plio-Pleistocene succession in the Lower Rhine Embayment was subjected to a thorough revision of existing stratigraphic concepts. The deposits were studied at key sites in the type area near Venlo and in the large open-cast mine Hambach in the southern part of the Lower Rhine Embayment by means of sedimentological, petrographical, as well as palaeo- and rockmagnetic methods.

The work has yielded improved insights of the drainage pattern and the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene depositional history of the region. As a result, a new comprehensive lithostratigraphical framework has been established.

Study of the succession at Hambach showed the occurrence of deposits of the Rhine, Meuse and a local river in the Lower Pleistocene part of the succession. Paleo- and rockmagnetic studies of the deposits marking the transition from Pliocene to Pleistocene indicate that the Gauss-Matuyama magnetic reversal occurs several meters above the top of the Reuver Clay at Hambach.

The study of the Lower Pleistocene succession in the type area has confirmed the recently new established lithostratigraphic framework of the Netherlands. As a consequence, the previous Dutch lithostratigraphic system which forms the basis of the chronostratigraphic subdivision of the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene of NW Europe has been proven to be inappropriate and should be abandoned. This chronostratigraphic framework is based on the interpretation of palynological data and was first established in the Netherlands during the 1960s. The new lithostratigraphic concept has revealed numerous contradictions with the chronostratigraphic framework. Based on these results it is proposed to abandon the chronostratigraphic subdivision of the Early Pleistocene in northwestern Europe.

The tuffaceous sandstones and siltstones of the Ola Bula Formation in central Flores. east Indonesia, contain many fossil sites. Here, excavations at Boa Lesa and Dozu Dhalu and the results of regional site surveys are described. Stone artefacts indicate that hominids had arrived on the island by 840,000 years ago, post-dating a major change in the Lower Pleistocene fauna. Since water crossings were required to reach Flores from mainland Southeast Asia, this evidence has implications for the intellectual, technological and linguistic capabilities of early hominids.