Marked regionalism during the Last Glacial across the Italian Peninsula: Evidence from the large mammal assemblage of Santa Maria di Agnano (Apulia, southern Italy)

Abstract

In this study, we present the mammal sample collected from Stratigraphic Unit 8 of the external excavation area of Grotta di Santa Maria di Agnano (Apulia, southern Italy). The material was collected during the 2011, 2015, and 2016 excavation seasons and it is described here for the first time. In this level, lithic tools consistent with the Gravettian techno-complex have been identified. Grotta di Santa Maria di Agnano is renowned for the Upper Palaeolithic burials, Ostuni 1 and Ostuni 2, found inside the cave and dated between 29,495–28,766 years cal BP and 27,809–27375 years cal BP. Thousands of lithic tools, shells, and vertebrate remains have also been found during more than twenty years of excavations. These data provide valuable information about the terrestrial ecosystems of Mediterranean Europe at the end of the Pleistocene and human-animal interactions in the course of the period of dramatic climatic changes that occurred over the last 40,000 years. Finally, we compare this assemblage with other faunal assemblages recovered in Gravettian contexts across the Italian Peninsula, offering an overview of marked regional differences in climatic and environmental conditions reflected in the diversity of mammalian palaeocommunities.