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Quaternary International 255 (2012) 29e35

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Quaternary International

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Straight-tusked elephants in the Middle Pleistocene of northern Latium:Preliminary report on the Ficoncella site (Tarquinia, central Italy)

Daniele Aureli a,f,*, Antonio Contardi b, Biagio Giaccio c, Valerio Modesti b, Maria Rita Palombo d,Roberto Rozzi d, Andrea Sposato c, Flavia Trucco e

aDip. di Scienze Ambientali “G. Sarfatti” U.R. Ecologia Preistorica, Università di Siena, Via T. Pendola 62, 53100 Siena, ItalybMuseo Civico A. Klitsche De La Grange, Palazzo Camerale, Piazza della Repubblica, 29, 00051 Allumiere, Rome, Italyc Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, CNR, Via Salaria Km 29,300, 00016 Monterotondo Stazione, Rome, ItalydDipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, CNR, Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, Piazzale A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italye La Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Etruria Meridionale, Piazzale di Villa Giulia, 9, 00196 Rome, ItalyfUMR 7041 ArScAn, équipe AnTET, Nanterre, France

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Available online 23 July 2011

* Corresponding author. Università degli Studi dientali “G. Sarfatti”, U.R. Ecologia Preistorica, Via T. Pe

E-mail address: danieleaureli@gmail.com (D. Aure

1040-6182/$ e see front matter � 2011 Elsevier Ltd adoi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.06.052

a b s t r a c t

This article presents the preliminary results of research recently performed at La Ficoncella (NorthernLatium) site. Discovered during the 1990s, the site of La Ficoncella has been inserted in recent years intoa research program promoted by the fruitful collaboration between the Museum of Allumiere, Soprin-tendenza, the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, and CNR. The La Ficoncella site, still only at thebeginning of excavation activities, has yielded various skeletal remains of Palaeoloxodon and a few otheranatomical elements of other species, such as Bos primigenius and Equus sp., in association with fourstone artefacts.

The stratigraphic unit, still under study, contains fauna and lithic remains which could be dated to MIS13, thanks to the presence of an ignimbritic layer at the top of the sequence, dating to MIS 12 (terminusante quem). According to this data, the La Ficoncella site can be considered as an important source ofinformation about the dynamics of human population and the techno-economic relationship betweenhumans and elephants during the early Middle Pleistocene in central Italy.

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1. Introduction

In the Mignone Valley (Tarquinia, northeast of Rome), thepresence of elephant remains (an incomplete tusk now kept at the“A. Klitsche De La Grange” Museum of Allumiere), was first repor-ted at the La Ficoncella site by Seri (1994). Despite the potentialinterest of such a finding, neither a survey nor systematic excava-tions were carried out in the area. Later, at the beginning of thiscentury, the fossiliferous levels cropping out at La Ficoncella werepartially exposed by moderate landslides. A largely incompletescapula of a large elephant was, fortunately, discovered by somehunters, who brought it to the “A. Klitsche De La Grange” Museumof Allumiere. During the restoration of the scapula, a lithic flakewasfound in the sediment still enveloping the bone. This findingconfirms the occurrence at La Ficoncella of both elephant remainsand lithic tools, hence, the archaeological interest of the site. Thiswas the reason why the “Soprintendenza ai Beni archeologici

Siena, Dip. di Scienze Ambi-ndola 62, 53100 Siena, Italy.li).

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dell’Etruria Meridionale” promoted, in 2009, a geological survey incollaboration with the “A. Klitsche De La Grange” Museum and “LaSapienza”University of Rome. The surveywas aimed at defining thestratigraphical context of the level from which the elephantremains and the lithic implements had been collected. In the latespring of 2010, an area of about 30 m2 was excavated, and thestratigraphical succession overlying the fossiliferous layer wasexposed to verify the stratigraphical setting of the faunal remainswith respect to a volcanic level outcropping at nearly the top of thestratigraphical succession. At the beginning of the excavation, itwas found that the latter had largely been affected by landslides,which partially intersected the remains (the right tusks and thescapula) of an elephant. Fortunately, a still uncovered part of thefossiliferous layer was in place and other remains (i.e. premaxillarybones and the left tusk) had not been displaced or reworked.

