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On the devil's tracks: unexpected news from the Foresta ichnosite (Roccamonfina volcano, central Italy)
Author(s)
Language
Obiettivo Specifico
Status
Published
JCR Journal
JCR Journal
Peer review journal
Yes
Title of the book
Issue/vol(year)
3/35 (2020)
ISSN
0267-8179
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons
Pages (printed)
444-456
Issued date
2020
Abstract
The Foresta ichnosite is well known for preserving some of the oldest human fossil footprints recorded
in Europe so far. This research aims to: i) describe new footprints that are larger than those already reported, some of which form a new trackway that moves in the opposite direction to all the others; ii) announce the discovery of some stone tools also in the surroundings of the Foresta ichnosite. The new results increase the total number of human fossil footprints to at least 81, specify the direction and the number of footprints of Trackway C, and identify three new directions of walking at the site. More compelling and complete estimates of the dimensional range of all ichnological evidence enables us, furthermore, to estimate the number of trackmakers walking on the trampled surface as a minimum of five, one of them likely being an adult male. The general shape of all the recorded footprints suggests that the Foresta trackmakers share some similarities with those at Sima de los Huesos, and belong to the same taxonomical group as the Ceprano skull. All the new evidence enables us to better understand the presence of hominin populations in the Roccamonfina volcano area during the Middle Pleistocene.
in Europe so far. This research aims to: i) describe new footprints that are larger than those already reported, some of which form a new trackway that moves in the opposite direction to all the others; ii) announce the discovery of some stone tools also in the surroundings of the Foresta ichnosite. The new results increase the total number of human fossil footprints to at least 81, specify the direction and the number of footprints of Trackway C, and identify three new directions of walking at the site. More compelling and complete estimates of the dimensional range of all ichnological evidence enables us, furthermore, to estimate the number of trackmakers walking on the trampled surface as a minimum of five, one of them likely being an adult male. The general shape of all the recorded footprints suggests that the Foresta trackmakers share some similarities with those at Sima de los Huesos, and belong to the same taxonomical group as the Ceprano skull. All the new evidence enables us to better understand the presence of hominin populations in the Roccamonfina volcano area during the Middle Pleistocene.
References
Appleton JD. 1972. Petrogenesis of Potassium‐rich Lavas from the
Roccamonfina Volcano, Roman Region, Italy. Journal of Petrology
13: 425–456. Ashton N, Lewis SG, De Groote I et al. 2014. Hominin Footprints
from Early Pleistocene Deposits at Happisburgh, UK. PlosOne 9
e88329.Avanzini M, Mietto P, Panarello A et al. 2008. The Devil's Trails:
Middle Pleistocene Human Footprints Preserved in a Volcanoclastic
Deposit of Southern Italy. Ichnos 15: 179–189.
Ballini A, Barberi F, Laurenzi MA et al. (1990). Chrono‐Stratigraphy of
Roccamonfina volcanic complex. In Genesi e differenziazione del
magmatismo potassico del Bordo Tirrenico, Civetta L, Capaldi G,
Orsi G et al. (eds). Atti del convegno autunnale della Società Italiana
di Mineralogia e Petrologia (Ischia 15‐18 ottobre 1990). Plinius 4,
Supplemento italiano all'European Journal of Mineralogy, w.n.
Behrensmeyer AK, Laporte LF. 1981. Footprints of a Pleistocene
hominid in northern Kenya. Nature 289: 167–169.
Bennett MR, Harris JWK, Richmond BG et al. 2009. Early Hominin
Foot Morphology Based on 1,5‐Million‐Year‐Old Footprints from
Ileret, Kenya. Science 323: 1197–1201.
Bennett MR, Morse SA. 2014. Human Footprints: Fossilised Locomotion?
Springer: London.
Bornstein NM, Bornstein HG. 1976. The pace of life. Nature 259:
557–558.
Buck LT, Stringer CB. 2014. Homo heidelbergensis. Current Biology
24(6): R214–R215.
