Recovering data from historical collections: stratigraphic and spatial reconstruction of the outstanding carnivoran record from the Late Pleistocene Equi cave (Apuane Alps, Italy) Elena Ghezzo a , Alessandro Palchetti b , Lorenzo Rook a, * a Earth Science Department, University of Florence, Via G. La Pira, 4, 50121 Firenze, Italy b B&P Archeologia, Via F. Ferrucci 95/D, 59100 Prato, Italy article info Article history: Received 31 March 2013 Received in revised form 28 February 2014 Accepted 16 March 2014 Available online xxx Keywords: Carnivorans Historical collections Cave stratigraphy Spatial distribution Equi Cave Apuane Alps Late Pleistocene Italy abstract Equi Terme is a hamlet located in northern Tuscany, in Apuan Alps regional Park. An outstanding fossil vertebrate collection housed in Florence is the result of excavations in the Equi cave and shelter during the period 1911e1919. This faunal assemblage (associated with Mousterian artefacts) may be correlated with the middle of MIS 3. All of the specimens recovered at Equi early in the last century were collected with attention to their stratigraphical positions. Detailed field annotation for nearly every specimen allowed us to organize them and attempt a stratigraphical and spatial reconstruction of the fossiliferous deposits. We present the results of the study of the spatial and stratigraphic distribution of the carnivoran species in the Equi cave and shelter, and re-evaluate the taphonomic agents of accumulation and the fossil distribution within the stratigraphic record. In particular, we evaluated the distribution of Panthera pardus, which, unusually for Europe, is abundant in the Equi cave assemblage. This analysis highlights the importance of the re-evaluation of historical collections and allows for future comparisons with data from more recent excavations at the Equi site. The analysis also provides an account of the distribution of carnivorans throughout the stratigraphic record. The constant presence and the predominance of leopards and wolves over lions and smaller carnivorans, allow for evaluations of their ethology and may be related to a short period of sediment accumulation. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction and previous studies The Equi Cave 1 is named after the nearby hamlet “Equi Terme” located in the northern side of the “Parco Regionale delle Alpi Apuane” (Massa-Carrara, Tuscany). The Equi ”baths” are known since Roman times because of the occurrence of sulphurous hot springs (Tonini, 1907). The entire area is also known for the occurrence of an extensive karstic complex with different struc- tures and cavities. The palaeontological site, a karst cavity located at 257 m amsl, produced thousands of vertebrate remains, as well as lithic industries and artefacts. Equi is an important prehistoric archaeological site in Italy, referred to as an example of the lithic industry referred to the final stages of the Mousterian (a peculiar facies of the Mousterian defined as Alpine Mousterian). As paleontological site, Equi cave is celebrated for its outstanding record of carnivorans (Del Campana, 1923, 1954), including an unusually rich sample of fossil leopard, and a spec- tacular record of cave bear remains which represent one of the southernmost cave bear occurrences in the Italian peninsula. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: lorenzo.rook@unifi.it (L. Rook). 1 «L’altra buca assai memorabile, posta nello stato del Serenissimo Granduca di Toscana nel territorio di Fivizzano, è detta Buca d’Equi, dal luogo di tal nome, a cui è vicina per lo spazio di mezzo miglio. Essa è incavata in un’altissima, e smisurata montagna, in cui, poco dopo l’entrata, apparisce una vasta caverna in forma di gran sala, passata la quale s’entra in un’altra più piccola, d’onde s’arriva in un’altra, che corrisponde con una interna crepatura del monte, la lunghezza della quale non può sapersi, mentre dopo d’esservi camminato dentro fino a trenta passi in circa, tanto si strinse, e tanto il freddo anche colà si fece acuto, che fu impossibile l’andar più avanti. Scorre per questa crepatura un ruscello d’acqua perenne, che dà principio a un fiume, che si chiama Lucido, per non intorbidar mai, e che produce squisitissime trotte. In certi tempi nuvolosi, e sciroccali esce l’acqua dalla detta caverna in tanta copia, che poco manca, che tutta non la riempia. Corre voce, che anche questa venga dal mare benché insipida al solito delle acque piovane, pensando, che quella cre- patura comunichi col medesimo, per la ragione detta nel descrivere la Grotta che urla, cioè perché cresce, quando per gli scilocchi anche il mare cresce, ed è tem- pestoso. Ma quanto vadano errati, si comprende dal detto di sopra, andando nel modo medesimo la faccenda, cioè seguendo appunto in quel tempo, che cresce, e piogge, e discioglimenti di nevi, delle quali pure abbonda la sovrapposta montagna» (Vallisneri, 1715: pp. 49e50). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary Science Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quascirev http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.03.012 0277-3791/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Quaternary Science Reviews xxx (2014) 1e12 Please cite this article in press as: Ghezzo, E., et al., Recovering data from historical collections: stratigraphic and spatial reconstruction of the outstanding carnivoran record from the Late Pleistocene Equi cave (Apuane Alps, Italy), Quaternary Science Reviews (2014), http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.03.012