The main objectives of the on-field research were: to improveknowledge of the stratigraphic sequence of the site, to search for insitu faunal remains, and to confirm the already supposed presenceof both non-reworked lithic tools and faunal remains in the samestratigraphical level. This paper gives a short account of the resultsobtained to date.

D. Aureli et al. / Quaternary International 255 (2012) 29e3530

2. Geomorphological and geological framework

The La Ficoncella site is located at ca. 70 m a.s.l. in the Tarquiniaterritory (Viterbo, Northern Latium) along the Mignone Valley,a few km northwest of “Monti della Tolfa” and not far from theTyrrhenian coast (Fig. 1A). Fossiliferous layers crop out along theouter scarp of a flat, terraced surface between ca. 75 and 95 m a.s.l.(Fig. 1B).

The Quaternary geology and morphology of the north sector ofthe Latium coast is characterized by a series of marine and/or fluvialstratigraphic units, often associated with remnants of their owndepositional upper surfaces, which define a series of terraces(Fazzini et al., 1972; Ambrosetti et al., 1978, 1981; Conato and DaiPra, 1980; Bosi et al., 1990; De Rita et al., 2002). This morphos-tratigraphical feature is seen as being the result of the interactionbetween glacio-eustatic sea level fluctuations and a general upliftof the area, beginning in the Pliocene epoch.

A further, peculiar characteristic of the Quaternary geology andstratigraphy of this region is the occurrence of both primary andreworked pyroclastic deposits, related to the MiddleeUpper Pleis-tocene explosive activity of adjacent volcanic centres in the

Fig. 1. Reference maps of the La Ficoncella site. A) General view of the site and of thenearest volcanic complexes of the Roman Comagmatic Province; the shadow arearoughly represents the aerial distribution of the Tufo Rosso a Scorie Nere Sabatinoignimbrite from Bracciano caldera-lake. B) Digital elevation model of the Ficoncella sitearea (white rectangle in A) showing the flat terraced morphologies characterizing thenorthern sector of the Latium coasts.

northern part of the Comagmatic Roman Province. Some of theseprimary and well-dated tephra layers represent regional strati-graphic markers and have been used as an effective tool forcorrelating and dating the associated morphostratigraphical units(e.g. De Rita et al., 2002). In particular, De Rita et al. (2002) recog-nized four synthems dated between ca. 450 and 125 ka, the threemost recent of which are associated to as many orders of terracesrelated toMIS 5, MIS 7 andMIS 9, at elevations of ca. 20e30, 40e47,and 50e90 m a.s.l., respectively.

3. Preliminary data on the stratigraphical settingof La Ficoncella sedimentary succession

Field investigations carried out at the re-exhumed site and insurrounding localities have enabled construction of a preliminarystratigraphy of the uppermost part, ca. 10 m thick, of the strati-graphic succession, exposed on the slope of the terrace from 75 to95 m a.s.l. (Fig. 1B). The succession can be subdivided into threemain depositional units.

The lower unit (FIC 1), ca. 5 m thick with an unexposed base, isprevalently made up of sandy to silty sediments with abundantvolcanoclastic components, including weathered ash, fine lapilliand volcanic minerals, especially leucite crystals. This volcano-clastic unit is capped by a 2e3 m thick ignimbritic deposit witheutaxitic texture (FIC 2) mostly composed of a grey matrix ash andincluding sanidine crystals and black, elongated, cm-sized glassy,flattened scoria. The uppermost, unit (FIC 3), ca. 2e3 m thick,consists of grey-blackish silty deposits with sparse, sub-roundedsiliceous clasts.

