STG Polvani

The paleoanthropological remains from Grotta di San Teodoro near Acquedolci (province of Messina, Italy) represent the oldest and largest skeletal collection yet found documenting human settlement of Sicily. The sample, attributed to the Late Epigravettian (between 14,000 and 10,000 years B.P.), consists of seven variously complete adult individuals (San Teodoro 1-7). We compare the cranial sample to an array of both prehistoric and recent samples using multivariate techniques including D 2 distance analysis, canonical variate analysis, cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling. Overall, the San Teodoro cranial sample displays a morphometric pattern close to Western European groups of similar antiquity, in particular those from Central and Southern Italy. The morphometric affinities indicate that these people probably came from peninsular Italy by sea during the Late Epigravettian epoch. An alternative hypothesis is that they descended from immigrants that arrived by land during a low sea level episode corresponding to the maximum Wü rmian regression, about 18,000 years B.P, with gene flow accounting for the morphological homogeneity with the populations of peninsular Italy. The San Teodoro skeletal sample provides the first reliable evidence for human settlement of Sicily.

As Darwin observed in the second chapter of the The Descent of Man, brain size has the more obvious and direct anatomical correlation with the outstanding cognitive capabilities of our species in comparison with its closest relatives. If we extend the comparison to other mammals, we can observe that cognitive capabilities do not seem to strictly correlate with brain dimension in absolute and in relative terms, and the encephalization quotient (EQ) is not a universal advice of the cognitive capabilities of a particular species, too. Why and how the brain size in our lineage increased dramatically in absolute and in relative way during the last 3 million years? What is the relationship between our outstanding intellective capability and the brain size? The progressive encephalization of our ancestors was the origin or the effect for the development of the intellective capabilities of living humans. Recent advances in the knowledge of intrinsic organization of cerebral cortex and in the patterns of genetic expression are able to better outline the trajectories as the metabolic and structural constraints of the qualitative and quantitative encephalic development. The new scenario led to suggest more accurate explanations of the selective mechanism acting during the evolution of our species.

The hominid calvarium from Ceprano (Italy) shows peculiar characters, especially in the frontal bone. This specimen differs from the other hominid species (H. ergaster, H. erectus, and H. heidelbergensis). The morphometric and the cladistic analyses show that the Italian fossil is a new hominid species. The typical characters of European H. heidelbergensis are absent in the frontal morphology of Ceprano, which is a representative of an African population that perhaps migrated at about 1.0 Ma (represented by the specimen from Bouri and as demonstrated by the cladistic analysis) and that did not ultimately contribute to the human population of Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. On the other hand, Ceprano shares features with Middle Pleistocene H. rhodesiensis, and this allows us to suppose that Ceprano is an early relative of this African form. To cite this article: F. Mallegni et al., C. R. Palevol 2 (2003) 153-159. Résumé Homo cepranensis sp. nov. et l'évolution des hominidés eurafricains du Pléistocène moyen. Le crâne de Ceprano (Italie) montre quelques caractères anatomiques très intéressants, surtout en ce qui concerne l'anatomie de l'os frontal, qui diffère en cela de ceux des autres hominidés de l'hémisphère septentrional (H. ergaster, H. erectus et H. heidelbergensis). Les analyses morphométriques et cladistiques tendent à démontrer que le crâne de Ceprano peut représenter une espèce nouvelle. Les spécimens européens relatifs à H. heidelbergensis montrent des caractères différents et Ceprano peut être considéré, en Europe, comme le premier représentant d'une population d'origine africaine ; cette espèce émigra vers le nord il y a un million d'années environ (un autre représentant pourrait être Bouri, ainsi que l'analyse cladistique semble le démontrer). Il semble aussi que cette nouvelle espèce ne contribua que peu à l'établissement du peuplement humain des territoires septentrionaux pendant le Pléistocène moyen et supérieur. Ceprano semble annoncer, de par ces caractères, les formes humaines représentées par des * Correspondence and reprints. : 1 0 . 1 0 1 6 / S 1 6 3 1 -0 6 8 3 ( 0 3 ) 0 0 0 1 5 -0 spécimens attribués à Homo rhodesiensis ; tout cela permet de supposer que Ceprano représente une forme précoce de ces derniers. Pour citer cet article : F. Mallegni et al., C. R. Palevol 2 (2003) 153-159.

A new periotic (MuMAB 240508) is described from the Tortonian of the Stirone River, Northern Italy. The new specimen is described and compared to all the known periotics of extant and extinct balaenopterid species. The new specimen shows balaenopterid characters, including the triangular anterior process, the transverse and anteroposterior elongations of the pars cochlearis, as well as in the arrangement of the endocranial foramina of the periotic. The presence of a medial promontorial groove, a lack of separation between the round window and the perilymphatic foramen together with the presence of a protruding set of medial crests suggest that this periotic may belong to an archaic and undescribed balaenopterid species. A phylogenetic analysis was performed to understand the relationships of this specimen within the broader context of balaenopterid phylogeny; this analysis showed that MuMAB 240508 belongs to a basal balaenopterid taxon that is the sister group to all the other Balae...

In 2007, a whale skeleton was found and excavated in Lower Pliocene sediments at Poggio alle Mura (southern Tuscany, central Italy). This partially complete skeleton is known by the nickname 'Brunella'. The extracted blocks containing the fossil whale were deposited in a warehouse where they remained for nine years. A new project started in 2016 with the goal of (a) preparing and stabilising the whale bones, (b) studying its anatomy and relationships, and (c) developing educational activities to disseminate scientific information to local communities and tourists. In the years 2016-2019, the 'Brunella' Project gave rise to an unprecedented number of activities in terms of scientific and educational efforts. The skeleton was micro-excavated, stabilised and prepared for exhibition; primary and secondary schools as well as university students were involved in educational activities both at the preparation laboratory and in their classrooms. University students were involved in a field school on palaeontological preparation that was active for three years (1 week per year); local populations were invited to visit the laboratory during special Open days where they were able to see palaeontologists working on the project, the whale and the palaeoecosystem in which it ended its life cycle; foreign tourists visited the laboratory and were involved in guided tours; social media were extensively used to disseminate results and advertise opportunities to visit the laboratory; a national TV channel screened a documentary on the whale and the project, disseminating a wealth of scientific results to hundreds of thousands of people. This project represents a unicum in Italy and can be seen as a prototype standard of an ideal process directed at preserving an important palaeontological specimen and, at the same time, enhancing the awareness and enthusiasm of local citizens for their local geoheritage.