In the Guttari Cave of Latina, where the time has stopped for 100 thousand years, it doesn’t stop to amaze: in Italy has been discovered the man of Neanderthal.
In the Prehistory Italy was a terrestrial heaven inhabited by gigantic reptiles, before, and men in a stage of evolution still not definitive, then. Between “first” and “then”, in reality, a hundred million years have passed, those that separate the fossil of Scipionyx samniticus, found in 1998 in Benevento (and sympathetically renamed Ciro) and other traces of that distant era, such as the evidence that has emerged in recent days near Rome.
What archaeologists have discovered in Latina
On Thursday, June 10, some photographs of the finds in the Guttari Cave in San Felice Circeo, in the province of Latina, were presented to the press. The remains would be traceable to as many as 9 Neanderthal men, who lived in present-day Lazio between 50 thousand and 100 thousand years ago. Naturally, when we look at such distant ages, the chances of obtaining from the fossil evidence a precise dating are reduced in proportion to the eons of time. And indeed the window identified by archaeologists is at least ten thousand years: 5 times the time elapsed from the birth of Christ to today. However it would appear clear to the researchers that some human specimens are younger than others: in particular, the oldest of the 9 would be born between 90 thousand and 100 thousand years ago, while the youngest between 58 thousand and 68 thousand years ago.
That the remains have come to light in the Guttari Cave is not really surprising. Already in the past the site had proven to be the tomb of very ancient living beings and the findings presented this week bring the total of prehistoric traces to 11, making the Latium cave one of the most important sites of the Middle Paleolithic.
Why the Guttari Cave is important for prehistoric research
“The peculiarity of the Guttari Cave, thanks to the exceptional preservation conditions, is to allow a real time travel with conditions substantially unchanged compared to 50 thousand years ago,” reads a joint note of the Ministry of Culture and the Superintendence for the provinces of Frosinone and Latina.
Esults the Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini: “An extraordinary discovery of which the whole world will speak,” he said. According to the minister, the evidence brought to light in Latina is destined to enrich the patrimony of knowledge about Neanderthal man. Then the minister congratulated the people who have successfully completed the excavation: “It is the result of the work of our Superintendence together with Universities and research bodies, really an exceptional thing,” he said.
Other interesting discoveries that look very, very far back in time concern – on which light has been shed recently – the 2 billion years of water and the ancient submerged cities.
Giuseppe Giordano