Palaeoenvironments of the MIS 15 site of Cava di Breccia - Casal Selce 2 (central Italian Peninsula) and niche occupation of fossil ungulates during Middle Pleistocene interglacials

ABSTRACT

The Ponte Galeria area within the city of Rome has yielded numerous fossiliferous localities that represent a reference point for the study of the European Middle Pleistocene ecosystems. Within Ponte Galeria a rich collection of fossil mammals has been unearthed from Cava di Breccia – Casal Selce 2 (MIS 15) thus the site represents an optimal laboratory to investigate the palaeoenvironments of a defined territory during the Middle Pleistocene. We investigate the feeding behaviours of the ungulate community of Cava di Breccia – Casal Selce 2 to reconstruct the MIS 15 habitats and also compare the data with those of the nearby site of Fontana Ranuccio (MIS 11) which shares similar faunal composition with Cava di Breccia – Casal Selce 2 to test if ungulates occupied the same niches during two different interglacials. Open habitats with scattered woodlands characterised the Ponte Galeria area during MIS 15, whereas woodlands were more widespread during MIS 11 at Fontana Ranuccio. Ungulates display similar diets in both localities, suggesting that cervids, large bovids and equids adopted the same niche partitioning strategies during both interglacials.

KEYWORDS:

• Palaeoecology
• artiodactyla
• perissodactyla
• mesowear
• hypsodonty
• early Middle Pleistocene transition

Author contributions

F.S. and L.B. conceived the idea. F.S. designed the analysis and collected the dental mesowear and hypsodonty data. D.A.I. collected preliminary data on the mammal fauna and B.M. and A.I. elaborated it. F.S. led the writing of the manuscript with the support of L.B., A.I. and B.M. R.S. provided inputs and comments for the manuscript and supervised the project.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge funding from EVOzoica Association (INCIPIT 2020/21, Prot. n. 01/2020 to F.S.) and from MIUR (“Fondo per il sostegno dei giovani e favorire la mobilità degli studenti” Ref. 2682/2017) to F.S. We thank Anna De Santis from the Soprintendenza Speciale di Roma, Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the agreement of the field activities on the area of Rome. We are grateful to Chiara Delpino of the “Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Province di Frosinone, Latina e Rieti” (Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities) and the “Istituto Italiano di Palentologia Umana” (IsIPU) for access to the palaeontological collections of Fontana Ranuccio. We also thank the anonymous reviewers that helped us improve the manuscript with their comments and the Editor of Historical Biology Dr. Gareth Dyke.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the MIUR [“Fondo per il sostegno dei giovani e favorire la mobilità degli studenti” Ref. 2682/2017]; EVOzoica Association [Prot. n. 01/2020].