Ceprano Man

Ceprano Man, Argil, and Ceprano Calvarium, is a Middle Pleistocene archaic human fossil, a single skull cap (calvarium), accidentally unearthed in a highway construction project in 1994 near Ceprano in the Province of Frosinone, Italy. It was initially considered Homo cepranensis, Homo erectus, or possibly Homo antecessor; but in recent studies, most regard it either as a form of Homo heidelbergensis sharing affinities with African forms, or an early morph of Neanderthal. During excavation in preparation for a highway on March 13, 1994, in the Campo Grande area near Ceprano, Italy, a partial hominin calvaria was discovered. Although damaged by a bulldozer, it was recognized, documented, and described by archeologist Italo Biddittu, who happened to be present when the fossil was discovered. Mallegni et al. (2003) proposed the introduction of a new human species, dubbed Homo cepranensis, based on the fossil. As the specimen was believed to be around 700 ka, they believed that this specimen and Homo antecessor suggested a wave of dispersals into Europe 0.9-0.8 Ma through Iberia and the Middle East. The most recent belief is that it is associated with Homo heidelbergensis or rhodesiensis, or that it is ancestral to Neanderthals. The fossil was first estimated to be between 690,000 and 900,000 years old determined on the basis of regional correlations and a series of absolute dates. Taking the circumstances of the recovery of the fossil into account, Ascenzi (2001) noted that "an age between 800 and 900 ka is at present our best chronological estimate" based on "the absence in the sediments containing the cranium of any leucitic remnants of the more recent volcanic activity known in the region . . . and the presence above the cranium itself of a clear stratigraphic unconformity that marks" After clarification of its geostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and archaeological relation to the well known and nearby Acheulean site of Fontana Ranuccio, dated to 487ka, Muttoni et al. (2009) suggested that Ceprano is most likely about 450,000 years old.