Cappelletti P, Rolandi G, de Gennaro M. (2006). Zeolitisation
processes in Roccamonfina ignimbrite (Southern Italy): a help in
recording fossil human tracks? In Zeolite '06, 7th International
Conference on the Occurrence, Properties, and Utilization of
Natural Zeolites, Socorro, New Mexico USA, 16‐21 July 2006,
Bowman RS, Delap SE (eds).
Cole PD, Guest JE, Duncan AM et al. 1992. Post‐collapse volcanic
history of calderas on a composite volcano: an example from
Roccamonfina, southern Italy. Bulletin of Volcanology 54: 253–266.
Cole PD, Guest E, Duncan AM. 1993. The emplacement of
intermediate volume ignimbrites: A case study from Roccamonfina
volcano, Southern Italy. Bulletin of Volcanology 55: 467–480.
De Lorenzo G, D'Erasmo E. 1932. L’Uomo paleolitico e l'Elephas
antiquus nell'Italia meridionale. Atti della Reale accademia delle
scienze fisiche e matematiche di Napoli ‐ S. 2. 19(5): 1–107.
de Lumley M‐A, Lamy P, Mafart B. 2011. Une empreinte de pied
humain acheuléen dans la dune littorale du site de Terra Amata.
Ensemble stratigraphique C1b. In Terra Amata: Nice, Alpes‐
Maritimes, France, Vol. 2: Palynologie, anthracologie, faunes,
mollusques, écologie et biogéomorphologie, paléoanthropologie,
empreinte de pied humain, coprolithes, de Lumley H (ed). CNRS:
Paris; 483–507.
De Rita D, Giordano G. (1996). Volcanological and structural
evolution of Roccamonfina volcano (Italy): origin of the summit
caldera. In Volcano Instability on the Earth and Other Planets,
McGuire WJ, Jones AP, Neuberg J (eds). Geological Society,
London, Special Publications 110: 209–224.
Derbyshire D. (2003). Oldest footprints found on volcano. The
Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/
italy/1424520/Oldest‐footprints‐found‐on‐volcano.html
Di Vito MA, Zanella E, Gurioli L et al. 2009. The Afragola settlement
near Vesuvius, italy: The destruction and abandonment of a Bronze
Age village revealed by archaeology volcanology and rockmagnetism.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters 277: 408–421.
Dingwall HL, Hatala KG, Wunderlich RA et al. 2013. Hominin stature,
body mass, and walking speed estimates based on 1.5 million‐yearold
fossil footprints at Ileret, Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution 64:
556–568.
Duveau J, Berillon G, Verna C et al. 2019. The composition of a
Neandertal social group revealed by the hominin footprints at Le
Rozel (Normandy, France). PNAS. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.
1901789116
Giannetti B. 1979a. The geology of Roccamonfina caldera (Campanian
Province, Italy). Giornale di Geologia (Ser. 2) 43: 187–206.
Giannetti B. 1979b. Studio geologico‐petrografico della caldera del
vulcano di Roccamonfina (Italia centro‐meridionale). Bollettino del
Servizio Geologico d'Italia 100: 311–374.
Kim JY, Kim KS, Lockley MG et al. 2008. Hominid Ichnotaxonomy: An
Exploration of a Neglected Discipline. Ichnos 15: 126–139.
Luhr JF, Giannetti B. 1987. The Brown Leucitic Tuff of Roccamonfina
Volcano (Roman region, Italy). Contributions to Mineralogy and
Petrology 95: 420–436.
Manzi G. 2016. Humans of the Middle Pleistocene: The controversial
calvarium from Ceprano (Italy) and its significance for the origin and
variability of Homo heidelbergensis. Quaternary International 411:
254–261.
McNutt EJ, Zipfel B, DeSilva JM. 2018. The evolution of the human foot.
Evolutionary Anthropology 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21713
Mietto P, Avanzini M, Rolandi G. 2003. Human footprints in
Pleistocene volcanic ash. Nature 422: 133.
