The Cave lions lived in what is now Italy between 660,000 and 610,000 years agoas confirmed by a metatarsal bone from the Notarchirico site, in the Basilicata region.
A new examination of this previously excavated piece has made it the oldest evidence to date of the big cat now extinct in southern Europe.
It was identified by an international research team with Dr. Alessio Iannucci of Terrestrial Paleoclimatology at the University of Tübingen as lead author of the paper which has been published in the Journal of Quarternary Science.
He Notarchirico archaeological site provided the oldest human fossil Italy, probably an adolescent Homo heidelbergensis. The site is also known because it provided some of the first evidence of the Acheulean culture in Europe and documents recurring human settlement in the period between 695,000 and 610,000 years ago.
The Acheulean culture, which appeared in Africa a million years beforewas characterized by the production of hand axes (worked on both sides) and other new stone tools.
“The Acheulean culture, which appeared more than 600,000 years ago in Europespread rapidly to the northern and southern regions,” explains Alessio Iannucci, from Terrestrial Paleoclimatology at the University of Tübingen, first author of the study, in a statement. At the same time, during the transition between the early and middle Pleistocene, Lions and other large mammals also spread across Europe.
“During this period, the rhythm of the cycles of the glacial and interglacial periods changed. The cycles became longer, going from about 40,000 years to 100,000 years. This was accompanied by strong and recurrent climatic and environmental changes,” says Iannucci. This would have placed great demands on the ecological and behavioral adaptation of both humans and other species of the time.
“We are interested in the factors that They influenced the expansion of the Acheulean. We also use large mammals as a source of information,” says Iannucci.
Between 900,000 and 700,000 years ago, giant hyenas became extinct in Europe, while other large mammals such as the European forest elephant, the red deer and the wild boar arrived from Asia and Africa. “Our discovery of a Panthera spelaea, as the cave lion is scientifically known, more than 600,000 years old, reinforces the idea that this species was part of this important faunal renewal.”