The lithological features of the La Ficoncella ignimbrite (FIC 2)match those of the basal part of the “Tufo Rosso a Scorie Nere”pyroclastic flow deposits (“Peperini Listati” Auct.; cfr. CartaGeologica d’Italia, 1:50,000, Sheet 354 “Tarquinia”), resulting fromone of the major pyroclastic flow-forming eruptions of the SabatiniVolcanic Complex, dated at 449 � 1 ka by Karner et al. (2001). Thisignimbrite covers a surface of almost 1000 km2, and may be traced,even if discontinuously, from the “La Finconcella” distal site, ca.30 km from the vent area, up to the near vent sections around LakeBracciano (Fig. 1A).

In order to strengthen this consistent tephrostratigraphic attri-bution, microprobe chemical analyses of the glasses of both matrixand lapilli-sized scoria clasts from the “La Ficoncella” ignimbritewere conducted. The results show a trachytic composition whichencompasses the compositional spectrum of the “Tufo Rosso aScorie Nere” pyroclasts (Table 1; Fig. 2), confirming that the LaFiconcella ignimbrite belongs to the “Tufo Rosso a Scorie Nere”pyroclastic flow deposits.

The occurrence of reworked, leucite-bearing pyroclastic mate-rials in the fluvial deposits containing the faunal remains, on onehand, and the recognition of the “Tufo Rosso a Scorie Nere”, on theother, date the former, and thus the bone assemblage, between thebeginning of the K-alkaline vulcanism of the area (ca. 800 ka; Marraet al., 2004; Karner et al., 2001) and ca. 450 ka. However, althoughthe occurrence of a long temporal hiatus cannot be ruled out, due tothe strict stratigraphic proximity between “Tufo Rosso a ScorieNere” and the fluvial fossiliferous sediments, the latter is consid-ered to be much nearer to its upper temporal limit (ca. 450 ka),rather than its lower one (ca. 800 ka) (Fig. 3).

As to the genesis and age of the uppermost La Ficoncella unitand related surface, some hypotheses were formulated by framingthe site in the broad context of the regional geological andgeomorphological evolution, related to glacio-eustatic fluctuationsand tectonic uplift. On the adjacent right side of theMignome River,there are remnants of a terraced surface that have an elevationbetween 80 and 100 m a.s.l., comparable to the La Ficoncella one

Fig. 3. Scheme of the morphological and stratigraphical relationship (A) and chrono-logical framework of the La Ficoncella site (B). The Benthic d18O stack form Lisiecki andRaymo (2005).

Table 1Average major element compositions of micro-pumice fragments and/or glassshards from Ficoncella ignimbrite and from the basal Plinian fallout and flowproximal deposits of the Tufo of Rosso a Scorie Nere (TRSN) pyroclastic sequence.Reference: a) Galli et al. (2010); b) M. Gaeta (personal communication, 2010). Theseanalyses were carried out at the Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria(CNR, Rome, Italy) using a Cameca SX50 electron microprobe that was equippedwith a five wavelength dispersive spectrometer. The operating conditions were asfollows: accelerating voltage, 15 kV; beam current, 15 nA; beam diameter,10e15 mm; counting time, 20 s per element. The following standards were used:wollastonite (Si and Ca), corundum (Al), diopside (Mg), andradite (Fe), rutile (Ti),orthoclase (K), jadeite (Na), phlogopite (F), KCl (Cl), baritina (S), andmetals (Mn). TheTi content was corrected for the overlap of the Ti and Ka peaks.

TRSN Plinian falla TRSN pyroclasticflowb

La Ficoncella (FIC3)

N. of analyses 18 s.d. 19 s.d. 14 s.d.

SiO2 60.03 0.54 61.15 0.16 61.73 0.18TiO2 0.53 0.04 0.52 0.03 0.52 0.02Al2O3 19.12 0.24 18.79 0.11 18.82 0.07FeO 2.93 0.12 2.71 0.09 2.76 0.12MnO 0.15 0.03 0.17 0.04 0.14 0.04MgO 0.41 0.02 0.38 0.02 0.39 0.02CaO 2.81 0.12 2.62 0.14 2.40 0.16Na2O 3.76 0.12 3.69 0.09 3.84 0.12K2O 10.22 0.17 9.92 0.17 9.34 0.17P2O5 0.05 0.03 0.05 0.03 0.06 0.05F 0.36 0.11 0.26 0.15 0.11 0.06Cl 0.08 0.01 0.08 0.01 0.08 0.01SO3 n.d. 0.00 0.17 0.04 0.17 0.02