Nicolucci G. (1871). L’Âge de la pierre dans les provinces
napolitaines. Congrès international d'anthropologie et d'archéologie
préhistorique [Compte rendu de la 5 e Session]: 17–48.
Onac BP, Viehmann I, Lundberg J et al. 2005. U‐Th ages constraining
the Neanderthal footprint at Vârtop Cave, Romania. Quaternary
Science Reviews 24: 1151–1157.
Pablos A. 2015. The foot in the Homo fossil record. Mitteilungen der
Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 24: 11–28.
Pablos A, Pantoja‐Pérez A, Martínez I et al. 2017. Metric and
morphological analysis of the foot in the Middle Pleistocene sample
of Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain).
Quaternary International 433: 103–113.
Palombo MR, Panarello A, Mietto P. 2018. Did Elephants Meet
Humans Along the Devil's Path? A Preliminary Report. Alpine and
Mediterranean Quaternary 31. (Quaternary: Past, Present, Future ‐
AIQUA Conference, Florence, 13‐14/06/2018): 83‐87.
Panarello A. 2016. Elementi di Paleoicnologia degli Ominidi.
Armando Caramanica Editore: Marina di Minturno.
Panarello A. (2019). A Snapshot on some Everyday Actions of a Middle
Pleistocene Hominin: The Trackway B at the Devil's Trails palaeontological
site (Tora‐Piccilli, Caserta, central Italy). Submitted.
Panarello A, Mazzardo L, Mietto P. 2018. The devil's touch: a first
dataset from what could be the oldest human handprint ever found
(Central‐Southern Italy). Alpine and Mediterranean Quaternary
31(1): 37–47.
Panarello A, Palombo MR, Biddittu I et al. 2017a. Fifteen Years Along
the "Devil's Trails": Achievements and Perspectives. Alpine and
Mediterranean Quaternary 30: 137–154.
Panarello A, Santello L, Farinaro G et al. 2017b. Walking along the
oldest human fossil pathway (Roccamonfina volcano, Central Italy).
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 13: 476–490.
Peccerillo A. 2017. The Ernici‐Roccamonfina Province. In Cenozoic
Volcanism in the Tyrrhenian Sea Region, Peccerillo A (ed). Springer:
Cham; 125–143.
Pereira A, Nomade S, Moncel MH et al. 2018. Integrated geochronology
of Acheulian sites from the southern Latium (central Italy):
Insights on human‐environment interaction and the technological
innovations during the MIS 11‐MIS 10period. Quaternary Science
Reviews 187: 112–129.
Pereira A, Nomade S, Shao Q et al. 2016. 40Ar/39Ar and ESR‐U/Th
dates for Guado San Nicola, Middle Pleistocene key site at the
Lower/Middle Palaeolithic transition in Italy. Quaternary Geochronology
36: 67–75.
Peretto C, Arzarello M, Bahain JJ et al. 2016. The Middle Pleistocene
site of Guado San Nicola (Monteroduni, Central Italy) on the lower/
middle palaeolithic transition. Quaternary International 411:
301–315.
Pigorini L. 1876. L'età della pietra nella provincia di Molise. Bullettino
di Paletnologia Italiana 2: 119–128.
Radford T. (2003). Italians find our oldest footprints. The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/13/highereducation.
science
Radicati di Brozolo F, Di Girolamo P, Turi B et al. 1988. 40Ar‐39Ar
and K‐Ar dating of K‐rich rocks from Roccamonfina volcano, Roman
Comagmatic Region, Italy. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 52:
1435–1441.
Roksandic M, Radović P, Lindal J. 2018. Revising the hypodigm of
Homo heidelbergensis: A view from the Eastern Mediterranean.
Quaternary International 466: 66–81.
Roksandic M, Radović P, Wu X et al. 2019. Homo heidelbergensis:
What do we need to set the question of the validity of this taxon to
rest. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 168: 207–207.
