Palentology

Grotta Guattari (San Felice Circeo, central Italy) is
best known for the discovery of a Neanderthal skull
in 1939. New investigations of an area never
investigated before, the so-called Antro del
Laghetto (literally Chamber of the small lake), have
been recently carried out by the Soprintendenza
Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Province
di Frosinone, Latina e Rieti. The excavation
highlighted a hyena frequentation correlatable with
the paleosurface investigated since 1939 within
other rooms of the cave. The stratigraphic analysis
made it possible to identify, below the
paleosurface, at least two layers, one of which
reveals a human frequentation.
In addition to Homo neanderthalensis, the faunal
assemblage from Antro del Laghetto consists of
abundant Cervus elaphus, followed by Crocuta
crocuta, Bos primigenius, Sus scrofa and Equus
ferus. Remains of at least another 20 taxa of
medium and large size mammals, some of which
previously unknown at Grotta Guattari, rare
micromammals and birds complete the fossil
record.