Original total 94.10 0.26 96.66 0.46 97.58 0.44Alkali sum 13.98 13.61 0.16 13.18 0.20

D. Aureli et al. / Quaternary International 255 (2012) 29e35 31

(Fig. 1B). This morphosedimentary units, to which the Finconcellaterrace is correlated, corresponds to the synthem 4 of De Rita et al.(2002) containing, in its uppermost stratigraphic part, a Plinian falldeposits ascribed to the “Vico a” eruption from Vico volcano(Fig. 1A) dated between 420 and 400 ka; i.e. MIS 11. Althoughaccording to De Rita et al. (2002), synthem 4 has no correspondingcostal deposits (cf. Fig. 5 of De Rita et al., 2002), the Ficoncellaterrace and related deposits of the unit FIC3, as well as the corre-lated morphosedimentary unit on the right side of the MignoneRiver, may be interpreted as remnants of the coastal plain related tothe MIS 11 high stand (Fig. 3). From the above, the whole

Fig. 2. Total alkali silica diagram (TAS; Le Bas et al., 1986) of scoria and matrix glassshards from the “La Ficoncella” ignimbrite deposits, compared with “Tufo Rossoa Scorie Nere” Plinian and flow pyroclasts (see Table 1 for data, abbreviations andreferences).

sedimentary sequence of La Ficoncella should cover the MIS13eMIS 11 stratigraphic interval dated between ca. 500 and 400 ka(Fig. 3).

4. Fauna

Mammal remains found at La Ficoncella since the 1990s (Seri,1994) mainly belong to a large elephant. A few scanty and largelyfragmentary remains of a very large bovid (Bos primigenius) as wellas a caballine horse (Equus sp.) were also uncovered during the2010 excavation assay.

The elephant remains, recently found in the fluvial-lacustrinelevel at the bottom of the section exposed at La Ficoncella, consistof premaxillary bones, a nearly complete left tusk, and the proximalportion of the right tusk, still in the alveolus (Fig. 4), while a largepart of a seriously damaged skull and possibly the mandible, arestill buried in sediments. The skull apex is not preserved. Theproximal part of the premaxillary bones is incomplete, while theright tusk is quite well preserved. The large distal portion of the lefttusk found by Seri (1994), more than 1 m long and missing the tip,is on display at the “A. Klitsche De La Grange” Museum of Allu-miere, as well as some other large fragments, likely belonging to theLa Ficoncella specimen, consistent with the size, shape and pres-ervation status shown by the various fragments.

Fig. 4. Area of excavation (Ficoncella, 2010).

D. Aureli et al. / Quaternary International 255 (2012) 29e3532

The morphology of the fan-shaped tusk alveoli, the triangular,flattened area between them and the shape of the tusks, divergentproximally, slightly curved downwards and towards the sagittalplane and then moderately upwards, distally, leave no doubt as to

the identity of the specimen as a straight-tusked elephant. Thisidentification is confirmed by the pattern of the Schreger lines. It iswell known that, in Proboscidea, every transversal cross-section oftusk shows a pattern of two sets of lines (i.e. the Schreger line

D. Aureli et al. / Quaternary International 255 (2012) 29e35 33

pattern), curving clockwise and counterclockwise. As a result, thesurface of the cross-section of the tusk seems to be divided intorhomboidal shaped areas. The intersections of Schreger lines formangles (Schreger angles) whose width could be a valid tool for thetaxonomic identification of Elephantinae genus, e.g. in Loxodontaand Elephas, as well as in Palaeoloxodon. In the La Ficoncella tusk theoutside angles of the area close to the cementum are wider than inMammuthus (Palombo and Villa, 2001, 2003, and referencestherein). In transverse section, the tusks from La Ficoncella exhibita pattern of crossing lines similar to the typical pattern character-izing straight-tusked elephants: the width of the angles, formed bythe crossing of the two groups of lines, progressively increases fromthe centre to the peripheral area of the section, on average rangingfrom about 60� (near the pulpal cavity) to 120� (near thecementum).

