Benedetto Sala

BIOCHRONOLOGY OF SELECTED MAMMALS, MOLLUSCS AND OSTRACODS FROM THE MIDDLE PLIOCENE TO THE LATE PLEISTOCENE IN ITALY. THE STATE OF THE ART

The Authors have elaborated four range charts of mammalian (large and micro), molluscs and fresh-water and brackish ostracodes faunas, for the selected Plio-Pleistocene fossiliferous localities of the Italy. A new Mammal Age (Aurelian) correlatable to late Middle and Late Pleistocene has been defined. Inside this age two Faunal Units (Torre in Pietra and Vitinia) have been defined as characteristic for Early and Middle Aurelian, while no gisements have been chosen for the late Aurelian. Biochronological units are calibrated on magnetostratigraphic and isotopic scales and by radiometric datings.

A human deciduous tooth and new 40Ar/39Ar dating results from the Middle Pleistocene archaeological site of Isernia La pineta, southern Italy

Isernia La Pineta (south-central Italy, Molise) is one of the most important archaeological localities of the Middle Pleistocene in Western Europe. It is an extensive open-air site with abundant lithic industry and faunal remains distributed across four stratified archaeosurfaces that have been found in two sectors of the excavation (3c, 3a, 3s10 in sect. I; 3a in sect. II). The prehistoric attendance was close to a wet environment, with a series of small waterfalls and lakes associated to calcareous tufa deposits. An isolated human deciduous incisor (labelled IS42) was discovered in 2014 within the archaeological level 3 coll (overlying layer 3a) that, according to new 40Ar/39Ar measurements, is dated to about 583–561 ka, i.e. to the end of marine isotope stage (MIS) 15. Thus, the tooth is currently the oldest human fossil specimen in Italy; it is an important addition to the scanty European fossil record of the Middle Pleistocene, being associated with a lithic assemblage of local raw materials (flint and limestone) characterized by the absence of handaxes and reduction strategies primarily aimed at the production of small/medium-sized flakes. The faunal assemblage is dominated by ungulates often bearing cut marks. Combining chronology with the archaeological evidence, Isernia La Pineta exhibits a delay in the appearance of handaxes with respect to other European Palaeolithic sites of the Middle Pleistocene. Interestingly, this observation matches the persistence of archaic morphological features shown by the human calvarium from the Middle Pleistocene site of Ceprano, not far from Isernia (south-central Italy, Latium). In this perspective, our analysis is aimed to evaluate morphological features occurring in IS42.

THE CASTAGNONE SITE (CERRINA VALLEY, MONFERRATO HILLS, NW ITALY): EARLY PLEISTOCENE SEDIMENTARY RECORD AND BIOCHRONOLOGY

Geological researches carried out near che Castagnone hamlet in che Cerrina Valley (Northem Monferrato Hills, Piedmont, NW Italy), have brought to light a post-Messinian succession whose sedimentary record starts with a Lower Complex of pedogenized colluvial materials and with two superimposed Alluvial Units (I and II). The lower one of these units contains a Galerian macrofauna associated with microtine vole teeth ( Mimomys savini, Mimomys pusillus, Ungaromys cf. U. nanus, Microtus ( Allophaiomys ) sp.), while che upper one yields only scarce faunal remains. Most of this sediments were deposited during a normal palaeomagnetic phase. The I Alluvial Unit, due to its biochronological correlation, must be referred to the Jaramillo Subchron, between 1,070,000 and 990,000 years ago. The II Alluvial Unit, being both unconformable with and younger than the first one, might be best referable to the Brunhes Chron. Overall, the bed dipping across the reported succession shows a progressive syn-sedimentary tilting, with accelerated deformation during the I Alluvial Unit deposition. This tectonic stress over the Castagnone area is seemingly related to the uplift of the north-easternmost ridge of che Monferrato Hills and appears to have been nearly exhausted before the II Alluvial Unit deposition.

The genus Iberomys (CHALINE, 1972) (Rodentia, Arvicolinae, Mammalia) in the Pleistocene of Italy

The occurrence of the genus Iberomys is testified in Italy and the Iberian Peninsula from the Early Pleistocene on. The genus comprises two extinct voles: I. huescarensis from the Early Pleistocene to the early Middle Pleistocene and I. brecciensis (=mediterraneus) from the Middle to the early Late Pleistocene. I. cabrerae, has been present in Spain from the early Late Pleistocene, enduring right through to today. The fossil record of Iberomys in Italy is poor in comparison with those in the Iberian Peninsula and southern France. I. huescarensis has been identified in Italy at the Rifreddo and Spessa sites, while I. brecciensis has been recognized at Zoppega 2, Montagnola Senese II, Isernia, Valdemino, Polledrara di Cecanibbio and Paglicci. A revision of the specimens of the genus Iberomys in Italy and a comparison with the fossil records of southern France and the Iberian Peninsula show that the origin of the Early Pleistocene species (I. huescarensis) is clearly in the Iberian Peninsula, where the species having evolved from ancient populations of Allophaiomys nutiensis. The origin of the species I. brecciensis is still unknown. It seems to appear at the same time in Italy and in the Iberian Peninsula, and its extinction occurred during the late Middle Pleistocene-early Late Pleistocene in Italy, France and Iberia simultaneously.

The Late Pleistocene fauna with Pliomys lenki from the Ghiacciaia cave loess (northern Italy)

Abstract Recent archaeological excavations in the Ghiacciaia cave (Monti Lessini, Verona, Italy) have brought to light a 3.5 m thick sequence referred, on palaeontological and archaeological data, to the early Wurm period. Three different units, corresponding to different environmental phases, have been distinguished within it. Unit 1 consists of two superimposed palaeosols, developed in clayey slope deposits and residual sand under temperate conditions. Unit 2 consists of breccia accumulations and colluvial deposits, and includes a Mousterian hearth. However, the fauna collected in it still consists of forest species; Unit 2 could therefore be related to progressive environmental degradation, under cold, wet conditions. The occurrence in this unit of Pliomys lenki is of particular interest. Unit 3 is composed of loess and includes Mousterian artifacts; the fauna suggests a dry steppe environment and also includes micromammals immigrated from northeastern Europe. The unit has been dated to the first Pleniglacial phases of the last Glacial period.