TY - JOUR
T1 - The faunal assemblage from La Sassa cave (Latium, Italy)
T2 - Environmental perspective of a Late Pleistocene cave hyena – Brown bear den
AU - Gatta, Maurizio
AU - Fiorillo, Angelica
AU - Salari, Leonardo
AU - Francesca Achino, Katia
AU - Federico Rolfo, Mario
AU - Alessandri, Luca
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank the “Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le province di Frosinone e Latina” for the archaeological permits, the Municipality of Sonnino for the logistical support and the students participating to field investigations over the years. We sincerely appreciated all valuable comments and suggestions, which helped us to improve the quality of the manuscript, by Lars van den Hoek Ostende and another anonymous reviewer.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - La Sassa cave (Sonnino, central Italy) is a recently investigated MIS 3 site of southern Latium, a region characterised by a large number of caves and open-air Late Pleistocene sites. This paper describes the large faunal assemblage discovered at La Sassa cave, providing taphonomic and stratigraphic analyses which allow us to interpret the outer rooms of the cave as a cave hyena communal den and the inner area as a possibly coeval brown bear hibernating shelter. Archaeological evidence also indicates a human frequentation of the surrounding area occurred. In addition, a first environmental reconstruction of the area is provided based on faunal data. Results suggest a composite hilly landscape, with forests and grasslands interspersed by scrubland areas, rocky bands and wetlands, between the Pontine Plain and the modest peaks of the Ausoni Mountains. This contribution improves our palaeoecological perspective of the area around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum with intense human occupation.
AB - La Sassa cave (Sonnino, central Italy) is a recently investigated MIS 3 site of southern Latium, a region characterised by a large number of caves and open-air Late Pleistocene sites. This paper describes the large faunal assemblage discovered at La Sassa cave, providing taphonomic and stratigraphic analyses which allow us to interpret the outer rooms of the cave as a cave hyena communal den and the inner area as a possibly coeval brown bear hibernating shelter. Archaeological evidence also indicates a human frequentation of the surrounding area occurred. In addition, a first environmental reconstruction of the area is provided based on faunal data. Results suggest a composite hilly landscape, with forests and grasslands interspersed by scrubland areas, rocky bands and wetlands, between the Pontine Plain and the modest peaks of the Ausoni Mountains. This contribution improves our palaeoecological perspective of the area around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum with intense human occupation.
KW - Crocuta crocuta
KW - Large mammals
KW - Last Glacial
KW - Mediterranean
KW - MIS 3
KW - Ursus arctos
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141820149&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103691
DO - 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103691
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85141820149
SN - 2352-409X
VL - 46
JO - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
JF - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
M1 - 103691
ER -