The moderate curvature shown by the La Ficoncella tusks matchthe curvature usually shown by tusks of Italian straight-tuskedelephants of about the same size (see e.g. Trevisan 1949; Anzideiet al. 2010; Palombo unpublished data). Tusks of palaeoloxodontsvary greatly in dimension and curvature, as expected in view ofboth the marked sexual dimorphism and the change in robustnessand shape during ontogenetic growth, characterizing the secondincisor in elephants. Although in each palaeloxodont population,tusks of females are smaller, more slender and less curved thanthose of males of the same age and tusks of males show a more andmore accentuated curvature as the animal grows. Tusks of Italianadult males seem to be definitely stouter and less curved than tusksof straight-tusked elephants from Germany, such as those fromNeumark Nord 1 (Germany) (Palombo et al., 2010), proposing againthe still debated question as to whether all European straight-tusked elephants could be confidently ascribed to the samespecies, i.e. Palaeoloxodon antiquus. Recently, Saegusa and Gilbert(2008) recognized two distinct morphotypes among Eurasianstraight-tusked elephants, on the basis of differences of the skullshape: the “Stuttgart morph”, typically represented by Germanpalaeoloxodonts and mainly characterized by a weak developmentof the parieto-frontal crest and the “namadicus morph” witha strongly developed parieto-frontal crest as shown by Italiancontinental (e.g. La Polledrara di Cecanibbio, Anzidei et al. 2010)and insular (e.g. Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis from Puntali Cave,Sicily, Ferretti, 2008) specimens. If the different morphology of theparieto-frontal crest shown by European straight-tusked elephantsmight actually be due to intra-specific variability (see Ferretti,2008; Palombo and Ferretti, 2010; Palombo and Ferretti in prepa-ration, for a discussion), and as nuchal muscles (levators of thehead) insert on the anterior part of the parieto-frontal crest, the sizeand curvature of the tusks might be a further possible factorinfluencing, along with sex and ontogenetic growth, the develop-ment and anterior bending of the parieto-frontal crest.

Whatever the actual significance of this characteristic, the sizeand curvature of the tusks from La Ficoncella, suggest they belongto an adult male of the “namadicusmorph”. Moreover, both the sizeand preservation of the scapula found at La Ficoncella, suggest itlikely belongs to the same individual. The original anatomicalpositions of the tusks in the alveoli, indicate that the carcass, or theat least partially already disarticulated skeleton, did not suffer anyimportant transport by streams, and was possibly buried shortlyafter death.

5. Lithic implements

The sample of lithic implements found at La Ficoncella, in thefossiliferous layer holding the straight-tusked elephant remains,consists only of four flakes, showing technical signatures clearlyindicating they are human artefacts.

The limestone flake found in the sediment wrapping thestraight-tusked elephant scapula (length ¼ 70 mm, width ¼60 mm, thickness ¼ 30 mm), is characterized by the presence ofvery strong concretions. From a technical point of view, the flakepresents a dos latérale with the cutting-edge on the opposite side(Fig. 5A). Three other well preserved flints, with very fresh edgeswere found during the last excavation. In particular, two flakes(Fig. 5B and C) allow for some technical comments: one of these isa flakewith dos latérale et naturel and orthogonal negative scars, theother one is a flake characterized by negative, converging scars.Each of these three artefacts is less than 20 mm long and thereforesmaller than the limestone flake.

The scantiness of artefacts found thus far makes it difficult toascribe them to any specific techno-cultural framework. At thepresent state of research, it is not easy to clearly evaluate thearchaeological potentialities of the context, but the presence ofhumans on this territory during the Middle Pleistocene can beproven by these artefacts.

