PALAEOECOLOGY AND TAPHONOMY OF THE STRAIGHT-TUSKED ELEPHANT LATE MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE SITE OF POGGETTI VECCHI (SOUTHERN TUSCANY, ITALY)

Works for the construction of thermal pools at Poggetti Vecchi, near Grosseto (Tuscany, Italy) exposed an accumulation of fossil bones, largely belonging to the straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus, mixed up with stone and wooden tools. The site is radiometrically dated to the late Middle Pleistocene, and the artefacts were thus created by early Neanderthals. Palaeobiological and taphonomic analyses of the fauna remains are part of a more general, multiproxy study of the site that provides new information on MIS 7-6 transition, as well as on human-animal interactions.