After protracted difficulties German Quaternary research has again produced a publication of its own with the aid of the Notgemeinschaft der deutschen Wissenschaft. The Deutsche Quartärvereinigung was formed in 1948 in order to enable geologists, geographers, biologists, students of prehistory and other research workers to meet and work together on such questions as the Pleistocene and the development of climate, soil vegetation and the history of Man up to the geological present. The task of uniting these many and various subjects in the sphere of Quaternary research, where stimulation from every angle was needed, was to be expressed in the name of this new periodical.

The first conference of the Quartärvereinigung was held in October 1948 in Hanover; a great number of papers read there are included in the present volume. Further conferences were held in 1950 in Munich and in 1951 at Mainz, and will be reported in later issues.

In the introduction the editor, Professor P. Woldstedt of Hanover, writes of the tasks and the aim of Quaternary research, ending with the desire for a world-wide union of Quaternary research workers, in the same way as was attempted by the International Quaternary Union formed in Copenhagen in 1928. The contents of the year book range from geological, geomorphological and palaeoclimatological investigations to anthropological and archaeological themes. J. Büdel gives important basic consideration to the climatic zones of the Ice Age and especially to the Würm Glacial Period. H. Poser investigates the northern borders of the loess in Central Europe, and the late glacial climate. New ideas on the structure of the Ice Age are reported by I. Schaefer, and also by W. Wundt, based on the ice-balance curve. K. Gripp deals with the proofs of great ice-edge fluctuations in Holstein. R. Grahmann seeks to contribute to the elucidation of glacial geological notions and gives a new all-embracing description of the old palaeolithic discoveries in Markkleeberg near Leipzig. D. Wirtz and H. Illies deal with the border of the Piocene and Pleistocene based on the stratification of Sylt. Pollen analysis is considered several times, in a basic survey by F. Firbas, in investigations of interglacial formations in north-west Germany by P. Woldstedt, U. Rein and W. Selle, and also by P. W. Thomson. E. Schönhals reports on the stratigraphy of fossil areas in loess districts and K. Richter on periglacial phenomena in Lower Saxony. Finally the Magdalenian era is described by H. Schwabedissen as well as by H. Gross, followed by anthropological considerations by H. Weinert and thoughts on the position of the Neandertal in the history of Man by G. Asmus.

Although it is not possible here to go into close detail of the individual contributions it can be asserted that the year book gives a good insight into the conditions, the methods and the problems of German Quaternary research. This new periodical meets the urgent demand of Science. We wish it a wide circulation and co-operation from all sides and by all Quaternary research workers.