The archaic Acheulean lithic industry of the Cretone basin (Latium, central Italy)

A rich record of Lower Paleolithic lithic industries collectedwithin the lacustrine basin of Cretone (Latium, Central Italy) is described in detail, showing the occurrence of two distinct tool assemblages. According to the geochronolgy data constraining the evolution of the lacustrine basin, inwhich the largest portion of the sedimentary filling correlates with the depositional cycles linked to Marine Isotopic Stages (MIS) 15 and 13, most of the Cretone lithic industry shows the characters of an archaic Acheulean facies, relatively rich in bifacials with lithic industry on flake and roughly cut pebbles (often tending to two-sided chopper), that has similarities with the oldest Italian complexes (e.g.: Isernia - La Pineta). In contrast, a smaller record of artifacts displaying features kin to the early Middle Paleolithic complexes of this region, is likely associated with later frequentation of the area duringMIS 9 through 7,when lacustrine conditionswere largely superseded by a fluvial-palustrine environment, to which limited sedimentary deposits are associated, and migrated to the eastern margin of the basin, where a smaller lake persisted until MIS 5. The recognition of the described "archaic "facies of Acheulian industry within a geochronologically constrained context provides newdata on the lower - middle Paleolithic transition in central Italy and allows us to present a comparative review of other important sites of this regio

New chronological framework (MIS 13–9) and depositional context for the lower Palaeolithic sites north-west of Rome: Revisiting the early hominin in central Italy

The Paleolithic period in central Italy is currently undergoing an extensive revision due to a significant chronological re-examination of many archaeological sites. Recently, several lower Palaeolithic sites 20 km NW of Rome previously dated within MIS 9 (335–300 ka) (i.e. La Polledrara di Cecanibbio, Torre in Pietra, Castel di Guido, Malagrotta and four sites along Via Aurelia) have been geochronologically reassessed between 412 and 325 ka. These sites, in which abundant fauna, artifacts and hominin remains have been found, are remarkably well preserved. A combination of geological factors and the peculiar geodynamic conditions of this region, where tectonics, volcanism and glacio-eustatic forcing worked in concert, allowed for the exceptional conservation of the remains In this paper we provide a review of these sites and analyze their depositional contexts, showing that rapid filling of the fluvial incisions during glacial terminations, combined with sudden emplacement of volcanic deposits, caused the sealing of the archaeological materials accumulated at the bottom of the paleo-valleys. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of these sites as well as to provide the archaeological implications of their new chronology and depositional contexts. Results allow to reconsider the hominin presence in central Italy and highlight the importance to integrate archaeological investigations with modern geological studies, combining sedimentological, geochronological, geomorphological and chronostratigraphical methods

A new age within MIS 7 for the Homo neanderthalensis of Saccopastore in the glacio-eustatically forced sedimentary successions of the Aniene River Valley, Rome

Field observations as well as borehole, sedimentological and geochronologic data allow us to reconstruct the geologic setting of the Aniene River Valley in northern Rome, framing it within the recently recognized picture of temporally constrained, glacio-eustatically forced aggradational successions of this region. The sedimentary successions cropping out in this area include those described in the literature of the early 20th century in Saccopastore, where two skulls of Homo neanderthalensis were recovered. Based on the geometry, elevation and sedimentologic features of the investigated sedimentary deposits, the stratigraphic record of Saccopastore is correlated with the aggradational succession deposited in response to sea-level rise during glacial termination III at the onset of MIS 7 (i.e. ~250 ka), corresponding to the local Vitinia Formation, as opposed to previous correlation with the MIS 5 interglacial and a locally defined "Tyrrhenian" stage (~130 ka). This previous attribution was based on the interpretation of the sedimentary succession of Saccopastore, occurring between 15 and 21 m a.s.l., as a fluvial terrace formed around 130 ka during the Riss-Würm interglacial, ca. 6 m above the present-day alluvial plain of the Aniene River. In contrast to this interpretation, a 40Ar/39Ar age of 129 ± 2 ka determined for this study on a pyroclastic-flow deposit intercalated in a fluvial-lacustrine sequence forming a terrace ~37 m a.s.l. near the coast of Rome constrains the aggradational succession in this area to MIS 5, precluding the occurrence of an equivalent fluvial terrace at lower elevation in the inland sector of Saccopastore. We therefore interpret the stratigraphic record of Saccopastore as the basal portion of the aggradational succession deposited in response to sea-level rise during MIS 7, whose equivalent fluvial terrace occurs around 55 m a.s.l. in this region. We also review the published paleontological and paleoethnological records recovered in Saccopastore and demonstrate their compatibility with the faunal assemblages and lithic industries occurring in the sedimentary deposits of the Vitinia Formation, while we show the lack of any unequivocal Late Pleistocene (MIS 5) affinity. We therefore propose that the chronostratigraphic position of the Saccopastore deposits containing the two skulls should be around 250,000 years, as opposed to a previously preferred age of 130,000 years. The revised age makes these skulls the oldest Italian occurrences of H. neanderthalensis and provides evidence for a substantially coeval appearance and evolutionary path with respect to central-northern Europe

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

A novel multidisciplinary bio- and geo-chronological approach for age determination of Palaeolithic bone artifacts in volcanic settings: An example from eastern Sabatini, Latium, Italy

