• A project is being carried out at Poggio alle Mura that will allow the preparation and study of a balaenopterid whale from the early Pliocene of Tuscany together with its associated biota. • Up to now, the project resulted in the preparation of 18 vertebrae, the skull and an ulna of the whale. • The associated biota includes 18 mollusk species, 2 sea urchin species, 10 shark teeth and thousands of fish remains from the sediment surrounding the skull. • A wealth of educational activities is being carried out at the laboratory of Poggio alle Mura that are directed to schools and citizens

Elizabeth Koenig

Giandonato Tartarelli & Michelangelo Bisconti

Giuseppe D’Amore

Jacopo Tabolli

Luca Maria Foresi

Luca Ragaini

Massimo Tarantini

Renzo Bigazzi

Roberta Scotton

Simone Casati

Sylvia Di Marco

English

Giandonato Tartarelli &amp

Archivio della Ricerca - Università di Pisa

The “Brunella” Project: preparation and study of a mysticete from the Early Pliocene of TuscanyRoberta Scotton1, Renzo Bigazzi1, Simone Casati2, Giuseppe D’Amore1, Sylvia Di Marco1, Luca Maria Foresi3, Elizabeth Koenig4, Luca Ragaini5, Jacopo Tabolli6, Massimo Tarantini7, Giandonato Tartarelli8 & Michelangelo Bisconti91 Istituto di Studi Archeo-Antropologici, Via delle Cascine 46, 50018, Scandicci (Firenze); robertascotton@yahoo.it; renzo.bigazzi@teletu.it; g_damore@libero.it; sylvia_dimarco@libero.it 2Gruppo AVIS di Mineralogia e Paleontologia Scandicci, Piazza Vittorio Veneto 1, 50018, Scandicci (Firenze); simonecasati@alice.it 3Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell’Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Siena, via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena; luca.foresi@unisi.it4Banfi s.r.l., Castello di Poggio alle Mura, 53024, Montalcino (Siena); elizabeth.koenig@banfi.it5Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, via Santa Maria 53, 56126, Pisa; ragaini@dst.unipi.it 6Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le province di Siena, Grosseto, Arezzo, via di Città 138/140, 53100, Siena; jacopo.tabolli@beniculturali.it; 7Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la città metropolitana di Firenze e le province di Pistoia e Prato, Piazza de’ Pitti 1, 50125, Firenze; massimo.tarantini@beniculturali.it 8Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza Cavalieri, 56100, Pisa; tartarelli@sns.it 9San Diego Natural History Museum, 1788 El Prado, CA 92101, San Diego, United States of  America; michelangelobisconti@gmail.comintroduction In 2007, the skeleton of  a mysticete was uncovered in the Banfi’s vineyard at the locality of  Poggio alle Mura, near Montalcino (Siena). The excavation of  this whale resulted in the discovery of  a partially ar-ticulated skeleton including skull, both dentaries, part of  the vertebral column, one scapula, parts of  the fo-relimbs and ribs. Since the excavation this whale has been referred to with the nickname “Brunella”. The excavation revealed also mollusks, barnacles and pa-laeobotanical remains. In addition, a preliminary in-vestigation of  the stratigraphy at the site was carried out and sediment samples for micropalaeontological analyses were gathered from the stratigraphic level where the whale was found and from different layers of  the stratigraphic section. The excavation occurred during an important enological event in Montalcino and the discovery of  the whale was presented on na-tional television channels (RAI) and onto numerous national and international newspapers and journals (e.g., Anonymous, 2007). In the following years, the fossils resulting from the 2007 excavation were stored in a warehouse at the Banfi’s property at Poggio alle Mura. In 2016, the Soprintendenza Archeologica del-la Toscana decided to begin a new project focused on the preparation, study and possible exhibition of  this whale on the basis of  early reports suggesting that it could be an important step towards shedding light on mysticete evolution, and on palaeobiogeographic and palaeoecological conditions at the site of  the disco-very.materialS and methodSThe mysticete specimen and the sediment samples taken at the discovery site are preserved in the labo-ratory at Poggio alle Mura (Montalcino, Siena Pro vince). The geological section at the site was studied during the excavation in 2007 and samples were obtai-Bullet-pointS aBStract• A project is being carried out at Poggio alle Mura that will allow the preparation and study of  a balaenopterid whale from the early Pliocene of  Tuscany together with its associated biota. • Up to now, the project resulted in the preparation of  18 vertebrae, the skull and an ulna of  the whale.