Leonardo Salari

Biochronology and palaeoenvironmental changes from the Middle Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene in Central Italy

ABSTRACT Paleoenvironmental variations that occurred in Italy from the Middle Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene are described. The number of large mammal species seems increased moderately, especially from the Galerian to the Late Aurelian biochronological units. On the contrary, the paleobotanical data show a decrease of the forest cover from the Middle Pliocene to the late Early Pleistocene and an increase of lands occupied by prairies and steppes. This change is also supported by the appearance of hypsodont taxa among mammals. The distribution of mammal faunas between the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian sides of Central Italy, during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, seems not to be influenced by climatic and environment differences. When the Adriatic data are more complete, it is possible, in fact, to observe a trend that is fairly close to that of the Tyrrhenian. The majority of megaherbivorous taxa has an Asian origin, and it can be hypothesized that in the interglacial phases, the Tosco-Emilian Apennines allowed the taxa coming from the northeast to enter and spread out into the more diversified Tyrrhenian side, whereas during the glacial periods the narrow Ligurian corridor were followed. This research supports the role of the Italian Peninsula as a refuge area for continental Europe; this particular condition permits the Italian mammal faunas to develop endemic lineage (such as Elephas antiquus italicus Osborn, 1931, Cervus elaphus rianensis Leonardi & Petronio, 1974, C. e. aretinus Azzaroli, 1947, etc.). At last, biodiversity sharply dropped during the last 30 000 years, probably due to the anthropic activities and the strong climatic cooling of the last pleniglacial.

Bos primigenius Bojanus, 1827 from the Early Late Pleistocene Deposit of Avetrana (Southern Italy) and the Variation in Size of the Species in Southern Europe: Preliminary Report

Very abundant remains of Bos primigenius have been recovered in the early Late Pleistocene site of Avetrana (southern Italy). The site is characterized by a karst filling originated from a series of almost coeval depositional events. This discovery represents a rare record in the early Late Pleistocene of southern Europe. Biometrical analysis of the metapodial bones of aurochs from Avetrana gave the cue to examine the evolutive trend of the species in southern Europe, from the Middle Pleistocene to Holocene. This trend is characterized by an increase in size of the metapodial bones from Middle Pleistocene to early Late Pleistocene and to a decrease in size of the same during the late Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Also, the variations in size are competed by change in shape of the metapodial bones. These variations seem to be related with climatic fluctuations and competitions with Homo and Bison. At least, five evolutive stages are recognized; they constitute an important tool for the biochronological correlations among the Pleistocene sites of southern Europe.

CATASTROPHIC DEATH ASSEMBLAGES FROM THE LATE PLEISTOCENE OF ITALY: THE CASE OF AVETRANA KARST FILLING (TARANTO, SOUTHERN ITALY)

New and detailed taphonomic and stratigraphical analyses have been carried out at the early Late Pleistocene site of “La Grave”, nearby Avetrana (Taranto, Southern Italy). These, together with population analyses of the principal species represented ( Bos primigenius , Dama dama , Cervus elaphus , Sus scrofa and Stephanorhinus hemitoechus ), suggest that the fossiliferous deposits were probably accumulated rapidly, over a short time span, by exceptional events of heavy rainfall with overbank flooding. These results are supported particularly by comparison of the mammalian death assemblages from Avetrana with data from recent and Pleistocene catastrophic death assemblages documented in the literature. Furthermore, population analysis of species pinpoints the time of death between late autumn and winter. Periods with abundant and heavy rainfall are recorded in Late Pleistocene Mediterranean marine cores by the presence of sapropel levels, and in continental pollen diagrams covering the same time. Finally, observations on the morphometric variations in the bones of Bos primigenius reveal an increase in size of the species during the early Late Pleistocene and a decrease in size during the late Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. SHORT NOTE-NOTA BREVE

The Aggradational Successions of the Aniene River Valley in Rome: Age Constraints to Early Neanderthal Presence in Europe

We revise the chronostratigraphy of several sedimentary successions cropping out along a 5 km-long tract of the Aniene River Valley in Rome (Italy), which yielded six hominin remains previously attributed to proto- or archaic Neanderthal individuals, as well as a large number of lithic artefacts showing intermediate characteristics somewhere between the local Acheulean and Mousterian cultures. Through a method of correlation of aggradational successions with post-glacial sea-level rises, relying on a large set of published 40Ar/39Ar ages of interbedded volcanic deposits, we demonstrate that deposition of the sediments hosting the human remains spans the interval 295–220 ka. This is consistent with other well constrained ages for lithic industries recovered in England, displaying transitional features from Lower to Middle Paleolithic, suggesting the appearance of Mode 3 during the MIS 9-MIS 8 transition. Moreover, the six human bone fragments recovered in the Aniene Valley should be regarded as the most precisely dated and oldest hominin remains ascribable to Neanderthal-type individuals in Europe, discovered to date. The chronostratigraphic study presented here constitutes the groundwork for addressing re-analysis of these remains and of their associated lithic industries, in the light of their well-constrained chronological picture.

Late Pleistocene and Holocene chamois in Italy

Two species of chamois currently live in Italy: Rupicapra rupicapra, with the subspecies Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra, the Alpine chamois, and Rupicapra pyrenaica, with the subspecies Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata, the Apennine chamois. Late Pleistocene and Holocene remains of chamois are numerous, but those attributable with reasonable certainty at the species or subspecies level are few and are mostly poorly dated. The recent finding of a sub-complete partially articulated skeleton of chamois attributed to Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata, from Late Pleistocene sediments of Grotta Mora Cavorso (Simbruini Mountains, central Italy), provides new data and insights on the taxonomy and distribution of the genus Rupicapra in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene of Italy. Indeed, so far this subspecies was known with certainty only from Holocene and, possibly, in Lateglacial deposits. From the current state of knowledge, it seems that the populations of southern chamois (Iberian and Apennine chamois), which had been living in Western Europe since the Middle Pleistocene, were separated by a dispersal wave of northern chamois (Alpine chamois) at least as far back as the latest Middle Pleistocene, earlier than previously thought. The hypothesis of the anthropochorous origin of the extant chamois population of Abruzzo appears no longer to be convincing: the Iberian chamois allegedly imported from Spain to southern Italy during the 18th and 19th Centuries do not appear to have contributed to the genetic heritage of the extant Apennine chamois.