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Mecozzi B, Iannucci A, Mancini M, Tentori D, Cavasinni C, Conti J, Messina MY, Sarra A, Sardella R. Reinforcing the idea of an early dispersal of Hippopotamus amphibius in Europe: Restoration and multidisciplinary study of the skull from the Middle Pleistocene of Cava Montanari (Rome, central Italy). PLoS One 2023; 18:e0293405. [PMID: 37992018 PMCID: PMC10664965 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023] Open
Abstract
A skull of Hippopotamus recovered from the area of Tor di Quinto, within the urban area of Rome (central Italy) is here redescribed. Despite being one of the most complete specimens of hippopotamuses of the European Pleistocene, the Tor di Quinto skull did not attract much research interest, due to long-standing uncertainties on its provenance. This work begun in 2021, when the skull was restored, within a large renovation project on the vertebrate exposed at the Earth Science University Museum of Sapienza University of Rome. Original sediments were found inside the cranial and mandible cavities during the restoration work, which were sampled for petrographic analyses. By combining a review of the old paleontological, archeological and geological literature published during the 19th and 20th century on the Rome basin and the correlation of these new sedimentological and petrographic information with the lithostratigraphic and synthemic units of the national geological cartography, we clarify that the Hippopotamus skull was most likely to have been collected from a quarry called Cava Montanari, from a formation dated between 560 and 460 ka. Morphological and biometric analyses clearly support an attribution of the Cava Montanari specimen to the extant species Hippopotamus amphibius. The reassessment of the stratigraphic and geological data on Cava Montanari implies that the studied specimen is the earliest confirmed occurrence of Hippopotamus amphibius in the European fossil record.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beniamino Mecozzi
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra (PaleoFactory lab.), Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy
| | - Alessio Iannucci
- Department of Geosciences, Section of Terrestrial Palaeoclimatology, Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Marco Mancini
- Istituto Di Geologia Ambientale E Geoingegneria, Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR), Area della Ricerca di Roma 1, Monterotondo, Rome, Italy
| | - Daniel Tentori
- Istituto Di Geologia Ambientale E Geoingegneria, Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR), Area della Ricerca di Roma 1, Monterotondo, Rome, Italy
| | - Chiara Cavasinni
- Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy
| | - Jacopo Conti
- Polo Museale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy
| | - Mattia Yuri Messina
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra (PaleoFactory lab.), Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy
| | - Alex Sarra
- Cooperativa Fabrica Conservazione e Restauro, Roma, Italia
| | - Raffaele Sardella
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra (PaleoFactory lab.), Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy
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Pieruccini P, Forti L, Mecozzi B, Iannucci A, Yu TL, Shen CC, Bona F, Lembo G, Muttillo B, Sardella R, Mazzini I. Stratigraphic reassessment of Grotta Romanelli sheds light on Middle-Late Pleistocene palaeoenvironments and human settling in the Mediterranean. Sci Rep 2022; 12:13530. [PMID: 35941267 PMCID: PMC9358667 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-16906-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
During the last century, Grotta Romanelli (Southern Italy) has been a reference site for the European Late Pleistocene stratigraphy, due to its geomorphological setting and archaeological and palaeontological content. The beginning of the sedimentation inside the cave was attributed to the Last Interglacial (MISs 5e) and the oldest unearthed evidence of human occupation, including remains of hearths, was therefore referred to the Middle Palaeolithic. Recent surveys and excavations produced new U/Th dates, palaeoenvironmental interpretation and a litho-, morpho- and chrono-stratigraphical reassessment, placing the oldest human frequentation of the cave between MIS 9 and MIS 7, therefore embracing Glacial and Interglacial cycles. These new data provide evidence that the sea reached the cave during the Middle Pleistocene and human occupation occurred long before MISs 5e and persisted beyond the Pleistocene- Holocene boundary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierluigi Pieruccini
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra, Università Di Torino, Via Valperga Caluso, 35, 10125, Turin, Italy
| | - Luca Forti
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra "A. Desio", Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Via L. Mangiagalli 34. 20133, Milan, Italy. .,Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto Di Geoscienze E Georisorse, Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy.
| | - Beniamino Mecozzi
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra, "Sapienza" Università Di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
| | - Alessio Iannucci
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra, "Sapienza" Università Di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Tsai-Luen Yu
- Marine Industry and Engineering Research Center, National Academy of Marine Research, Kaohsiung, 806614, Taiwan, ROC.,High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC), Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Chuan-Chou Shen
- High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC), Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC.,Research Center for Future Earth, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Fabio Bona
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra "A. Desio", Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Via L. Mangiagalli 34. 20133, Milan, Italy.,Museo Civico Dei Fossili Di Besano, Via Prestini 5, 21050, Besano, Varese, Italy
| | | | - Brunella Muttillo
- Dipartimento Di Studi Umanistici, Università Di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I d'Este, 32, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Raffaele Sardella
- Dipartimento Di Scienze Della Terra, "Sapienza" Università Di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Ilaria Mazzini
- Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto Di Geologia Ambientale E Geoingegneria, Area della Ricerca di Roma 1, 00015, Monterotondo, Rome, Italy
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