Environmental and climate changes in the central Mediterranean between the end of the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene: Small and large mammals from the “Rock shelter” of Grotta del Romito (Papasidero, Cosenza, Italy)

The passage between the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene is considered to have developed during a period of abrupt climate changes that drove large and small mammals to adapt to new environments. In this context, the southwestern Italian Peninsula is a key area to study mammal adaptation to past environmental changes. One of the key localities in this region is the Grotta del Romito, an archaeological site that bears one of the most important Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sequences in Europe. To understand the faunal dynamics in the region during this period, we studied the large and small mammal sequences coming from the deposit investigated in the “Rock shelter” area using environment and climate reconstruction methods such as Habitat Weighting, Bioclimatic model, and Quantified Ecology. In the lower part of the sequence, the large mammals are dominated by Capra ibex, Cervus elaphus, and Capreolus capreolus, while the upper portion is dominated by C. elaphus, Sus scrofa, and C. capreolus. This change is also visible among small mammals, where a high biodiversity is registered in the lower units, while Glis glis is dominant in the upper sequence. The environmental reconstructions show a trend from a starting condition where grasslands and rocky landscapes were widespread to another where forests were the dominant biome in the area. The climate results show an increase in temperatures, even though there are some incongruities among the models used. We correlated the Grotta del Romito – “Rock shelter” sequence to the major oscillations in climatic and environmental conditions detected in other proxies during the passage between the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene; the results allowed us to detect a first warming oscillation (STR 7-7D to STR 6A-6B), which can be related to the Bølling-Allerød Interstadial. A relatively mild and quick change in favour of open environments, together with a drop in diversity species and index, was tentatively correlated with the passage between the Younger Dryas and the Preboreal (STR 4B-4C and 4-4A). The sequence ends with STR 3, related to the Early Holocene, where forested habitats were dominant. The disappearance of environments suitable for Capra ibex may have led to the progressive extirpation of this species from the southwestern Italian Peninsula. This ungulate probably moved to more suitable ecological niches (high mountains or steep slopes) from the Bølling-Allerød Interstadial. The last individuals of this ungulate species probably disappeared from this region during the Early Holocene.