Santello L. 2010). Analysis of a trampled formation: the Brown Leucitic
Tuff (Roccamonfina volcano, Southern Italy). PhD Dissertation,Padua University, Italy. http://paduaresearch.cab.unipd.it/2566/1/
PhD_thesis_Lisa_Santello.pdf
Scaillet S, Vita‐Scaillet G, Guillou H. 2008. Oldest human footprints
dated by Ar/Ar. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 275: 320–325.
Segre AG, Biddittu I. 2009. Pléistocène moyen et inférieur dans le
Latium (Italie centrale). L'Anthropologie 113(1): 59–65.
Stringer C. 2012. The status of Homo heidelbergensis (Schoetensack 1908).
Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 21(3): 101–107.
Whitehouse D. 2003. Oldest human footprints found. BBC News.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2844287.stm
Zanolli C, Martinon‐Torres M, Bernardini F et al. 2018. The Middle
Pleistocene (MIS 12) human dental remains from Fontana
Ranuccio (Latium) and Visogliano (Friuli‐Venezia Giulia), Italy.
A comparative high resolution endostructural assessment. PLoS
ONE 13 e0189773. 1‐25. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.
0189773
Roccamonfina Volcano, Roman Region, Italy. Journal of Petrology
13: 425–456. Ashton N, Lewis SG, De Groote I et al. 2014. Hominin Footprints
from Early Pleistocene Deposits at Happisburgh, UK. PlosOne 9
e88329.Avanzini M, Mietto P, Panarello A et al. 2008. The Devil's Trails:
Middle Pleistocene Human Footprints Preserved in a Volcanoclastic
Deposit of Southern Italy. Ichnos 15: 179–189.
Ballini A, Barberi F, Laurenzi MA et al. (1990). Chrono‐Stratigraphy of
Roccamonfina volcanic complex. In Genesi e differenziazione del
magmatismo potassico del Bordo Tirrenico, Civetta L, Capaldi G,
Orsi G et al. (eds). Atti del convegno autunnale della Società Italiana
di Mineralogia e Petrologia (Ischia 15‐18 ottobre 1990). Plinius 4,
Supplemento italiano all'European Journal of Mineralogy, w.n.
Behrensmeyer AK, Laporte LF. 1981. Footprints of a Pleistocene
hominid in northern Kenya. Nature 289: 167–169.
Bennett MR, Harris JWK, Richmond BG et al. 2009. Early Hominin
Foot Morphology Based on 1,5‐Million‐Year‐Old Footprints from
Ileret, Kenya. Science 323: 1197–1201.
Bennett MR, Morse SA. 2014. Human Footprints: Fossilised Locomotion?
Springer: London.
Bornstein NM, Bornstein HG. 1976. The pace of life. Nature 259:
557–558.
Buck LT, Stringer CB. 2014. Homo heidelbergensis. Current Biology
24(6): R214–R215.
Cappelletti P, Rolandi G, de Gennaro M. (2006). Zeolitisation
processes in Roccamonfina ignimbrite (Southern Italy): a help in
recording fossil human tracks? In Zeolite '06, 7th International
Conference on the Occurrence, Properties, and Utilization of
Natural Zeolites, Socorro, New Mexico USA, 16‐21 July 2006,
Bowman RS, Delap SE (eds).
Cole PD, Guest JE, Duncan AM et al. 1992. Post‐collapse volcanic
history of calderas on a composite volcano: an example from
Roccamonfina, southern Italy. Bulletin of Volcanology 54: 253–266.
Cole PD, Guest E, Duncan AM. 1993. The emplacement of
intermediate volume ignimbrites: A case study from Roccamonfina
volcano, Southern Italy. Bulletin of Volcanology 55: 467–480.
De Lorenzo G, D'Erasmo E. 1932. L’Uomo paleolitico e l'Elephas
antiquus nell'Italia meridionale. Atti della Reale accademia delle
scienze fisiche e matematiche di Napoli ‐ S. 2. 19(5): 1–107.
de Lumley M‐A, Lamy P, Mafart B. 2011. Une empreinte de pied
humain acheuléen dans la dune littorale du site de Terra Amata.