• The associated biota includes 18 mollusk species, 2 sea urchin species, 10 shark teeth and thousands of  fish remains from the sediment surrounding the skull.• A wealth of  educational activities is being carried out at the laboratory of  Poggio alle Mura that are directed to schools and citizens. KeywordS:  mysticeti; Pliocene; Tuscany; anatomy; paleoenvironmentFossilia, Volume 2018: 61-63Corresponding author: robertascotton@yahoo.itHow to cite: Scotton et al. (2018). The “Brunella” Project: preparation and study of  a mysticete from the Early Pliocene of  Tuscany. Fossilia, Volume 2018: 61-63. https://doi.org/10.32774/FosRepPal.20.1810.156163Fossilia - Reports in Palaeontology   Fig. 1. The “Brunella” project. A, the skull of  the mysticete in the slab where it was preserved together with abundant mollusks. B, another view of  the skull with the bones digitally colored in blue for closer individuation. C, the skull with rostrum digitally colored in orange and neurocranium in blue. D, a group of  lumbar vertebrae, caudal vertebrae and chevrons in the slab where they are preserved. E, a student of  a summer school during preparation activities on “Brunella”’s ribs.Scotton et al.62ned from different layers to be used for micropalaeon-tological analyses. Sediments were washed and sieved to be examined under microscopy in search for micro-fossils. The mysticete bones were subject to mecha-nical preparation; use of  alcohol and oxidized water supplemented the mechanical preparation to facilitate sediment removal. The sediment removed from the bones was washed and sieved to be analyzed under a stereomicroscope with magnification of  10x and 20x. Standard sediment samples were 1 l in volume cor-responding to 1476 g in weight. All the microfossils were saved in dedicated containers. During the micro-excavation of  the bones, the chemical product used in 2007 to consolidate the skeleton was removed by ap-plication of  acetone and a new bicomponent chemical product was then applied to definitively consolidate the bones. Mollusk shells were mechanically polished. The total body length of  the whale was calculated by using dedicated regression equations (Pyenson et al., 2013) based on a preliminary estimation of  the length of  the right dentary.diScuSSionS and concluSionSThe new project involved both public and private institutions in a joint effort with the following goals: prepare the specimen; obtain a chronostratigraphic assessment of  its age; describe and analyze the pala-eoenvironment at the site of  the discovery based on mollusk, foraminifer and sediment analyses; descri-be the specimen and investigate into its systematic, phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographic relationships; exhibit the skeleton within an existent or new location (e.g., a museum); and, realize a series of  educational programs around the specimen, such as a summer school focused on the preparation of  paleontological remains open to undergraduate students. The project was funded by the Banfi Society following the recently established Art Bonus scheme of  the MiBACT (Italian Ministry of  Cultural Heritage and Tourism). To our knowledge, this is the first project of  this kind focused on a fossil vertebrate to be developed in Italy. The project started following separate agreements between the Archaeological Superintendency of  Tu-scany, the Banfi Society, and the Istituto di Studi Ar-cheo-antropologici (ISA), resulting in two editions of  a summer school realized in 2016 and 2017 involving teachers from three universities of  Tuscany, the Scuola Normale Superiore of  the University of  Pisa, the ISA, the Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano, and the San Diego Natural History Museum (Fig. 1). The third edition of  the summer school is currently under pre-paration and will take