title: The Aggradational Successions of the Aniene River Valley in Rome: Age Constraints to Early Neanderthal Presence in Europe.
abstract: We revise the chronostratigraphy of several sedimentary successions cropping out along a 5 km-long tract of the Aniene River Valley in Rome (Italy), which yielded six hominin remains previously attributed to proto- or archaic Neanderthal individuals, as well as a large number of lithic artefacts showing intermediate characteristics somewhere between the local Acheulean and Mousterian cultures. Through a method of correlation of aggradational successions with post-glacial sea-level rises, relying on a large set of published 40Ar/39Ar ages of interbedded volcanic deposits, we demonstrate that deposition of the sediments hosting the human remains spans the interval 295-220 ka. This is consistent with other well constrained ages for lithic industries recovered in England, displaying transitional features from Lower to Middle Paleolithic, suggesting the appearance of Mode 3 during the MIS 9-MIS 8 transition. Moreover, the six human bone fragments recovered in the Aniene Valley should be regarded as the most precisely dated and oldest hominin remains ascribable to Neanderthal-type individuals in Europe, discovered to date. The chronostratigraphic study presented here constitutes the groundwork for addressing re-analysis of these remains and of their associated lithic industries, in the light of their well-constrained chronological picture.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia,Via di Vigna Murata, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4881-9563
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marra
authors.affiliation: Freelance, Tivoli (Roma), Italy.
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ceruleo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze, sezione di Geologia, Università degli Studi "Roma Tre", Largo San Leonardo Murialdo, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pandolfi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza, Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Carmelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Petronio
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Storia, Cultura e Società, Università di Roma "Tor Vergata", Via Columbia, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Mario F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Rolfo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza, Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Salari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D005060:Europe; D005580:Fossils; D006801:Humans; D059125:Neanderthals; D010163:Paleontology; D045483:Rivers; D012384:Rome