Large mammal guilds at the time of the first human colonization of Europe: The case of the Italian Pleistocene record

Abstract

The climatic events of the Pleistocene affected the physical and/or biotic environment and are reflected by changes in the fauna and flora richness and diversity. This strongly influenced the earliest human peopling—or lack of it—all over the middle latitudes of Eurasia, including Italy, on which focuses our analysis. Faunal turnovers, both at the Plio/Pleistocene boundary, and later on, between ca. 1 and 0.6 Ma, influenced human dispersal. There is so far no evidence in Italy of any colonization before 1 Ma, when mighty predators such as Pachycrocuta brevirostris and Lycaon falconeri were active, and a sparse and controversial archaeological record from 1 to 0.65 Ma. We suggest that a favourable temporal window opened during the early Middle Pleistocene, when the renovated Galerian faunas were characterized by few large predators, and by increasing numbers of middle-sized herbivores. Furthermore, biomass was possibly higher. After 0.65 Ma, the archaeological record of Italy includes well-dated sites, which yielded ample evidence of human activity. After palaeontological and archaeological evidence, starting from the early Middle Pleistocene, human groups successfully competed with modern carnivores, possibly occupying a niche that only partially overlapped with that of other predators.