Ensemble stratigraphique C1b. In Terra Amata: Nice, Alpes‐
Maritimes, France, Vol. 2: Palynologie, anthracologie, faunes,
mollusques, écologie et biogéomorphologie, paléoanthropologie,
empreinte de pied humain, coprolithes, de Lumley H (ed). CNRS:
Paris; 483–507.
De Rita D, Giordano G. (1996). Volcanological and structural
evolution of Roccamonfina volcano (Italy): origin of the summit
caldera. In Volcano Instability on the Earth and Other Planets,
McGuire WJ, Jones AP, Neuberg J (eds). Geological Society,
London, Special Publications 110: 209–224.
Derbyshire D. (2003). Oldest footprints found on volcano. The
Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/
italy/1424520/Oldest‐footprints‐found‐on‐volcano.html
Di Vito MA, Zanella E, Gurioli L et al. 2009. The Afragola settlement
near Vesuvius, italy: The destruction and abandonment of a Bronze
Age village revealed by archaeology volcanology and rockmagnetism.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters 277: 408–421.
Dingwall HL, Hatala KG, Wunderlich RA et al. 2013. Hominin stature,
body mass, and walking speed estimates based on 1.5 million‐yearold
fossil footprints at Ileret, Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution 64:
556–568.
Duveau J, Berillon G, Verna C et al. 2019. The composition of a
Neandertal social group revealed by the hominin footprints at Le
Rozel (Normandy, France). PNAS. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.
1901789116
Giannetti B. 1979a. The geology of Roccamonfina caldera (Campanian
Province, Italy). Giornale di Geologia (Ser. 2) 43: 187–206.
Giannetti B. 1979b. Studio geologico‐petrografico della caldera del
vulcano di Roccamonfina (Italia centro‐meridionale). Bollettino del
Servizio Geologico d'Italia 100: 311–374.
Kim JY, Kim KS, Lockley MG et al. 2008. Hominid Ichnotaxonomy: An
Exploration of a Neglected Discipline. Ichnos 15: 126–139.
Luhr JF, Giannetti B. 1987. The Brown Leucitic Tuff of Roccamonfina
Volcano (Roman region, Italy). Contributions to Mineralogy and
Petrology 95: 420–436.
Manzi G. 2016. Humans of the Middle Pleistocene: The controversial
calvarium from Ceprano (Italy) and its significance for the origin and
variability of Homo heidelbergensis. Quaternary International 411:
254–261.
McNutt EJ, Zipfel B, DeSilva JM. 2018. The evolution of the human foot.
Evolutionary Anthropology 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21713
Mietto P, Avanzini M, Rolandi G. 2003. Human footprints in
Pleistocene volcanic ash. Nature 422: 133.
Nicolucci G. (1871). L’Âge de la pierre dans les provinces
napolitaines. Congrès international d'anthropologie et d'archéologie
préhistorique [Compte rendu de la 5 e Session]: 17–48.
Onac BP, Viehmann I, Lundberg J et al. 2005. U‐Th ages constraining
the Neanderthal footprint at Vârtop Cave, Romania. Quaternary
Science Reviews 24: 1151–1157.
Pablos A. 2015. The foot in the Homo fossil record. Mitteilungen der
Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 24: 11–28.
Pablos A, Pantoja‐Pérez A, Martínez I et al. 2017. Metric and
morphological analysis of the foot in the Middle Pleistocene sample
of Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain).
Quaternary International 433: 103–113.
Palombo MR, Panarello A, Mietto P. 2018. Did Elephants Meet
Humans Along the Devil's Path? A Preliminary Report. Alpine and
Mediterranean Quaternary 31. (Quaternary: Past, Present, Future ‐
AIQUA Conference, Florence, 13‐14/06/2018): 83‐87.
Panarello A. 2016. Elementi di Paleoicnologia degli Ominidi.
