Abstract
Grotta Romanelli can be counted among the most interesting sites for the late Upper Palaeolithic of the Mediterranean area, since returned a consistent record of lithic artefacts, faunal remains, mobiliary and parietal art, and human fossils which represent the least-known materials from the context. The resumption of the investigations in 2015, after 40 years of inactivity in the cave, provided relevant results. During the 2019 campaign, a distal phalanx of the hand was recovered in the so-called terre brune levels, providing for the first time a clear stratigraphic and chronological reference for the human fossils record of Grotta Romanelli. In addition to morphological description and age estimation, the new finding is here analyzed using 3D Micro-CT scans. The new human fossil confirms the exceptional richness of the paleoanthropological record of Grotta Romanelli, opening new avenues of investigation and posing crucial questions on the use of the cave and cultural practices at the Late Pleistocene-Holocene boundary.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
from Forti et al. 2020); sedimentary succession of SS3 (c) and its stratigraphic log (d). Superior view of the digital model of the human phalanx RR1127 (center), reconstructed from microCT-scan. In different colors are reported two coronal sections, one near de distal end (upper left, green) and the other at the proximal end (lower left, yellow). In red is reported a mid-sagittal section (right) (e). RR1127 from Grotta Romanelli (f) in proximal (1), distal (2), anterior (3), dorsal (4), lateral (5), and medial (6) views
Data availability
Not applicable.
Code availability (software application or custom code)
Not applicable.
References
Blanc GA (1920) Grotta Romanelli I. Stratigrafia dei depositi e natura e origine di essi. Archivio per L’antropologia e La Etnologia 50:1–39
Buikstra JE, Ubelaker DH (1994) Standard for data collection from human skeletal remains. Arkansas Archaeological Survey Research Series, 40, Fayetteville
Forti L, Mazzini I, Mecozzi B, Sigari D, Sardella R (2020) Grotta Romanelli (Castro, Lecce) un sito chiave del Quaternario mediterraneo. Geologicamente 2:18–27. https://doi.org/10.3301/GM.2020.02
Gaskin CM, Kahn MMSL, Bertozzi JC, Bunch PM (2011) Skeletal development of the hand and wrist: a radiographic atlas and digital bone age companion. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Lorenzo C, Pablos A, Carretero JM, Huguet R, Valverdú J, Martinón-Torres M, Arsuaga LL, Eudald Carbonell E, de Castro JMB (2015) Early Pleistocene human hand phalanx from the Sima del Elefante (TE) cave site in Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain). J Human Evol 78:114–121
Sardella R, Mazzini I, Giustini F, Mecozzi B, Brilli M, Iurino DA, Lembo G, Muttillo B, Massussi M, Sigari D, Tucci S, Voltaggio M (2018) Grotta Romanelli (Southern Italy, Apulia): legacies and issues in excavating a key site for the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean. Riv Ital Paleontolog Stratigr 124(2):247–264. https://doi.org/10.13130/2039-4942/9983
Sardella R, Iurino DA, Mecozzi B, Sigari D, Bona F, Bellucci L, Coltorti M, Conti J, Lembo G, Muttillo B, Mazzini I (2019) Grotta Romanelli (Lecce, Southern Italy) Between past and future: new studies and perspectives for an archaeo-geosite symbol of the palaeolithic in Europe. Geoheritage 11:1413–1432
Schaefer M, Black SM, Schaefer MC, Scheuer L (2009) Juvenile osteology. Academic Press, San Diego
Stasi PE, Regalìa E (1904) Grotta Romanelli stazione con faune interglaciali calde e di steppa. Nota preventiva. Società Italiana di Antropologia 1:17–81
White TD, Black MT, Folkens PA (2011) Human osteology. Academic press, Burlington
Blanc GA (1928) Grotta Romanelli II. Dati ecologici e paletnologici. Archivio per l’Antropologia e la Etnologia 58:1–49
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio delle province di Brindisi, Lecce e Taranto (Maria Piccarreta, Laura Masiello and Serena Strafella) for authorizing the research and field activities (2015–2017 and 2018–2020, resp. R. Sardella). We are grateful to Castro municipality, the Capitanerie di Porto di Castro e di Otranto and Parco Naturale Regionale Costa Otranto S.M. di Leuca—Bosco di Tricase. We thank Rossella Bedini e Raffaella Pecci (Centro Nazionale di Tecnologie Innovative in Sanità Pubblica—Istituto Superiore di Sanità) for the digital acquisition of the human phalanx. We want to thank Ninì Ciccarese, Toto De Santis, Don Piero Frisullo, Luigi Fersini, Antonio Capraro, and Michele Rizzo for their continuous and precious logistic support. We are grateful to many colleagues that helped during the new fieldwork activities.
Funding
This work was supported by Grandi Scavi 2016 (ref. SA116154CD9592F3), Grandi Scavi 2017 (ref. SA11715C81468801), Grandi Scavi 2018 (ref. SA1181642D3B3C58), Grandi Scavi 2019 (ref. SA11916B513E7C4B), and Grandi Scavi 2020 (ref. SA120172B2C05E68) of Sapienza, University of Rome, resp. Raffaele Sardella.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mecozzi, B., Buzi, C., Iannucci, A. et al. New human fossil from the latest Pleistocene levels of Grotta Romanelli (Apulia, southern Italy). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 27 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01491-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01491-1