Casal
de Pazzi Museum - Pleistocene Deposit
In 1981 in Casal de Pazzi area, in via Kant, corner of Via Ciciliano,
during the works of construction of a new district, a site dating
back to the Pleistocene was found, which returned the old bed
of river Aniene, dating back to 200 thousand years ago. From the
site around 4000 finds emerged, including a human skull fragment,
stones chipped by Paleolithic man and remains of Elephas antiquus
(straight-tusked elephant), rhinos, hippos, aurochs, deer,
wolves, hyenas, horses and waterfowl. Also fossils of an elm-like
tree, Zelkova crenata, were found, which today only grows
around the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
On the site the Casal de' Pazzi
Museum was set, which was inaugurated on March 30th,
2015 by the mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino after years in which
for lack of funds it could not be visited except during special
openings, of which we had to thank a few competent and passionate
persons, first of all professor Patrizia Gioia (thanks!), currently
Coordinator of the museum. In the museum several educational
activities take place.
Sacco
Pastore
In Sacco Pastore area, in a gravel pit that lay more or less where
now via Sacco Pastore is, in
1929 and in 1935 two skulls belonging to Neanderthal men (named
Saccopastore 1 and Saccopastore
2) were found, lying on alluvial sediments of the last interglacial
period, probably dating back to a period between 100 and 130 thousand
years ago. The skulls were damaged by the activity of excavation
that had brought them to light, and were attributed to an adult
woman (Saccopastore 1) and an adult man (Saccopastore 2).
Mammoth
tusks and aurochs femurs
In Montesacro also other prehistoric remains were found, such
as mammoth tusks found at the end of nineteenth century in volcaniclastic
deposits, and stored in the Technical School Leonardo da Vinci
in Rome, accompanied by a label written by the scientist Mantovani,
which reports: "Fragment a giant tusk found in the Pleistocene
clays mass of Monte Sacro, Rome : right bank of Aniene river";
in the same school the distal epiphysis of a Bos primigenius femur
is kept, measuring 17 cm (6.7 in) of lenght and 16 cm (6.3 in)
of diameter, labeled as: "Lower articular extremity of
Bos primigenius femur, found in the silt of Aniene valley.
Monte Sacro on via Nomentana 4 km (2.5 mi) from Rome. Purchased
from Clerici in 1884"; also the right
tusk of an Elephas antiquus (straight-tusked elephant)
was found in the same matrix.
Protohistoric
house of Fidene
In the suburb of Fidene, not far from Montesacro, in the site
of the ancient city of Fidenae, a house
dating back to Iron Age, 9th
century b..C. was
found, whose very good state allowed to carry out a full size
replica, using the same ancient techniques, near the finding place.
The replica can be seen in the square piazza Quarrata, terminus
of bus 336, but currently it can not be visited inside. More information
on a webpage
of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage of Rome.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BROCATO
Paolo, ZHARA BUDA Carla (a cura di) (2002) Le Origini.
Un Museo per la Quarta Circoscizione. IV Circoscrizione Comune
di Roma.
BRUNER Emiliano, MANZI Giorgio (2008) Paleoneurology of an "early"
Neandertal: endocranial size, shape, and features of Saccopastore
1. Journal of Human Evolution, 54: 729-742.
GIOIA Patrizia (2010) Museo di Casal de’ Pazzi (o Deposito
Pleistocenico) Atlante dei Beni Culturali delle Aree Naturali
Protette di RomaNatura. link
GRECO Marcello (2001) The Elephants at the Leonardo Da Vinci Institute
in Rome. The World of Elephants - International Congress, Rome
2001, 53-56. link
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page
created: June
27Th 2015 and last updated:
October
18th 2015