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Paleoenvironmental context of the early Neanderthals of Poggetti Vecchi for the late middle Pleistocene of Central Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2017

Marco Benvenuti ,
Jean-Jacques Bahain ,
Chiara Capalbo ,
Chiara Capretti ,
Francesco Ciani ,
Carmine D’Amico ,
Daniela Esu ,
GIanna Giachi ,
Claudia Giuliani  and
Elsa Gliozzi
...Show all authors
Marco Benvenuti*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, 50121 Florence, Italy
Jean-Jacques Bahain
Affiliation:
Département de Préhistoire du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR 7194 du CNRS, 75013 Paris, France
Chiara Capalbo
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, 50121 Florence, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare (DISTEM), Università di Palermo, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Chiara Capretti
Affiliation:
CNR - IVALSA, 50019 Florence, Italy
Francesco Ciani
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, 50019 Florence, Italy
Carmine D’Amico
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, 86090 Pesche (Isernia), Italy
Daniela Esu
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università Sapienza, 00185 Rome, Italy
GIanna Giachi
Affiliation:
Soprintendenza Archeologia della Toscana, 50121 Florence, Italy
Claudia Giuliani
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, 50019 Florence, Italy
Elsa Gliozzi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze, Università Roma TRE, 00146 Rome, Italy
Simona Lazzeri
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, 86090 Pesche (Isernia), Italy
Nicola Macchioni
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, 86090 Pesche (Isernia), Italy
Marta Mariotti Lippi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, 50019 Florence, Italy
Federico Masini
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare (DISTEM), Università di Palermo, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Paul Peter A. Mazza
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, 50121 Florence, Italy
Pasquino Pallecchi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze, Università Roma TRE, 00146 Rome, Italy
Anna Revedin
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy
Andrea Savorelli
Affiliation:
CNR –IGAG, 00015 Rome, Italy
Marco Spadi
Affiliation:
Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, 50121 Florence, Italy
Lorena Sozzi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, 86090 Pesche (Isernia), Italy
Amina Vietti
Affiliation:
Département de Préhistoire du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR 7194 du CNRS, 75013 Paris, France Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy
Mario Voltaggio
Affiliation:
CNR –IGAG, 00015 Rome, Italy
Biancamaria Aranguren
Affiliation:
Soprintendenza Archeologia della Toscana, 50121 Florence, Italy
*
*Corresponding author at: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, 50121 Florence, Italy. E-mail address: ma.benvenuti@unifi.it. (M. Benvenuti).
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Abstract

Work on thermal pools at Poggetti Vecchi in Grosseto, Italy, exposed an up to 3-meter-thick succession of seven sedimentary units. Unit 2 in the lower portion of the succession contained vertebrate bones, mostly of the straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, commingled with stone, bone, and wooden tools. Thermal carbonates overlying Unit 2 are radiometrically dated to the latter part of the middle Pleistocene. This time span indicates that early Neanderthals produced the human artifacts from Poggetti Vecchi. The elephant bones belong to seven individuals of different ages. Sedimentary facies analysis and paleoecological evidence suggest a narrow lacustrine-palustrine embayment affected by water-level fluctuations and, at times, by hydrothermal water. Cyclic lake-level variations were predominantly forced by the rapid climatic fluctuations that occurred at Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6–7 transition and throughout the MIS 6. Possibly an abrupt, intense, and protracted cold episode during the onset of MIS 6 led to the sudden death of the elephants, which formed an unexpected food resource for the humans of the area. The Poggetti Vecchi site adds new information on the behavioral plasticity and food procurement strategies that early Neanderthals were able to develop in Italy during the middle to the late Pleistocene transition.

Keywords

PaleoenvironmentPaleoecologyEarly NeanderthalsLate middle PleistoceneCentral Italy
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 88 , Issue 2 , September 2017 , pp. 327 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2017 

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