Taphonomy of the fossil hominid bones from the Acheulean site of Castel diGuido near Rome, Italy

Castel di Guido near Rome is one of the few open air Middle Pleistocene Eur opean sites that has yielded hominid skeletal remains. associated with foss il fauna and Acheulean implements. The fossil hominid bones include two fem oral shafts, respectively designated Castel Guido-1 (CdG-1) and CdG-2, an o ccipital fragment (CdG-3), a right maxilla lacking teeth (CdG-4), a portion of right parietal (CdG-5), a right temporal (CdG-6), and a fragment of lef t parietal vault (CdG-7). CdG-1 through CdG-4 were collected in 1979-1982 o n the surface, together with fossil fauna, where ploughing incised fossilif erous tuffaceous sands. Excavations conducted in the same area from 1980 to 1990 led to the discovery of CdG-5, CdG-6 and CdG-7 within the tuffaceous sands, which were shown to overlay a bone-bearing paleosurface, with abunda nt evidence of hominid activities. The Castel di Guido hominid assemblage p oses intriguing taphonomic questions. The analysis of the physical evidence offered by the bone surfaces, reported in the present study, indicates tha t the hominid skeletal remains were heavily fragmented before fossilization and exposed to carnivores and rodents, as well as to trampling and/or fric tion in abrasive sediment. Although definitive conclusions cannot be reache d on the basis of the available evidene, it is possible that clusters of in cisions localized on specific regions of the Castel di Guido fossil hominid bones might reflect deliberate human manipulations. (C) 2001 Academic Pres s.