Hoxnian Stage

The Hoxnian Stage is a middle Pleistocene stage of the geological history of the British Isles. It precedes the Wolstonian Stage and follows the Anglian Stage. The Hoxnian Stage corresponds to the Holstein Interglacial (or "Stage") in northern Europe and the Mindel-Riss Interglacial in the Alps. It is equivalent to Marine Isotope Stage 11. Marine Isotope Stage 11 started 424,000 years ago and ended 374,000 years ago.

This stage had been equated to the Yarmouthian (Yarmouth) Stage in North America. However, the Yarmouthian Stage, along with the Kansan, Nebraskan, and Aftonian stages, have been abandoned by North American Quaternary geologists and merged into the Pre-Illinoian Stage. At this time, the Hoxnian and Holstein stages are correlated with a brief part of the Pre-Illinoian Stage lying between the Pre-Illinoian A and Pre-Illinoian B glaciations of North America.

The Hoxnian Stage is named after Hoxne in the English county of Suffolk where some of the deposits it created were first found. Plant and vertebrate fossils indicate that it was a period of relatively warm climate. Clactonian and Acheulean flint tools and human remains have been found dating to this stage.