place by the end of  2018. The school has received the official endorsements by the Manuscript received 13 July 2018Received after revision 25 September 2018Accepted 2 October 2018The “Brunella” Project 63Società Paleontologica Italiana (SPI) in previous edi-tions, the Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell’Ambiente of  the University of  Siena, and the Associazione Italiana per lo Studio del Quaternario (AIQUA). The following subjects have been included in the programs of  the school: mysticete osteology, evolution and biogeography; general biological and geological patterns in the Mediterranean Pliocene; Miocene and Pliocene mollusk evolution; mysticete taphonomy; palaeogeographic and palaeoenviron-mental evolution of  Tuscany during the Pliocene; paleontological excavation techniques; techniques of  preparation and restoration of  fossil vertebrates; techniques of  photogrammetry and tridimensional modelling of  fossil vertebrates; and museology. Stu-dents from different universities came from northern, central and southern Italy sharing their cultural back-grounds: Geology, Natural Sciences and Conserva-tion of  Cultural Heritage. The Banfi Society provided the location for the classes, the warehouse for the preparation laboratory of  the fossil whale (as well as food). RAI3 (national television channel), local new-spapers and web journals provided media coverage on the different activities of  the school. Presently (June 2018), the preparation and restoration of  the speci-men is in progress. The technicians are using mecha-nical preparation instruments to remove the matrix from the bones and a diverse array of  chemical pro-ducts to consolidate and preserve the fossil. The pre-servation is variable: the vertebrae and the posterior portion of  the skull are in good conditions while the rostrum is badly damaged by post-mortem processes. The scientific study of  “Brunella” is still in progress. Preliminary investigations revealed that: it belonged to the family Balaenopteridae; it does not belong to any of  the living taxa; based on the length of  its den-tary, it was estimated that the total body length of  “Brunella” should have been between c. 6 and c. 7.5 m and its weight was c. 5000 kg; the age of  this wha-le was preliminarily assessed based on foraminifers and mollusks and was constrained between 3.7 and 4.5 Ma. “Brunella” was framed in publications on the taphonomy and stratigraphic palaeobiology of  baleen whales from Italy (Dominici et al., 2009; 2018). Gi-ven its degree of  completeness and preservation, it is expected that “Brunella” will shed further light on the evolution of  balaenopterid mysticetes from the Early Pliocene of  the Mediterranean basin.acKnowledgementSThe “Brunella” project was made possible by the interest and action of  several individuals: SC discovered the spe-cimen together with Franco Gasparri; Menotti Mazzini (former technician of  the University of  Florence) directed the 2007 excavation; Enrico Viglierchio, Remo Grassi (all at Banfi s.r.l.), Giorgio Carnevale (University of  Turin), Cristiano Dal Sasso (Natural History Museum of  Milan) provided valuable insights and help during the research and the field school editions. referenceSAnonymous (2007). The whales of  Italy. Science, 316: 179.Dominici S., Cioppi E., Danise S., Betocchi U., Gallai G., Tangocci F., Valleri G. & Monechi S. (2009). Mediter-ranean fossil whale falls and the adaptation of  mollu-sks to extreme habitats. Geology, 37: 815–818.Dominici S., Danise S. & Benvenuti M. (2018). Pliocene stratigraphic paleobiology in Tuscany and the fossil re-cord of  marine megafauna. Earth Sciences Reviews, 176: 277-310.Pyenson J. D., Goldbogen J. A., Shadwick R. E. (2013). Mandible allometry in extant and fossil Balaenopteri-dae (Cetacea: Mammalia); the largest vertebrate skele-tal element and its role in rorqual lunge feeding. Biologi-cal Journal of  the Linnean Society, 108: 586-599. 

The "Brunella" project: preparation and study of a mysticete from the Early Pliocene of Tuscany

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The "Brunella" project: preparation and study of a mysticete from the Early Pliocene of Tuscany

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