6. Remarks

In the Mignone River Valley, few palaeontological sites havebeen reported thus far. The most ancient of which is the site ofMonte Riccio (Early Pleistocene; Mazzini et al., 2000; Rozzi, 2009;Palombo unpublished data), bearing a rich and diversifiedmammalian fauna. The occurrence of marine molluscs within thelevels in which the bones were retrieved, together with sedimen-tological evidence, indicates a different position of the coastline inthis area when compared with the present-day. Moreover, this siteshares with La Ficoncella a similar elevation above sea level,implying the persistence of relatively strong tectonic activity in thearea at more recent times. Although the scant number of palae-ontological sites makes the attempt to assess the evolution of theenvironment in this area undoubtedly difficult, some analogies canbe noticed between the La Ficoncella site and other localities of thelate Middle Pleistocene of the Roman basin (Torre in Pietra 1,Malagrotta, La Polledrara di Cecanibbio, Castel di Guido, CollinaBarbattini, Sedia del Diavolo 2, Monte delle Gioie, Torre in Pietra 2 eVitinia 4; see Milli et al. (2008) and references therein for adiscussion), where P. antiquus is especially abundant in fluvialtransgressive deposits. These originated during phases of riverflooding, leaving bones to be buried along the channel margins, aswell as in lacustrine and marshy sediments filling the formerriverbed. Although the remains of P. antiquus are still under exca-vation, and only preliminary remarks can be made, the tapho-nomical setting suggests that the elephant carcass could have beenburied in sediment under low energy depositional conditions.

Comparing and correlating the palaeontological and archaeo-logical record, it appears that, since the early Middle Pleistocene,when the human signature becomes firmly evidenced across theItalian peninsula, and almost until the beginning of the last Glacial(MIS 4), the co-occurrence of lithic and bone industries and straight-tusked elephant remains was most common, especially in centraland southern Italy. Among the oldest are the well known middleGalerian sites of Isernia La Pineta (Molise) (dated to 605 � 10 ka byAr/Ar; Coltorti et al., 2005) and Notarchirico (Basilicata), where thebeginning of the local archaeological sequence (level F,which showsa lithic assemblage with hand-axes), was dated at about 640 ka(Rhodes and Grun,1999). In the latter site, a skull and a mandible ofP. antiquus, surrounded by a number of lithic tools, was found in thelevel A1. Available data, limited by post depositional disturbances,reveals the association between the remains of a single individualwith lithic implements, lying in the proximity of or in direct contactwith the bones, suggesting the utilization of the cranium by homi-nids (Piperno, 1999; Piperno and Tagliacozzo, 2001).

Fig. 5. Lithic implements from Ficoncella site. A limestone flake; BeC flint flakes.

D. Aureli et al. / Quaternary International 255 (2012) 29e3534

In the Latium area, ample evidence of human presence (someteeth and Acheulean assemblages with both lithic and bone hand-axes) and a rich sample of straight-tusked elephant remains aredocumented at the late Galerian site of Fontana Ranuccio in anarchaeological level 458 � 5.7 ka old, after K/Ar analysis (Biddittuet al., 1979).

No human signatures have, conversely, been found associatedwith the Galerian fauna recently discovered in the Ceriti Mts. areaat the Cerveteri-Monte Li Pozzi site and in the Ponte Galeria area. Atthe Cerveteri-Monte Li Pozzi site, where a tusk and an incompleteskeleton were, respectively, found in the lower level and in theupper level, tentatively correlated with MIS 15eMIS 13 (Manciniet al., 2006). In the Ponte Galeria area, several remains belongingto an individual adult P. antiquus have been recently retrieved froman HST fluvial deposit of about 500 ka, cropping out at the CasalSelce quarry, together with a few remains of Dama sp. (Damaclactoniana), Hippopotamus sp. and Testudinata. At this site, taph-onomic and sedimentological features suggest limited transportunder the action of an intermittent and weak current and deposi-tion as a channel lag mode (Milli and Palombo, 2005).

