A review of the geologic sections and the faunal assemblages of Aurelian Mammal Age of Latium (Italy) in the light of a new chronostratigraphic framework

Abstract

The Aurelian Mammal Age for peninsular Italy was introduced on the basis of faunal assemblages mainly recovered at sites along the Via Aurelia west of Rome. These sites exposed a set of sedimentary deposits currently attributed to the Aurelia and to the Vitinia Formations correlated with MIS 9 and MIS 7, respectively. In the present paper we reconstruct the geologic-stratigraphic setting in the western sector of Rome within the wider context of glacio-eustatically controlled, geochronologically constrained aggradational successions defined for this region. We present a chronostratigraphic study based on dedicated field surveys, that, combined with five new40Ar/39Ar ages and eighteen trace-element and EMP glass analyses of volcanic products, allow us to revise age and correlation with the Marine Isotopic Stages for 10 sites out of 12 previously attributed to the Aurelia Formation and the Torre in Pietra Faunal Unit. In particular, we demonstrate a MIS 13/MIS 11 age for several sections along the Via Aurelia between Malagrotta and Castel di Guido. Based on this new geochronological framework, the first occurrences of Canis lupus and Vulpes vulpes in Italy are antedated to MIS 11, within the Fontana Ranuccio Faunal Unit of the Galerian Mammal Age, consistent with the wider European context. This contribution is intended as the groundwork for a revision of the Middle Pleistocene Mammal Ages of the Italian peninsula, according to the improved chronostratigraphy of the geologic sections hosting the faunal assemblages

Biostratigraphy and Palaeoecology of European Equus

“…In Italy, the first appearance of Equus hydruntinus forms one of the chronological markers of the Middle Aurelian faunal assemblages (Vitinia FU, MIS 8.5 and 7) (Marra et al, 2014(Marra et al, , 2018. In France, de caves of Lunel-Viel have long been considered to harbor the oldest remains of the species (Bonifay, 1991).…”

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

“…Nevertheless, these remains were considered as a single assemblage, referred it to middle-late Middle Pleistocene 1 . In fact, most of the taxa found at Campoverde (such as Palaeoloxodon antiquus , Ursus spelaeus , Canis lupus , Equus ferus , Stephanorhinus hemitoechus , Hippopotamus amphibius, Bos primigenius , and Capreolus capreolus ) have their First Occurrence (FO) in Italy in the Galerian, and are well represented in the Aurelian mammal assemblages 35 , spanning a wide temporal range (MIS 15/13 through MIS 7, i.e. : 600–200 ka, see Fig.…”

“…Similarly, Megaloceros giganteus is reported in Italy from MIS 9, in the Torre in Pietra Faunal Unit (FU), becoming quite frequent in the Late Pleistocene and disappearing at the end of the Last Glacial 40,41 . Equus hydruntinus , which was firstly recorded in the Vitinia FU, MIS 8.5–7, became more common during the Late Pleistocene, and became extinct during the middle Holocene 35,42 . Also Cervus elaphus , which occurs for the first time in the Slivia FU, MIS 19, and is still living in Italy, does not offer biochronological information, because such evidence requires identification at the subspecies level only, and can be made mostly by comparison of the antlers 31,33 , which are not reported among the fossil remains of Campoverde.…”

“…In contrast, discriminating elements are represented by Mammuthus and Dama dama . Indeed, if M. primigenius occurs in Italy in the Late Pleistocene, the transitional forms M. trogontherii-chosaricus-primigenius are recorded only from the late Galerian to middle-late Aurelian, in the Middle Pleistocene 23,24,35,41 (Fig. 6).…”

“…The aurochs is the most abundant taxon at Campoverde, as in the most of the Aurelian mammal assemblages 35 . The measurements of many specimens reveal a population of large size and some skeletal elements are larger than those of B. primigenius from Avetrana (Taranto, Apulia), from a fossiliferous deposit referred to MIS 5 36 .…”