The site of Coste San Giacomo (Early Pleistocene, Central Italy): Palaeoenvironmental analysis and biochronological overview.

Facies and ostracod analyses have been performed on a continental core drilled at Coste San Giacomo (Anagni, central Italy), where a middle Villafranchian faunal assemblage was first discovered in 1978. The core intercepted the palaeontological level and penetrated the underlying sedimentary succession, previously largely unknown, for a total sediment recovery of 40 m. In addition, new field surveys led to the discovery of Hippopotamus sp. remains at the faunal site, thus pre-dating the dispersal of this large ungulate into Europe to the middle Villafranchian. The new sedimentological and palaeoecological data allowed to define a palaeoenvironment mainly ascribable to an alluvial plain, characterized by a marsh evolving into a floodplain with overbank deposits and a sand-bed fluvial-channel. This scenario is supported by the reassessed Coste San Giacomo faunal assemblage, consistent with running and/or clear waters as well as prairies and grasslands, under mild climatic conditions.