Alessio Iannucci

• PhD
• Humboldt postdoctoral research fellow at University of Tübingen

Sus arvernensis is a Pliocene species that occupies a key position in the evolution of suids (Suidae, Artiodactyla, Mammalia) in Eurasia, and besides, it is considered important for biochronological correlations and paleoecological inferences. However, our knowledge on S. arvernensis is largely based on fossil remains from southwestern Europe. Here...

The evolution of large mammal faunas during the Pleistocene of Europe has been widely investigated using taxonomical and/or ecological-functional categories, with special emphasis on the implications for reconstructing hominin dispersal and ecological role. Here, an ecospace modelling approach is for the first time applied to Pleistocene carnivoran...

It has been proposed that suids were absent from Europe during the post-Olduvai to pre-Jaramillo Early Pleistocene (from less than 1.8 to more than 1.2 Ma) and that their “re-appearance” in the late Early Pleistocene would mark the end of the late Villafranchian and the beginning of the Epivillafranchian. Arguments enumerated in favor of this “suid...

The dispersal of primitive elephantines and monodactyl equids in Eurasia has long been regarded as representative of a substantial turnover in mammal faunas, denoting the spread of open environments linked to the onset of cold and dry conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. During the 1980s, this event was named the “Elephant-Equus event” and it was...

The giant, short-faced hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris was the largest Hyaenidae ever existed and the one that perfectly embodied the distinctive bone-cracking adaptations of this mammal family. Its dispersal into Europe is regarded as a biochronological marker of the Late Villafranchian at ~2.0 Ma, and its potential ecological interactions with ot...

The Quaternary is a time of fundamental climatic shifts and environmental changes that highlight the need for a thorough investigation from different perspectives and at multiple scales to disentangle the factors involved in the response of the biota. In turn, recognizing bioevents (e.g., the dispersal or extinction of species) and relating them to...

According to the “suid gap” hypothesis, suids (Suidae, Mammalia) would have been absent from Europe between 1.8 and 1.2 Ma. This hypothesis has been influential owing to its putative implications for biochronology and paleoecology—Sus scrofa (the modern wild boar) would appear 1.2 Ma in a period of climatic and environmental changes, coinciding wit...

Cueva Victoria is a paleontological site of late Early Pleistocene age (ca. 0.9 Ma) located in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (Cartagena, Region de Murcia), which yielded diverse and abundant fossil remains, especially of large mammals. This accumulation is regarded as mainly deriving from the action of the giant hyena Pachycrocuta breviros...

Here we revise all the paleontological sample of Notarchirico, including historical collections and new findings collected during 2016–2023 excavations. Notarchirico is one of the most significant sites for the study of human evolution and terrestrial ecosystem dynamics during the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition, preserving nearly 100.000 years...

The Middle Pleistocene site of Notarchirico plays a crucial role to study the arrival and evolution of the Acheulean technology in Western Europe and its relationship with human behavior. First excavations (1979 to 1995), coordinated by Marcello Piperno, led to the discovery of 11 archaeological levels (from alpha (α), to G) in a seven-meter-deep s...

Grotta Polesini is one of the most famous paleontological and archaeological sites of central Italy, which testifies to its human occupation during the Lateglacial. The site comprises a cave system where systematic excavation campaigns have been carried out since the 1950s. In 1974, 656 mammal remains were collected but never studied. This fossil c...

Notarchirico is one of the most important sites for the human evolution in the Mediterranean Europe during the Middle Pleistocene and for paleoenvironmental reconstruction during the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition. The first findings date back to 1950s, when Virginia Ginetta Chiappella opened the first trench along the hill of Notarchirico. Ab...

The long sedimentary sequence of Notarchirico has yielded evidence of one of the earliest Acheulean manifestations in Europe and of recurrent hominin occupation, spanning from the end of the interglacial MIS 17 to the glacial MIS 16 (~695-610 ka). Here, we report the new discovery of a lion, Panthera spelaea, from the site, based on a metatarsal fr...

Our work presents an updated overview of the Italian Middle Pleistocene records of hippopotamuses, including the two species Hippopotamus antiquus and Hippopotamus amphibius. In addition to reviewing several well-known fossils in the literature, a large number of samples are described herein for the first time. Following the recent results publishe...

The long-lost mammal fauna from Gravitelli (Messina, Sicily, Italy) represents one of the most important records for investigating faunal dynamics during the Late Miocene of the Mediterranean, although it is unfortunately only known from descriptions carried out in the early 1900s, as the original collection was lost during the Messina Earthquake o...

The area of Villafranca d'Asti (Piedmont, northern Italy) is best known among mammalian paleontologists for having given its name to the Villafranchian, a term that today refers to a widely adopted biochronological unit, although it was initially proposed to denote a continental stage. Amongst the numerous remains of Pliocene large mammals recovere...

A skull of Hippopotamus recovered from the area of Tor di Quinto, within the urban area of Rome (central Italy) is here redescribed. Despite being one of the most complete specimens of hippopotamuses of the European Pleistocene, the Tor di Quinto skull did not attract much research interest, due to long-standing uncertainties on its provenance. Thi...

