Segnalazione di Bos Primigenius Bojanus nei depositi terrazzati di Lamalunga (bassa Valle dell'Ofanto)

Abstract

The terraced deposits of the lower Ofanto Valley have been studied in detail, thanks to the excavations for the new line of the Apulian water acqueduct in the locality of Lamalunga (Ban). Four transgressive units on the lower Pleistocene substrate have beeen recognized, in the second stratigraphic unit, the presence of pumice levels originating from the Vulture vulcano permitted to date the first alluvial deposits between 0.83 and 0. 5 M.Y. In the fourth unit the remains of a mammal have come to light for the first time, it is a Bos primigenius Bojanus, of which the anterior part, nearly intact, and with the bones in connection has been found The skeleton belonged to a certainly young specimen that was probably torn into pieces after its death. Waiting for geochronological date, it is possible only to say that the age of this unit is between vulturian events and Vlth millennium b.C, that is characterized by neolithic villages spread on the platform of the Lamalunga terrace. Besides, particularly, the abundance of the terrestrial gastropod Pomatias elegans (MQller) which is a warm temperated species, locates the unit in an interglacial, probably between the Riss and the WGrm.