Late Pleistocene vertebrate - bearing deposits at San Teodoro Cave (North-Eastern Sicily): Preliminary data on faunal diversification and chronology

This paper deals with the chronology and the possible correlations among levels of different excavated areas in the Pleistocene vertebrate-bearing deposits at the large San Teodoro Cave (North-Eastern Sicily). Two trenches have been excavated along the eastern side of the cave, located at a distance from the entrance, respectively, of 8m (a trench) and 28m (b trench) and at different depths. Lithological features, biometrical data from small mammals and ecological data from molluscs point to similar environmental conditions for the a trench deposits and those located along the eastern wall of the cave in the eastern part of the b trench. The same evidence, and the taphonomic features of large mammals, points to different environmental conditions and perhaps to different ages for the deposits located in the western part of the b trench. The survival of elephants in Sicily up to 32,000 years ago is a new significant result of the 230Th/234U dating carried out from a concretionary stratum from the b trench and represents the youngest elephant survival in the western Mediterranean islands.