The paleontological site of Cueva Victoria, located in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (Cerro de San Ginés de la Jara, Cartagena, Region de Murcia) has yielded an outstanding record of Early Pleistocene vertebrates, especially large mammals. Reconstructing Early Pleistocene environments is a challenging and yet fundamental task to understand...

The urban area of Rome and its surroundings (the Roman Campaign, "Campagna Romana") yielded an exceptional amount of fossil remains of terrestrial large mammals, which are of prime relevance for biochronological correlations and for reconstructing the paleoenvironmental conditions in the Italian Peninsula of the Middle Pleistocene. Apart from the m...

New excavations in the lower part of the sequence dated between 670 and 695 ka by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and ESR-U-Th at Notarchirico revealed layers with lithic and bone remains attesting several phases of human occupations. Some of these occupations are located at the top of residual pebble/cobble lags along former water channels, while others are more distur...

Some remains of suids were recovered during the second half of the 1800s from Quercia (Tuscany, Italy), at a close distance to, but from a lower stratigraphic position than the better-known mammal fauna of Olivola. Although they were collected a long time ago, Quercia suids are described for the first time in this work. This sample represents one o...

The “Wolf event” is a prominent concept in large mammal biochronology of western Europe. It was defined in the 1980s as an intercontinental “dispersal event”, best represented by the arrival of a “primitive wolf”, Canis etruscus, but also involving other species. The Wolf event basically denoted the late Villafranchian faunal turnover, first expres...

We redescribe and revise the taxonomic attribution of a lost hyena mandible recovered from Paciano (Umbria, Italy), originally reported in the early 1900s, by comparing it with relevant samples of Pliocene, Pleistocene, and extant species. The mandible of the Paciano hyena was initially attributed to Hyaena striata (= Hyaena hyaena) and subsequentl...

Bel Torrente is a marine cave located on the north-eastern coast of Sardinia (Italy), discovered and explored in the 1970s, while the first 500 m were surveyed in the 1990s. This cave interval is characterized by a 5-20 m wide tunnel with an average height of 5 m and a water depth of 3-13 m. In 2004, monk seal bones were discovered by scuba divers...

During the last century, Grotta Romanelli (Lecce, southern Italy) has been a reference site for the European Late Pleistocene stratigraphy, due to its geomorphological setting and archaeological and paleontological content. The beginning of the sedimentation inside the cave was attributed to MISs 5e and the oldest unearthed evidence of human occupa...

During the last century, Grotta Romanelli (Southern Italy) has been a reference site for the European Late Pleistocene stratigraphy, due to its geomorphological setting and archaeological and palaeontological content. The beginning of the sedimentation inside the cave was attributed to the Last Interglacial (MISs 5e) and the oldest unearthed eviden...

Grotta Romanelli è una cavità carsica localizzata nel sud-est della Puglia nel comune di Castro (Lecce), inserito nel Parco Naturale Regionale Costa Otranto S.M. di Leuca - Bosco di Tricase. In questa area sono presenti numerose grotte, i cui depositi rappresentano un esteso archivio di dati paleontologici, archeologici e paleoclimatici . Grotta Ro...

New and previously discussed suid remains recovered from Untermassfeld (Thuringia, Germany) are described. The late Early Pleistocene site of Untermassfeld yielded one of the most abundant samples of Epivillafranchian suids, and yet only a minimum number of 6 individuals has been identified. Untermassfeld suids have been considered the first repres...

Here we describe the remains of the giant hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris (Gervais, 1850) recovered from the site of Untermassfeld (Thuringia, Germany), representing the most abundant European sample of this widespread and iconic carnivoran. The morphological description provides insights on the variability of the species in comparison to other ext...

During the last century, Grotta Romanelli (Southern Italy) has been a reference site for the European Late Pleistocene stratigraphy, due to its geomorphological setting and archaeological and palaeontological content. The beginning of the sedimentation inside the cave was attributed to MISs 5e and the oldest unearthed evidence of human occupation,...

New fieldwork activities at Grotta Romanelli started in 2015, coordinated by Sapienza, University of Rome and in collaboration with IGAG CNR and other research institutions. This coastal cave, located in the administrative territory of the Castro municipality, within the Otranto-Santa Maria di Leuca Coast and Tricase Woods regional natural parks (L...

The Roman territory and its surroundings represent one of most important areas for the study of the European Middle Pleistocene mammal paleocommunities. Since the 19th century, thousands of vertebrate fossils have been recovered from a considerable number of localities of the Roman Campaign (Campagna Romana) or within the city. Unfortunately, the m...

Grotta Romanelli is a coastal cave inhabited by humans since the Middle Pleistocene and considered a symbol of the Palaeolithic period in Europe. The site, facing the Ionian Sea, is located in the administrative territory of the Castro (Lecce) municipality, at the south-eastern extremity of Apulia.This area, also known as Salentine Peninsula, docum...

