Sites

Guattari

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Site type:
Cave
Lat/Long:
41.24, 13.1
Country:
Italy
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The Guattari Cave is a paleoanthropological and archaeological site in the municipality of San Felice Circeo, on the coast of the province of Latina, Italy. The cave's name refers to A. Guattari, the owner of the land where the entrance to the cave was discovered during construction work in February 1939. Under the direction of the geologist and paleontologist Alberto Carlo Blanc (1906-1960), the cave was immediately explored and hominid fossils recovered before his arrival in San Felice Circeo were secured for scientific analysis by Sergio Sergi (1878-1972). The fossil finds consisted of the completely preserved skull of a Neanderthal (designation at the time: Circeo 1) and a partially preserved Neanderthal mandible. In August 1950, Antonio Ascenzi and Giovanni Lacchei discovered a second lower jaw fragment in a breccia heap outside the cave. Furthermore, stone tools from the Mousterian period were discovered, which are attributed to the Neanderthal culture. The cave has been explored again since 2019. In 2021, the remains of nine Neanderthals from very different eras were discovered.