The Late Pleistocene fauna from Ingarano (Gargano, Italy): Biochronological, palaeoecological, paleoethnological and geochronological implications

An abundant vertebrate fauna from an ossiferous breccia from Ingarano near Apricena (Foggia Southern Italy) has been examined. Carnivores are very frequent with lynx, red fox, normal and small sized wolf lion, leopard and brown bear, while erbivores are not so much represented by cervids, rhinos (two different species) and idruntine ass. Raptors (Nyctea scandiaca in particular) and corvids are the best represented taxa in avifauna. In the upper part of deposit some Middle Paleolithic artifacts (displaying evidence of the use of the Levallois technique) have been collected The geochronological analysis of phosphatic encrustation of the speleothem give a measured age of 40 +- 2ky. The occurrence of the modern fallow deer, the idruntine ass and the woolly rhino fits well with geochronological and paleothnological data allow us to refer the fauna to the Late Pleistocene and in particular to the isotopic stage 4.