Here, we describe a partial cranium of a large canid dated at 406.5 ± 2.4 ka from the Middle Pleistocene of Ponte Galeria (Rome, Italy). The sample represents one of the few Middle Pleistocene remains of a wolf-like canid falling within the timeframe when the Canis mosbachensis–Canis lupus transition occurred, a key moment to understand the spread...

The wild boar, Sus scrofa, is one of the most successful large mammals in terms of geographic distribution. Along with its domestic descendant, the pig, they are extremely important animals for conservation, economy, human sustenance, and well-being. Naming wild and domestic pigs in a way that allows them to be distinguished effectively and unambig...

The Suidae from the late Miocene of Alsótelekes (northeastern Hungary, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county) are described and assigned to Propotamochoerus palaeochoerus (Suinae) and cf. Parachleuastochoerus (Tetraconodontinae). The co-occurrence of these two taxa agrees with a reference to the early Vallesian (MN 9), as previously indicated from biochronol...

Suidae remains recovered from the late Pliocene site of Collepardo (Latium, central Italy) are described and assigned to Sus arvernensis, a small-sized Ruscinian to Early Villafranchian (MN14-MN16a) species. In Italy, S. arvernensis only occurs in the Triversa Faunal Unit (MN16a), supporting the recently revised chronology of Collepardo. CT-scan me...

Grotta Romanelli can be counted among the most interesting sites for the late Upper Palaeolithic of the Mediterranean area, since returned a consistent record of lithic artefacts, faunal remains, mobiliary and parietal art, and human fossils which represent the least-known materials from the context. The resumption of the investigations in 2015, af...

An updated description and revision of a left hemimandible assigned to Hyaenictitherium namaquensis, a dog-like hyaena from the late Miocene locality of As Sahabi (Libya, North Africa), is here provided. This fossil is part of the historical collection discovered by Carlo Petrocchi, the Italian researcher who excavated the site in the 1930s. The As...

The karst fissures known as “ventarole”, located in the Salentine Peninsula (southernmost part of Apulia, Italy), were first studied by Mirigliano in 1941. These fissures are generally filled with reddish sediments or “terre rosse” in the lower part, and with brownish sediments or “terre brune” in the upper one. Both deposits are particularly rich...

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 labor...

The Miocene-Pliocene (Turolian-Ruscinian) transition represents a fundamental interval in the evolution of Euro-Mediterranean paleocommunities. In fact, the paleoenvironmental changes connected with the end of the Messinian salinity crisis are reflected by a major renewal in mammal faunal assemblages. An important bioevent among terrestrial large m...

Here we describe fossil mammal remains recovered from the late Middle Pleistocene (MIS 11) of Fontignano 2 (Rome, central Italy). Two species are recognized: the aurochs Bos primigenius and the red deer Cervus elaphus. The presence of B. primigenius represents one of the earliest diagnostic evidence of the species. Conversely, remains of C. elaphus...

In this work, the Middle Pleistocene mammal assemblage from Ponte Molle, a historical locality of the urban area of Rome, has been revised together with a review of the stratigraphical succession of the deposit. This allows us to reconstruct the provenance of the fossil material and to provide chronological constrains trough the correlation with th...

A river otter hemimandible has been rediscovered during the revision of the historical collections of G.A. Blanc from Grotta Romanelli, complementing the ongoing multidisciplinary research fieldwork on the site. The specimen, recovered from the level G (“terre rosse”; early Late Pleistocene or late Middle Pleistocene), is here assigned to Lutra lut...

Díez Díaz, V.; Belvedere, M.; Böhmer, C.; Bueno, E.; Choiniere, J.; Darlim, G.; Drozdz, D.; Iannucci, A.; Kotthoff, U.; Malafaia, E.; Mallison, H.; Marigó, J.; Miedema, F.;Mujal, E.; Pardo, J.; Perillo, M.; Sciscio, L.; Tajika, A.; Tschopp, E.; van Heteren, A.H.; Vlachos, E. 2021. How to bring taxonomy into the third dimension: developing guideline...

Notarchirico (Southern Italy) has yielded the earliest evidence of Acheulean settlement in Italy and four older occupation levels have recently been unearthed, including one with bifaces, extending the roots of the Acheulean in Italy even further back in time. New 40Ar/39Ar on tephras and ESR dates on bleached quartz securely and accurately place t...

The extant wild boar Sus scrofa has one of the largest geographical range of all mammals, and from its appearance in the late Early Pleistocene (Epivillafranchian) it is also widely represented in the European fossil record. Early forms of the species were larger than Late Pleistocene ones, but neither the chronology nor the causes of the size redu...

Herein we describe a fragment of a mandible with a deciduous fourth premolar (dp4) from the Early Pleistocene locality of Dunaalmás, representing the first confirmed report of Sus strozzii from Hungary. The comparison of dp4 measurements supports a statistically significant distinction between S. strozzii and Sus scrofa. The two species overlap in...

Grotta Romanelli, located on the Adriatic coast of the Apulian Region, was discovered in 1874 but only in 1900 was recognised as a site of remarkable importance becoming the first report of the Late Palaeolithic in Italy. The stratigraphic succession can be subdivided in two main parts: the upper and the lower complexes divided by the stalagmitic...