In the Latium area, sites holding both P. antiquus remains andlithic and sometimes bone industries, became more frequentduring the late Middle Pleistocene (early Aurelian Land MammalAge, sensu Palombo et al., 2004; Palombo, 2009). A number oflocal faunal assemblages (LFA’s) ewhose taxonomical compositiondiffers from site to site with species richness and diversity, de-pending on environmental factors and depositional context(Palombo et al., 2003; Milli and Palombo, 2005; Milli et al., 2008) ehave been referred to the Torre in Pietra faunal unit (FU) (MIS 10 to

MIS 6) (see Palombo et al., 2004). Generally, P. antiquus andB. primigenius are among the most common taxa, together withCervus elaphus and Dama, while Capreolus capreolus, Megalocerosgiganteus, Hippopotamus ex gr. H. amphibius and Sus scrofamay at times be present. Rhinoceroses, such as Stephanorhinushemitoechus (more frequent), S. hundsheimensis and perhapsS. kirchbergensis also occur as well as a large and heavy Equus ferus,at times abundant, and Equus hydruntinus just reported from theSedia del Diavolo 2 LFA. Medium-sized carnivores (Vulpes vulpes,Canis lupus) are present with a few remains, while small (Muste-lidae) and large carnivores (Ursus spelaeus, Panthera spelaea, Pan-thera pardus and Crocuta crocuta) are sporadically reported. Theearly Aurelian sites from which the richest and most outstandingsamples of straight-tusked elephants have been recorded, aremainly located in the Roman Basin and in the Sacco-Liri valley (e.g.La Polledrara di Cecanibbio, Castel di Guido, Isoletta) (Sala andBarbi, 1996; Anzidei et al. 2010 and references therein; Palombounpublished data), while nearly complete skeletons were discov-ered in the 1940s and 1950s in diatomaceous layers, outcropping inthe neighbourhood of Grotte Santo Stefano (Viterbo, Central Italy)(Trevisan 1949; Palombo and Villa, 2003) and Riano Flaminio(Maccagno 1962; Palombo and Villa, 2003), but no lithic or boneartefacts were found at these sites.

An in situ butchering of an elephant carcass by hominids is thusfar reported only from La Polledrara di Cecanibbio (Anzidei et al.,2010). Available data suggest that, in the Latium area, the extentand condition of the associated findings of P. antiquus remains, withLower Paleolithic industries, are strongly affected by the deposi-tional context and thaphonomical factors.

D. Aureli et al. / Quaternary International 255 (2012) 29e35 35

Although investigations at La Ficoncella are at an absolutelypreliminary stage, available data on this fauna, the first Galerianfaunal assemblage discovered in the Civitavecchia-Tolfa area,confirm the commonness of straight-tusked elephants in the Lat-ium LFAs since the late Galerian (MIS 13 to MIS 5a) (Palombo, 2009and references therein).

From an archaeological point of view, La Ficoncella could bepotentially considered as one of the Central Italian Middle Pleis-tocene sites claimed to be in the range of 450e500 ka and then,perhaps, to be inlaid into really debated, general issues such as thefirst peopling of Italy or the spread of the Acheulean culture.Ongoing research could confidently clarify the actual role ofhumans (if any) in the biostratinomical processes undergone by theelephant carcass, and answer other questions that are still open.

Acknowledgements

The research reported in this article has been possible thanks tothe collaboration of the “A. Klitsche De La Grange” Museum ofAllumiere (Rome), the Soprintendenza ai Beni Archeologici dell’E-truria Meridionale, “La Sapienza” University of Rome, and the“Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria e CNR”: Workwas supported by the “Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Civ-itavecchia”. The research group owes a particular debt of gratitudeto the Comune di Allumiere for providing us with the opportunityto know and to work in this fascinating territory, the Monti dellaTolfa and the Mignone Valley. We would also like to thank all of thepeople who helped us throughout the field activities.

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