Saccopastore 1: the earliest Neanderthal? A new look at an old cranium

The fossil cranium known as Saccopastore 1 was recovered in 1929 near Rome (Italy) in a gravel quarry that has been later replaced by building areas within the city. Its Neanderthal morphology was established early on, and detailed successive works described a combination of features in which traits that are recurrent among Würmian Neanderthals blend with those shared by Middle Pleistocene hominines. Recent computed analyses allowed the study of the endocranial structures through tomographic and digital approaches, and improved the ectocranial comparisons by using landmark-based multivariate techniques. This paper is aimed at synthesizing and describing the current information available about the Saccopastore 1 cranial morphology, through an integration of past and present data. This specimen represents the best-preserved and most complete cranium in Europe among those dated to OIS 5. Its recognized Neanderthal identity suggests that the impact of the preceding cold stage (OIS 6, around 200–130 ka) was probably decisive in the definition of the Neanderthal phenotype, modifying the extent of genetic variation of previous European populations toward a more homogeneous gene pool.