Armando Caramanica Editore: Marina di Minturno.
Panarello A. (2019). A Snapshot on some Everyday Actions of a Middle
Pleistocene Hominin: The Trackway B at the Devil's Trails palaeontological
site (Tora‐Piccilli, Caserta, central Italy). Submitted.
Panarello A, Mazzardo L, Mietto P. 2018. The devil's touch: a first
dataset from what could be the oldest human handprint ever found
(Central‐Southern Italy). Alpine and Mediterranean Quaternary
31(1): 37–47.
Panarello A, Palombo MR, Biddittu I et al. 2017a. Fifteen Years Along
the "Devil's Trails": Achievements and Perspectives. Alpine and
Mediterranean Quaternary 30: 137–154.
Panarello A, Santello L, Farinaro G et al. 2017b. Walking along the
oldest human fossil pathway (Roccamonfina volcano, Central Italy).
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 13: 476–490.
Peccerillo A. 2017. The Ernici‐Roccamonfina Province. In Cenozoic
Volcanism in the Tyrrhenian Sea Region, Peccerillo A (ed). Springer:
Cham; 125–143.
Pereira A, Nomade S, Moncel MH et al. 2018. Integrated geochronology
of Acheulian sites from the southern Latium (central Italy):
Insights on human‐environment interaction and the technological
innovations during the MIS 11‐MIS 10period. Quaternary Science
Reviews 187: 112–129.
Pereira A, Nomade S, Shao Q et al. 2016. 40Ar/39Ar and ESR‐U/Th
dates for Guado San Nicola, Middle Pleistocene key site at the
Lower/Middle Palaeolithic transition in Italy. Quaternary Geochronology
36: 67–75.
Peretto C, Arzarello M, Bahain JJ et al. 2016. The Middle Pleistocene
site of Guado San Nicola (Monteroduni, Central Italy) on the lower/
middle palaeolithic transition. Quaternary International 411:
301–315.
Pigorini L. 1876. L'età della pietra nella provincia di Molise. Bullettino
di Paletnologia Italiana 2: 119–128.
Radford T. (2003). Italians find our oldest footprints. The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/13/highereducation.
science
Radicati di Brozolo F, Di Girolamo P, Turi B et al. 1988. 40Ar‐39Ar
and K‐Ar dating of K‐rich rocks from Roccamonfina volcano, Roman
Comagmatic Region, Italy. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 52:
1435–1441.
Roksandic M, Radović P, Lindal J. 2018. Revising the hypodigm of
Homo heidelbergensis: A view from the Eastern Mediterranean.
Quaternary International 466: 66–81.
Roksandic M, Radović P, Wu X et al. 2019. Homo heidelbergensis:
What do we need to set the question of the validity of this taxon to
rest. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 168: 207–207.
Santello L. 2010). Analysis of a trampled formation: the Brown Leucitic
Tuff (Roccamonfina volcano, Southern Italy). PhD Dissertation,Padua University, Italy. http://paduaresearch.cab.unipd.it/2566/1/
PhD_thesis_Lisa_Santello.pdf
Scaillet S, Vita‐Scaillet G, Guillou H. 2008. Oldest human footprints
dated by Ar/Ar. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 275: 320–325.
Segre AG, Biddittu I. 2009. Pléistocène moyen et inférieur dans le
Latium (Italie centrale). L'Anthropologie 113(1): 59–65.
Stringer C. 2012. The status of Homo heidelbergensis (Schoetensack 1908).
Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 21(3): 101–107.
Whitehouse D. 2003. Oldest human footprints found. BBC News.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2844287.stm
Zanolli C, Martinon‐Torres M, Bernardini F et al. 2018. The Middle
Pleistocene (MIS 12) human dental remains from Fontana
Ranuccio (Latium) and Visogliano (Friuli‐Venezia Giulia), Italy.
A comparative high resolution endostructural assessment. PLoS
ONE 13 e0189773. 1‐25. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.
0189773
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