In this study, we provide combined biochronologic and chronostratigraphic constraints to the fluvial-lacustrine succession cropping out near the village of Rignano Flaminio, 35 km north of Rome, where two bone instruments have been recovered along with several vertebrate fossil remains. The presence of bone tools is characteristic of the Latium region, whereas it is rare in the rest of Italy, but very few sites in which such artifacts occur have precise geochronological constraints. In the investigated site, the presence of Cervus elaphus eostephanoceros, among other taxa, indicates a time interval limited to Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 13 and MIS 11. The occurrence of the Tufo Rosso a Scorie Nere pyroclastic-flow deposit, dated 449 ± 2 ka, at the base of the sedimentary deposits hosting the faunal assemblage allows us at restricting the interval to MIS 11. Moreover, applying a recently validated conceptual model accounting for an aggradational mechanism linked with sea-level rise during glacial termination for the sedimentary successions of the Tiber River and its tributaries in a relatively wider area around Rome, we further constrain the age to 430–405 ka. Following this approach, we present a review of the archaeological sites of Latium yielding bone instruments, remarking that only other four sites have been recently provided with geochronological constraints, through the application of the multidisciplinary methodology applied here

Chronostratigraphic constraints on Middle Pleistocene faunal assemblages and Acheulian industries from the Cretone lacustrine basin, central Italy

Integrated 40Ar/39Ar, trace-element, stratigraphic, palaeontological and palaethnological data provide geochronological and biochronological constraints for the sedimentary and tectonic history of a Middle Pleistocene fluvial–lacustrine basin near Rome (Cretone Basin, central Italy), which has yielded a significant record of mammal fossil remains and Palaeolithic industry. This work is a case study of the interplay between tectonics and glacio-eustacy, which strongly influenced the evolution of the Tyrrhenian Sea margin of central Italy. Dating of tephra layers interbedded within the Cretone Basin lacustrine succession and reconstruction of relict terraced surfaces allow correlation with similar, geochronologically constrained, marine isotopic stages (MIS) 15–5 terraced deposits along the coast. Coupled extensional tectonics and regional uplift over the last 600 ka caused the progressive uplifting and westward migration of the main fluvial–lacustrine basin and the formation of a smaller satellite basin at its eastern margin. Here, stable environmental conditions during MIS 13–5 indicated continuous human and large mammal frequentation, as testified by lithic industry and fossil remains ascribable to the Acheulean and later early Middle Palaeolithic technocomplexes and Galerian–Aurelian mammal faunas, respectively. In addition to providing independent age constraints to glacial sea-level oscillations of this region, the reconstructed chronostratigraphic setting for the Cretone Basin provides evidence for one of the oldest Acheulean lithic assemblage of central Italy, as well as new biochronological and palaeobiogeographical data for some Middle Pleistocene mammal species of Italy

MIS 9 to MIS 5 terraces along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast of Latium (central Italy): Assessing interplay between sea-level oscillations and tectonic activity

We present a review of the geomorphology of the Tyrrhenian Sea coast of central Italy integrated by a novel structural-geomorphological study coupled with statistical analysis of topographic culminations and comparison with a Digital Elevation Model, aimed at reconstructing a suite of paleo-surfaces corresponding to remnant portions of marine terraces. We performed geochronological, sedimentological, micromorphological and mineralogical investigations on the deposits forming the different paleo-surfaces between Civitavecchia and Anzio towns, in order to provide chronostratigraphical, paleogeographical and paleoenvironmental constraints. Using the newly achieved dataset we correlate these paleo-surfaces with the coastal terraces formed during past sea-level highstands, as recognized by previous studies, and we refine their correlation with the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) timescale. In particular, we have extended our geomorphological analyses landward in the area between the Tiber River mouth and Anzio, in order to include the oldest paleo-surface developed above the deposits of the last large explosive eruption at 365 ± 4 ka in the Colli Albani Volcanic District. Results of this study allow us to recognize a set of higher paleo-surfaces at elevation ranging 108 thought 71 m a.s.l., which we interpret as one tectonically displaced, widespread coastal terrace originated during the MIS 9.1 highstand. We correlate the previously identified paleo-surfaces of 66–62 m a.s.l. and 56–52 m a.s.l. with the equivalent coastal terraces developed during the sea-level highstands of sub-stages 7.5 and 7.3/7.1. Moreover, based on data from literature on relative elevation of maximum sea level during the highstands of MIS 11 through MIS 5.1, we assess the regional uplift and the concurrent tectonic displacements that have occurred since 900 ka in this area

The archaeological ensemble from Campoverde (Agro Pontino, central Italy): new constraints on the Last Interglacial sea level markers

We present a combined geomorphological and biochronological study aimed at providing age constraints to the deposits forming a wide paleo-surface in the coastal area of the Tyrrhenian Sea, south of Anzio promontory (central Italy). We review the faunal assemblage recovered in Campoverde, evidencing the occurrence of the modern fallow deer subspecies Dama dama dama, which in peninsular Italy is not present before MIS 5e, providing a post-quem terminus of 125 ka for the deposit hosting the fossil remains. The geomorphological reconstruction shows that Campoverde is located within the highest of three paleosurfaces progressively declining towards the present coast, at average elevations of 36, 26 and 15 m a.s.l. The two lowest paleosurfaces match the elevation of the previously recognized marine terraces in this area; we define a new, upper marine terrace corresponding to the 36 m paleosurface, which we name Campoverde complex. Based on the provided evidence of an age as young as MIS 5e for this terrace, we discuss the possibility that previous identification of a tectonically stable MIS 5e coastline ranging 10-8 m a.s.l. in this area should be revised, with significant implications on assessment of the amplitude of sea-level oscillations during the Last Interglacial in the Mediterranean Sea